After cutting the lead down to one at the end of the first half, FC Dallas failed to complete their comeback against the Seattle Sounders at Lumen Field and ultimately lost 2-1.
The Burn are now 1-13-4 (W-L-T) all-time on the road against the Sounders.
Lineups and Tactics
To kick off their two-game road trip, Dallas held a 3-4-3 formation. One that mirrored a very similar formation to their previous matchup against Minnesota United. In goal, Michael Collodi earned his 10th straight start, as he looked for his 3rd clean sheet of the season.
A number of changes were made to the starting XI, with Lalas Abubakar getting his first start of the season over Osaze Urhoghide at CB. Louicius Deedson was inserted for Shaq Moore at LWB, and Sam Sarver opposite him at RWB over Herman Johansson.
Also earning their first start of the season, Nick Simmonds started at the 9 as head coach Eric Quill delt with both Petar Musa and Logan Farrington being out with injury. Ran Binyamin also earned his first start at CM, replacing Christian Cappis in the midfield.
The Sounders came out in a 4-2-3-1 formation with Andrew Thomas getting his 8th start of the season in goal. The defense was outfitted with an experienced rotation of players as Nouhou, Jackson Ragen, Alex Roldan, and Kalani Kossa-Rienzi spread out across the backline.
Out wide, the team’s leading goal scorer, Paul Rothrock, started at LM. Opposite him at RM was Jordan Morris, making his 2nd start of the season. Former FC Dallas forward Jesús Ferreira started at CAM.
Most notably absent from tonight’s lineup were Cristian Roldan and Albert Rusnák. Both players have accounted for 5 of the team’s 10 goals so far this season. It was noted the day prior that Roldan entered concussion protocol after taking a ball to the head in training.
The Game
Unbeaten in their last 19 games at home, winning at Seattle’s Lumen Field is no easy task for any team to overcome, much less one that had injuries to its two top scorers and rested its top defenseman. That became evident as Seattle would open up the scoring just 15 minutes into the game.
Despite the relentless pressure that Dallas applied to the Sounders, Seattle managed to strike first. After Morris found Ferreira in the box, Ferreira’s low shot was deflected off Abubakar and into the goal for an early 1-0 lead.
Morris doubled Seattle’s lead nearly 15 minutes later. In the 30th minute, Snyder Brunell found Morris open with a pass through the Dallas defense. Morris, uncovered, poked the ball past Collodi to make it 2-0, Sounders.
Momentum shifted back in favor of Dallas after Nolan Norris was able to net one for the away side. In the 40th minute, Santi Moreno’s corner was sent into the box, where Norris was able to head it in for his first career MLS goal. Seattle remained ahead, by a score of 2-1.
“It’s awesome to get the goal, I thank God every time I get to step on the field for FC Dallas,” Norris said. “I want to contribute to the team the best way I can. I was able to make a big play to get us back in the game.”
It was quite a dominant half from Seattle, who maintained 64% of possession and seemed to always be in control of the game. Seattle’s 6 total shots also resulted in an xG of 0.79, contrary to Dallas’ xG of 0.14 with 3 total shots.
Things began to look bleak again for Dallas in the 54th minute, after Rothrock was taken down in the box by Abubakar, and Seattle was awarded a PK. Former Dallas homegrown Ferreira stepped up to take the kick; his shot into the bottom right corner was saved by Collodi, and Dallas remained down by 1.
On their final push in the 95th minute, a Joaquín Valiente‘s corner was punched away by Thomas. Valiente regained possession, played in another cross, which was headed away. Dallas’ last chance would be from Ramiro, who volleyed a weak shot off-target. The final whistle blew, and Dallas’ hope for a comeback came to a close.
“Obviously disappointed about the result, but I thought we played pretty well, and I think we’re going to regret seeing the couple moments that led to their goals,” coach Quill said. “Those moments are fixable. I was proud of our mentality, our resiliency. We were going for it, we never gave up. We didn’t quit. We were pushing hard and came up short tonight.”
Even though it was not the result that FC Dallas had hoped for, there was a positive takeaway from the game. Nolan Norris, our Man of the Match, played extremely well in a game where he was relied on in many ways to anchor the backline. In many respects, he is finally coming into his own as a regular starter.
On top of scoring his first professional goal, he also completed 86% of his passes, had 5 clearances, 12 recoveries, and 8 passes into the final third. He consistently linked the ball from the defense through to the midfield and generated numerous offensive opportunities for Dallas, and it showed.
“We emptied the tank, we fought for the badge, fought for the team, fought for the coach, and ultimately the result didn’t go our way,” Norris said. “But I thought there were positive things, and I felt like we just had a 5–10-minute stretch where we conceded those two goals that really let us down.”
Up next, FC Dallas travels to Sports Illustrated Stadium to take on Red Bull New York on Saturday, May 2nd at 6:30 pm CT. The Red Bulls are currently 3-4-3 on the season.