FC Dallas dropped all three points against the Vancouver Whitecaps at Toyota Stadium on Wednesday night after Sebastien Berhalter’s brace secured the win for the away side. The Burn have now fallen to 5-4-4 on the season and remain at 7th place in the Western Conference.
Lineups and Tactics
With it being a short few days from their previous matchup, head coach Eric Quill opted for a couple of changes to the starting XI, remaining in their 4-4-2 formation.
Up top, the Pairington of Petar Musa and Logan Farrington was reunited as Farrington replaced Santi Moreno at ST.
In the midfield, Christian Cappis (RM) replaced Joaquín Valiente and earned his 9th start of the season. Alongside him, Ramiro paired with Kaick in the central midfield, with Ramiro dropping back deep into their own half as the team’s 6.
On the backline, Sebastien Ibeagha joined Osaze Urhoghide at CB, while Herman Johansson moved to the bench and Shaq Moore slotted over to RB. In goal, for his 13th start of the season, Michael Collodi got the nod at keeper.
Opposite FC Dallas, the Whitecaps sported a 4-2-3-1 formation, also choosing to minimize their changes from their previous game against San Jose. In goal, Yohei Takaoka got his 12th start of the season.
The lone change for the Whitecaps was the addition of Emmanuel Sabbi over Bruno Caicedo at RW for his 7th start of the season. Additionally, in the midfield, Berhalter and Andrés Cubas started as dual CM’s, with Cheikh Sabaly out wide at LW.
Up top, the team’s leading goal scorer, Brian White, earned his 12th start of the season. Most notably absent from tonight’s starting lineup was Thomas Müller, who returned to the bench after missing their previous two matches with an illness.
The Game
With their win against Real Salt Lake in the back of their minds, FC Dallas picked up right where they left off coming into this game. In the 6th minute, Nolan Norris played a ball over the top to Farrington. The forward was then taken down by Tristan Blackmon in the box, and Dallas was awarded a PK.
After a couple of minutes waiting for the VAR review, the referee confirmed the foul, and Musa stepped up to take the kick. Musa, with his signature run-up, buried the shot for his 11th goal of the season and gave Dallas an early 1-0 lead.
“Vancouver is a very stingy team defensively, so getting that opening goal was important,” coach Quill said. “As a coach, though, you want the team to keep pushing because in this league you can’t take your foot off the gas, especially against a team like that where goals are hard to come by.”
The Whitecaps wouldn’t wait too long to answer. In the 23rd minute, Sabaly played the ball back towards Berhalter, who ripped a shot from the top of the box. Collodi managed to get a hand on it, but the ball bounced off the crossbar and in to level the game at 1-1.
Things went from bad to worse less than five minutes later. In the 28th minute, Vancouver found their second goal of the game as Édier Ocampo played a cross into the box, looking for White. However, Urhoghide accidentally deflected it in for an own goal. Vancouver took their first lead of the game, 2-1.
FC Dallas would bounce back in the second half, though, as Farrington found his first goal of the night in the 48th minute. After Ran Binyamin played a cross into the box off his right foot, Farrington leapt over Mathías Laborda and headed in the tying goal to even the game at 2-2.
In the 64th minute, Berhalter secured the 3-2 win for the Whitecaps. In a similar fashion to his first goal of the game, Kenji Cabrera found Berhalter alone at the top of the box. Berhalter floated a shot past a diving Collodi, who managed to get a hand on the ball, but not enough to keep it out of the net.
“Credit to Vancouver, they’re one of the top teams in the league, and they have quality all over the field. Still, I believe we can go toe to toe with anybody and beat anybody,” coach Quill said. “We’ve shown we can get results on the road, so now it’s about turning the page quickly and getting ready for San Jose.”
FC Dallas finished the game having been outpossessed, outshot, and ultimately, outscored. A disappointing result as Dallas now hits the road until they return to Toyota Stadium on September 5th.
It was quite an off night for some of the regular starters for FC Dallas; however, a couple of players managed to play better than most. Both Binyamin and Cappis looked great out on the wings. Not in their normal positions, both players managed to complete at least 88% of their passes and were very calm and composed on the ball.
My man of the match, however, is Logan Farrington. With his goal in the second half and the penalty that he drew to set up the PK, he managed to generate a ton of offense for Dallas. He also accumulated the most touches in the Vancouver box, with 7 on the night as well.
Up next, FC Dallas travels to PayPal Park to take on the San Jose Earthquakes on Saturday, May 16th at 9:30 pm CT. The Earthquakes are currently 9-2-2 on the season.
