FRISCO, TEXAS — FC Dallas ends up drawing to the Western Conference’s first-place Real Salt Lake, 3-3.
It was “unacceptable to lose this game,” said Head Coach Nico Estévez, being that Dallas gave up the game-tying goal with just seconds left to play..
The first half saw 19 shots between the two sides, seven for Dallas being on goal, while only two were for Salt Lake. Plenty of chances erupted oohing and ahhing from the crowd, and it was difficult to keep track of the amount of times a shot hit the crossbar or the post.
But, one particular mistake sent FC Dallas back to the locker room one goal better.
In the fourth minute of stoppage time before the half, FCD took a corner and played it short to Asier Illarramendi—his cross tipped over the gloves of RSL’s goalkeeper Zac MacMath and dropped into the back of the net.
In the 57th minute, FC Dallas attacker Patrickson Delgado capitalized on MacMath’s mistake at midfield—yes, you read that right. MacMath came out of the box, all the way to midfield, and Delgado buried it by him on the break away.
Just two minutes later, FCD attacker Paul Arriola put Dallas’ third on the board.
But, mental lapses and “avoidable mistakes,” according to Estévez, led to FCD’s downfall. Midfielder Diego Luna scored RSL’s first goal in the 61st minute, and attacker Anderson Julio scored their second in the 73rd minute. With seconds left in stoppage time, midfielder Nelson Palacio evened things at 3-all.
FCD has now earned points in seven-straight matches, but were unable to snap RSL’s unbeaten streak, which now adds up to 11 games.
Dallas will head to Los Angeles to take on the LA Galaxy and LAFC back-to-back, on Wednesday and Saturday of next week.
