- Forward Jesús Ferreira scored his sixth goal of the season, moving him into third in the MLS Golden Boot race
- Forward Alan Velasco scored his second goal of the season,
- Midfielder and 2022 MLS SuperDraft pick Tsiki Ntsabeleng made his first career MLS start
- Defender Nkosi Tafari made his first MLS start of the season
- MLS Box Score
Kansas City, Kansas (April 30, 2022) – FC Dallas (4-1-4, 16 points) and Sporting Kansas City (2-6-2, 8 points) earn a point each after a 2-2 draw on Saturday night at Children’s Mercy Park.
Game Summary
First Half:
- 3’ – CHANCE (DAL) – Paxton Pomykal played a through ball into the path of Paul Arriola but SKC goalkeeper Tim Melia came off his line to intervene.
- 22’ – GOAL (SKC) – Johnny Russell converted his penalty to give SKC the lead after José Martínez fouled Daniel Sallói in the box.
- 29’ – SHOT (SKC) – Sallói collected a looping pass from Johnny Russell in the box but his shot sailed over Maarten Paes’ goal.
- 31’ – CHANCE (DAL) – Jesús Ferreira beat his defender to a loose ball in the box but his shot only found the side netting.
- 36’ – GOAL (DAL) – Alan Velasco’s free kick from the left flank curls over Melia’s leap to tie the score with FC Dallas first road goal of the season.
- 42’ – GOAL (DAL) – Arriola played a perfect through ball into the path of Ferreira who dribbled into the middle of the box before placing his shot in the top right corner to give FC Dallas the 2-1 lead.
Second Half
- 56’ – SHOT (SKC) – Sporting’s Sallói had two great chances in Dallas’ box but both his shots were blocked off the line, first by Paes before Martínez made a goal-saving block with his head.
- 66’ – SHOT (SKC) – Russell’s free kick attempt near the outside of the box sailed high over Paes’ goal.
- 72’ – SHOT (DAL) – Velasco’s free kick from the left side of the field was placed perfectly for Facundo Quignon whose shot was saved by Melia.
- 77’ – GOAL (SKC) – Sallói’s shot from the inside of the box was able to get past Paes to level the match at 2-2.
- 90’+5’ – CHANCE (DAL) – Nanu squared the ball into the box and nearly connected with Franco Jara but the striker lost his footing before he could take the shot.
FC Dallas Postgame Quotes
Head Coach Nico Estévez
Initial thoughts on the match…
“Any game played in Kansas will always be complicated, the game and the atmosphere is what makes it difficult to play in. We showed in the first half that we are a team with a brave mentality and attitude. We came here to play and we showed it, especially in the play building up to Jesús’ goal. There were parts throughout the game where we had good sequences and plays. Their major threats were when they would counter us, but other than that it felt like it was a fair match up. They came out pressing in the second half but we still kept playing the way we did in the first half. We are a team that is still in the process of improving and playing better weekly. I am happy with the team’s performance and mentality they showed throughout the match, even when going down a player.”
On the positives from tonight’s match…
“It’s impressive what these guys did today to get a point on the road. We have to give credit to them. It is not easy with all the adversities that were had against us today. It was very professional of the players to answer like that throughout the game. This team is going to build off today’s disappointment, the disappointment to not get three points with 10-men, and the disappointment to not get the three points with the adversities we had. We are really disappointed but we want to use this energy to focus on Monday and prepare the best way we can for Seattle.”
Forward Alan Velasco
On describing his goal tonight…
“Leading up to the freekick, I was talking to Marco [Farfan] on who would take the free kick. I told him to let me take it because I saw that the goalie had left a lot of space at the back post. The ball was able to float just enough to get over the goalkeeper’s and it went in from a tough angle.”
On the physicality of the game…
“I am still needing to develop more physically but that will come over time as we are still working on that. There were times during the game that it felt like I was doing better tonight. The referee was making questionable decisions for both teams today but I prefer not to speak on that topic. We will work during the week to keep improving and showing teams that we come out to play.”
