NEW YORK (June 20, 2024) – FC Dallas forward Petar Musa was voted the Major League Soccer Player of the Matchday for Matchday 21 of the 2024 MLS season.
Musa recorded his first MLS hat trick and the first hat trick for FC Dallas since Jesús Ferreira on March 19, 2022, in a 5-3 victory over Minnesota United FC on Wednesday night. He also became the first European-born player to register a hat trick in club history. In his first season with the club, the Croatian striker leads FC Dallas with eight goals and 10 goal contributions through 17 matches.
Musa opened the scoring for FC Dallas in the 17th minute, as he latched onto a long pass from Paul Arriola before firing a shot low and hard past the goalkeeper. He added his second in the 38th minute, finishing off a cutting counterattack with a swift first-touch finish. The striker capped off his trifecta of goals in the 62nd minute after Sebastian Lletget played a nifty pass to a wide-open Musa, who deposited the ball into the lower right corner of the net to give the club a 3-2 lead. Ferreira and Logan Farrington also got on the scoresheet for Dallas in the 75th and 90th minutes, respectively, to secure the victory.
Musa becomes the first FC Dallas player to take home the award since Ferreira on Matchday 4 of the 2022 MLS season. He is the third different Dallas striker to take home the award since 2021, joining Ricardo Pepi (Matchdays 15 and 22 in 2021) and Ferreira.
Dallas will look to win their third consecutive match as they travel to Lumen Field to take on Seattle Sounders FC on Saturday, June 22 (10:30 p.m. ET, MLS Season Pass on Apple TV).
The MLS Player of the Matchday is selected each matchday of the regular season through both media and fan voting in a process conducted by MLS Communications. A panel of journalists from the North American Soccer Reporters (NASR) comprises 75 percent of the vote, while an X (formerly known as Twitter) fan vote represents the remaining 25 percent of voting. NASR consists of members of print, television, radio, and online media.
