- Winger Alan Velasco registered his fifth goal of the season.
- MLS Box Score
Frisco, Texas (August 27, 2022) – FC Dallas (11-8-10, 43 points) and Real Salt Lake (10-8-9, 39 points) split points on Saturday night at Toyota Stadium. FC Dallas winger Alan Velasco’s early goal was canceled out by Real Salt Lake’s Anderson Julio resulting in a 1-1 draw.
AUGUST OVERALL
FC Dallas ends August with a 2-2-2 record with seven goals scored and eight goals conceded. Dallas finished 2-0-1 at Toyota Stadium and 0-2-1 on the road this month.
VELAS-GOAT
FC Dallas holds a 2-0-3 record when winger Alan Velasco finds the back of the net. The Argentine registered his fifth goal of the season tonight in the seventh minute of the match.
ENTERING HALF TIME
When FC Dallas scores first, the club holds a 5-0-4 record when playing at Toyota Stadium. Dallas’ improves to 3-0-4 when leading at halftime at home.
STANDINGS UPDATEFC Dallas falls to fourth place in the Western Conference standings with 43 points following tonight’s tie with Salt Lake. With 40 goals scored and 33 goals conceded, Dallas holds the third-best goal differential (+7) in the conference tied with third-place Minnesota behind LAFC (29) and Austin FC (22). FC Dallas improves to 8-3-4 at Toyota Stadium following tonight’s draw.
UP NEXT: FC DALLAS TRAVELS TO MINNESOTA UNITED FC
FC Dallas visits Minnesota United FC at Allianz Field on Saturday, September 3. The match kicks off at 2:30PM CT (Univision, TUDN, Talk Radio 1190AM KFXR and TUDN 1270AM).
FC DALLAS POSTGAME QUOTES
Head Coach Nico Estévez
Thoughts on the game…
“Well, difficult game. We knew it was gonna be difficult. From now on, every game is going to be a final for every team. And you could see it today, both teams wanted to win. Quality, a lot of energy and moments, we had our moments. And when you have your moments, you have to score and we had the moments, the chances and we didn't score. And this is why we couldn't win the game. And they also had their moments, they scored to tie. And after that what I liked from the team is their response. I think we had a great response. I think the guys that came from the bench and the solutions, they helped us a lot to speed up the game, to play with more urgency. And it was just unlucky that we did not score the second goal at the end.”
On the physicality of the match…
“Real Salt Lake has players who are physical and they were able to create dangerous situations. The intensity that both teams showed tonight in the match could not be matched. It was a decisive game of close margins. In the first half we were not as compact vertically and our defense would stay deep. I let the team know in the first half that we should go out and let the keeper clear the ball out from the back and we would win the ball and build forward. The issue was that they would win the second ball and we would have to create pressure because our backline was so far back. We corrected that in the second half and we were able to provoke mistakes. The luck was not on our side this time though.”
Goalkeeper Maarten Paes
Thoughts on the game…
“Difficult to analyze so close after the game but, I think, a bit of an up and down game. They had some chances, we had some big chances. Like Coach said we had the game and we gave it away. It was 1-1 and could've been 2-0.”
On how important this upcoming match at Minnesota…
“The three of us (FC Dallas, Real Salt Lake, Minnesota United), we're a little bit above both the rest of the playoff opponents, so you really want to host a playoff game. It's important to get the full result and I'm sure we will be there.”
Defender Ema Twumasi
On tonight’s match…
“Yeah, obviously it's a tough one. I feel like today was a must-win game for us for the playoff. We try and get a home field advantage and they were right behind us with games in hand. So it's a game we wanted to win. Obviously, unfortunately we didn't get a win. But we can't dwell on it. We got Minnesota which is another very massive deal for us this weekend. And we just got to shift our attention to that game.”
On Alan Velasco and his goal…
“Yeah, he's been massive. You could tell he's adjusting to the league. He's doing very well, with and without the ball. He's helping the team a lot. And he's scoring big goals for us and, and we're going to need it for the rest of the year.”
Midfielder Sebastian Lletget
On tonight’s performance…
“Yeah, I mean, obviously, we are disappointed. We should've got two more points tonight. We all know that. I thought our game plan was fine, I thought we came out with intensity. I think we just needed that second goal. That insurance goal. But it didn't come, the last pass or a missed shot or whatever. We move forward and we're confident that we can go to Minnesota now and get a win.”
On if he’s watching the standings race…
“I remember when I was younger, I would always look at the table. But now getting older with more experience, you just kind of focus on yourself as a team. We have all the control. It's very different if you're out of it looking in but we're in it. We do our part, we're gonna be okay. I think that's just the message that needs to be going around. And, again, just feet on the ground, focus, back to the drawing board. We didn't lose. We got a point, we kept the distance. But yeah, focus on Minnesota now.”
Forward Alan Velasco
On scoring once again…
“It’s a bittersweet feeling. We wanted to bounce back and get three points at home in front of our fans. We will work harder during the week so in the next match we are able to come away with all three points and not just one.”
