FRISCO, Texas – The FC Dallas Academy has a chance to win the Dallas Cup Super Group championship for the second time in club history after defeating Brazilian club Botafogo 2-1 in the semifinal Friday night at Toyota Stadium.
The FC Dallas U19s flew out of the gates with a sixth-minute goal courtesy of a Cristian Gallo header following a well-worked corner kick routine. Botafogo nearly responded a few minutes later when forward Kayke Queiroz ran behind Dallas’ backline but his touch around the keeper took him too far wide and he was unable to put his shot on target.
Botafogo nearly tied the game in the 37th minute when Joao da Silva’s low cross was met by Bernardo da Silva but Dallas goalkeeper Victor Gomez made an excellent block down to his right and defender Luke Shreiner was on hand to clear the ball off the line. Dallas had a chance to double its lead four minutes later when another short corner routine found the feet of Anthony Ramirez who unleashed a curling effort but it landed just over the crossbar.
Daniel Baran created Dallas’ first chance of the second half in the 65th minute when he beat two defenders on the left wing and cut inside but his right-footed shot was caught by goalkeeper Cristiano Araujo. Three minutes later, Botafogo tied the game through Lucas Vargas with a close-range header from a corner kick.
FC Dallas took the lead with just eight minutes remaining in regulation from an outstanding team goal. Building from the goalkeeper, FCD put together a 16-pass sequence to free Daniel Baran on the left wing who beat his man and squared it to Angel Gael Medrano for a first-time finish to hand FC Dallas the 2-1 win.
The U19s will look to win the club’s second-ever Dallas Cup Super Group championship on Sunday, March 31 at 4:30PM against Brazil’s Sao Paulo FC at Toyota Stadium. FC Dallas’ only other Super Group championship was back in 2017 while Sao Paulo has won it on three occasions (1995, 2007, 2009).
