In the team’s 1-0 win over San Antonio FC in the fourth round of U.S. Open Cup, Oscar Pareja and FC Dallas played some up-and-coming names. Ema Twumasi and Jordan Cano got their first game-action with the first-team squad and 18-year-old Paxton Pomykal appeared in his second game of 2018.
“I’m very happy to see Jordan, Paxton and Ema do a terrific job for us today,” Pareja said. “The first game isn’t easy. There’s always a challenge there because there are many emotions in it. We needed to just wait for them to settle in the game and that took us time, but the boys played well.”
Twumasi, a first-round pick in the 2018 MLS Superdraft, played all 90 minutes, contributing two shots, with one on frame in the 34th minute.
“I was very excited to make my FC Dallas debut today and most importantly I’m very happy for the win,” he said. “We came out here, we grinded out and we got the result.”
Center back Jordan Cano also played the full match. He had possibly the play of the match for FC Dallas, clearing a ball from the goal line in the 25th minute when the score was still 0-0.
“I saw Jimmy was coming out, so I was in position to get closer towards the goal line,” he said. “They took a shot and I honestly don’t remember what happened at that point. They took like two deflections and I just stuck out my leg in the direction I thought the ball was going to go in. I found the ball at my feet and was like ‘Thank God.’”
With all the success Oscar Pareja has had this season with changes and shuffling to the lineup, it was no surprise for FC Dallas to get this result playing with a young and different lineup.
“We’ve been playing really well collectively as a team, and we have a lot of pieces that can come in and play at any time,” Cano said. “Our team is very deep and we’re showing that this year, especially when guys get hurt or when guys are tired from the game before. That’s going to take us very far, and we’ve done a good job of winning all these games.”
