FRISCO — It only took 15 minutes for Tesho Akindele to make an impact and ultimately win the game for FC Dallas against Atlanta United FC on Wednesday night.
The substitute entered the game for Victor Ulloa late in the second half seconds after FCD went down 2-1, in what looked like a gloomy ending before the Fourth of July fireworks went off at Toyota Stadium.
Looking for an offensive spark, Oscar Pareja chose to substitute a forward for a midfielder in an effort to earn any points Dallas could Wednesday night. Akindele delivered twice, forcing the festive fireworks to fire prematurely on Independence Day.
With just 15 minutes in a game that looked out of reach, Akindele said he just tried to add some energy to the rest of the squad.
“You see people like Maxi, he has played every game almost this season and he’s still running as hard as he can on every play,” Akindele said. “People like Lamah, people like Barrios, Gruezo, all of our players are still just giving it all they got and that energy is contagious. I try to come on and add to that.”
The first goal was set up by Maxi Urruti, who found Akindele alone on the left side of the field. Urruti played Akindele towards the top of the box, where the latter finished and tied the match at 2-2.
“Ryan [Hollingshead] had the ball, I checked to it, he passed it pass me and I knew it was going to Maxi and I knew he was going to be able to flick it on somehow so I just turned and took off,” Akindele said. “When I got the ball, I looked up to see if it was 2v1, but it was just me kind of 1v1 and so I went at the goal and finished it.”
FCD’s third goal of the game came just two minutes after the second, and Akindele played the hero for the home side. Scoring in the 88th minute, the final goal would end up sending Atlanta back to Georgia empty-handed, and helped Dallas jump ahead of Sporting Kansas City for first place in the Western Conference.
