New England played Saturday's match at Pizza Hut Park as if it were MLS Cup 2005 and beat FCD 2-1.
Goals by Clint Dempsey in the 33rd minute and Shalrie Joseph closed the door in the 80th minute to put the Revs in the driver's seat of the Eastern Conference. FCD's only goal came from Carlos Ruiz in the 58th minute, as he remains the only Hoops player to score in the new house.
"Everybody thinks that this is the preview [to MLS Cup], but we don't want to look that far, we just want to look at our next game against Colorado and get three points and get our rest and ten days off," said Joseph.
The Hoops applied early pressure to the Revs, but the visitors held their ground and withstood the pressure as Dempsey scored his eight goal of season.
"It's always good to come to Texas and it's always good to get a goal especially in front of my family," said Dempsey, a native of Nacogdoches, Texas. "I just wanted to do that much more for them because they are the ones to help me get to where I am today and without them I wouldn't be here -- it's always good to give them a little something extra."
FCD came out in the second half ready to absorb the heat and mount a comeback. The Hoops put in a goal from the head of Ruiz off a beautiful cross on the left flank from Chris Gbandi.
"The second half we definitely didn't get enough pressure on the ball and we let them back into the game," said Revs 'keeper Matt Reis. "They're a good team and they finished their chance. They tied it up and both teams were pretty exhausted towards the end of the game.
"Shalrie with a great individual effort scored the game winner and we hold on at the end."
Just as FC Dallas and their fans relaxed in the second half and thought one point is better then none, the Revolution reared the head of a true champion and scored the game-winning goal off an individual effort by Joseph.
"I didn't have much time and noticed that [Simo] Valakari tried to close me down from the middle," Joseph said. "I tried to get it onto my right foot and I juked him to my right and tried to hit it low and hard -- the angle was definitely heading for the back post.
"I probably woke [Dallas goalkeeper Jeff Cassar] up a little bit. I wanted to hit it low and hard and the surface was really nice and fast -- just keep it low and hard. We just wanted to send a message."
The Rev held off the charge of FCD to preserve the victory and provide Dallas with their first home defeat.
"Coming here and getting three points on the road is obviously great for us especially against a team of Dallas' caliber," said Reis.
Ron Goode is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
