FC Dallas' three-game winning streak slammed to a halt at The Home Depot Center on Sunday evening as FCD gave up two second-half goals en route to a 2-0 loss to the Galaxy. For head coach Schellas Hyndman and Dallas, however, things could have been quite the contrary had referee Kevin Stott made a different decision in the first half on what will likely be a talking point throughout the week.
WATCH: Dunivant sees yellow for hauling down Castillo
In the 11th minute, red-hot winger Fabián Castillo was played in on goal by David Ferreira and taken down by Galaxy defender Todd Dunivant, who looked to be the final LA defender by quite a few yards. However, Stott showed just a yellow card to Dunivant who went on to score the Galaxy’s second goal later in the match. The decision was one that Hyndman unsurprisingly disagreed with after the game.
“One, is it a foul? Two, if it is a foul, is he the last man on defense?” Hyndman said about the decision. “If you’re the last man on defense and you call a foul, I think you’ve got to call a red card. That’s the way the rules read.”
For FC Dallas, a team that has been shown an MLS-high six red cards this season, it was a tough pill to swallow in a game that meant a great deal to their playoff chances.
“Would [a red card being shown] have made a difference? Absolutely,” Hyndman said. “The facts are that this is a tough place to get the calls.”
With a full 11 on the field, LA put Dallas under heavy pressure all evening and punished a Dallas defensive mixup midway through the second half with Juninho scoring the game-winner. And as if to rub salt in Dallas' wounds, it was Dunivant who ended up chipping in with a rare goal to seal LA's win.
FC Dallas now have just one point in three games this season against LA and sits five points behind Vancouver for the final playoff spot with six games to play.
“I feel like we had a few miscues in the back,” defender Zach Loyd told MLSsoccer.com. “LA is a great team. They’ve proved it over the last couple of years that they’re a great team and they punished us for the mistakes that we made.”
