After a wild and entertaining first half, FC Dallas took control following intermission and handed the New England Revolution their first home loss, a 4-2 decision that featured a pair of goals from Tesho Akindele.
Akindele scored in the fifth minute (on a penalty) and the 90th to give FC Dallas their third road win of the season and momentarily lift the visitors into first place in the Western Conference and the Supporters Shield standings, only for Colorado to snatch back the top spot after a 1-0 win in Seattle later on Saturday night.
Dallas took the lead for good on a Fabian Castillo goal in the 70th minute and Akindele's second put it away. The two-goal second half was comparatively tame after the first half saw four goals and two substitutions, both forced by injury.
FC Dallas lost forward Michael Barrios when he was fouled by Revs goalkeeper Bobby Shuttleworth in the second minute. Dallas was awarded a penalty on the play, and Akindele converted to give FCD the early lead. Barrios tried to play on but couldn't, and was subbed out in the eighth minute.
New England scored twice to take the lead before losing midfielder Gershon Koffie to a knee injury in the 28th minute. A header by Juan Agudelo off a Lee Nguyen free kick in the 23rd minute, and a Nguyen penalty in the 26th minute had put the Revs in control. But before halftime, Dallas had tied the score again, when Atiba Harris headed in a corner from substitute Kellyn Acosta in the 36th minute.
Box Score
- 5’ – DAL – Tesho Akindele (PK)
- 23’ – NE – Juan Agudelo (Lee Nguyen)
- 26' – NE – Lee Nguyen (PK)
- 36' – DAL – Atiba Harris (Kellyn Acosta)
- 70' – DAL – Fabian Castillo
- 90' – DAL – Tesho Akindele (Kellyn Acosta)
- Full box score
- Stats
- Highlights
Three Things
1. A PROBLEM AT THE BACK: New England has been searching for a center back combination it can trust, and coach Jay Heaps turned to Sambinha, the loaner from Sporting Lisbon, to see if he could be the answer. In his first start with the Revs, Sambinha was not. The score was score tied, 2-2, when Sambinha turned to chase a long ball played over his head into the New England box. With the speedy Fabian Castillo lurking, Sambinha tried to swing his foot at the ball and clear it to the sideline, but he whiffed. Castillo then gobbled up the loose ball and slipped it past goalkeeper Bobby Shuttleworth for the game-winning goal.
2. MAYBE HE SHOULD HAVE STARTED: When FC Dallas forward Michael Barrios was forced out of the game in the eighth minute because of an injury, the visitors replaced him with midfielder Kellyn Acosta. All Acosta did was provide two assists, the first on a corner that was headed in for the tying goal in the 36th minute, and the second on a sweet pass to Akindele that set up the insurance goal that sealed the result.
3. KEI YET TO CONNECT: Playing his second game since being traded to the Revolution from the Columbus Crew, striker Kei Kamara played a strong game and had a couple decent chances but wasn't able to score. As active as Kamara has been for New England, though, it seems only a matter of time before he notches his first goal as a Revs player.
Next Up
