FRISCO, Texas – Fabián Castillo continued his hot run for FC Dallas, scoring the first of two goals in the club’s victory over the San Antonio Scorpions of the North American Soccer League in the fourth round of the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup at Toyota Stadium on Tuesday night.
It was Castillo’s third consecutive and sixth goal overall in all competitions for FC Dallas. The young Colombian has had a strong run over the past month, finding ways to finish the chances that he has been getting for much of the season.
“You look at him, he’s confident,” FCD goalkeeper Chris Seitz told reporters postgame. “He is putting in complete performances. He’s taking guys on in the right part of the field and he’s working on both sides of the ball.”
A 40-yard cross from veteran midfielder Andrew Jacobson in behind the Scorpions backline found Castillo in the penalty area and the winger left no doubt with a strong finish, beating San Antonio’s Jeremy Vuolo between the legs.
“The key is we were able to possess it for a while and not go so direct, try to pull them out a little bit,” said Jacobson. “At that point, you just have to put it into any kind of space and he’s gone.”
The game finished 2-0 after Castillo's fellow Colombian, Andrés Escobar, finished a pass that unlocked the San Antonio defense in the 81st minute, but it was Castillo’s finish in the 74th that really ended the game. Up until that moment, San Antonio had absorbed much of the pressure from Dallas and had applied some of their own, but as the second half wore on, the Scorpions' legs were getting tired.
“Watching the first half, I had an idea what needed to happen going into the second half,” Jacobson, a second-half substitute for rookie Tesho Akindele, explained to reporters. “It was a tough game, a tough first half. I think we wore them down a little bit.”
