FRISCO, Texas – In a battle between two teams fighting for Western Conference playoff positioning, both clubs continued their recent trajectories in FC Dallas’ 3-1 win over the Colorado Rapids on Saturday.
Dallas made it eight straight unbeaten league games while the Rapids slumped to a third consecutive defeat. Coincidentally, Dallas’ run began with a 3-2 win over the Rapids on June 7, as coach Oscar Pareja has made it two wins out of two over his old team.
The game was in Dallas’ favor quickly, as the Texas club scored twice in the first 11 minutes, and they added a third early in the second half to seal the victory. An 86th minute penalty got Colorado on the board and gifted them their first goal in 281 minutes of league play.
After some early FC Dallas pressure, captain Matt Hedges put away a rebound in the 9th minute after a dangerous cross from Michel. A minute later, Colorado defender Marvell Wynne was whistled for fouling Dallas forward Tesho Akindele in the corner the Rapids’ penalty area, leading to a penalty kick conversion by Michel to make it 2-0.
The Rapids pressured from the start of the second half in a bid to get back into the game, and forced Hedges to make a goal-line save in the 52nd minute, stealing a goal from Jose Mari.
But Dallas put the game away in the 56th minute with some good possession, working the ball forward along their attacking left side. Again, Michel played provider, putting in a cross to Blas Perez near the Colorado penalty spot. The ball made it through to an onrushing Fabian Castillo from the right wing and the Colombian finished crisply for the final goal.
Late in the match, Je-Vaughn Watson made contact with Gabriel Torres and was whistled for a foul as the Rapids player was going towards goal near the Dallas endline. Torres converted the penalty in the 86th to round out the scoring and give Colorado their first goal since July 25.
Dallas return to aciton on Tuesday in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup semifinals when they host the Philadelphia Union. Their next MLS match is in San Jose on Aug. 13.
The Rapids next play at D.C. United on Aug. 17.
MLSsoccer.com Men of the Match
Rank |
Player |
What We Saw |
1 |
<a href="//www.mlssoccer.com/players/michel-garbini-pereira" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: 12px;">Michel</span></a> |
Played provider on two of the Dallas goals with wonderful deliveries from wide and added a PK. |
2 |
<a href="//www.mlssoccer.com/players/matt-hedges" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: 12px;">Matt Hedges</span></a> |
Defender was stellar on both ends, scoring the opener and making a great goal-line save in the second half. |
3 |
<a href="//www.mlssoccer.com/players/vicente-sanchez" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: 12px;">Vicente Sanchez</span></a> |
A shining light for Colorado in the loss. The 34-year old Uruguayan was dangerous all night on the right wing. |
