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MLS FC Dallas

FC Dallas Downs Philadelphia Union, 2-0, to Remain Perfect

March 21, 2015 - Major League Soccer (MLS)
FC Dallas News Release


PHILADELPHIA (Saturday, March 21) - FC Dallas knocked in two second-half goals and maintained a clean sheet to pick up a 2-0 victory over Philadelphia at PPL Park today, improving to 3-0-0 on the year.

Mauro Diaz nearly put FC Dallas up a goal in the second minute of the match. Moises Hernandez released Fabian Castillo into space up the left flank and the Colombian took the ball to the end line before playing a pass back into the path of Diaz, who struck a first-time shot just wide of the back post.

The near miss awoke Philadelphia and the home side controlled possession for the next 18 minutes of the match. Twice the Union troubled FC Dallas goalkeeper Chris Seitz, who was making his first start at PPL Park since last playing for the Union on Sept. 4, 2010. Philadelphia's best chance came in the eighth minute when Sebastien Le Toux slipped a ball inside the box to Zach Pfeffer. The midfielder maneuvered around Zach Loyd, forcing Seitz off his line to cut down on Pfeffer's shooting angle. Pfeffer opted to slide the ball in front of the goal, rather than shoot and FC Dallas' Atiba Harris was in position to cut out the pass and keep the match scoreless.

The Philadelphia Union were forced to play the final 49 minutes of the match a man down when Pfeffer was shown a straight red in the 41st minute for a foul on Diaz.

Dallas was able to take advantage of the extra man power just four minutes into the second half when Diaz got a foot in defensively and knocked the ball back into Philadelphia's half. The 2014 MLS Rookie of the Year took advantage as Tesho Akindele took the ball off the foot of a Union defender and ran at goalkeeper Rais M'bolhi. Just as Akindele crossed into the area, the forward picked out the far corner of the goal and put FC Dallas up 1-0 in the 49th minute.

FC Dallas took a 2-0 lead in the 59th minute when Castillo received the ball on the left flank. The young midfielder faked a cut towards goal before delivering a pass to the top of the box for Ryan Hollingshead. The second-half substitute walked around a defender and notched the first goal of his professional career on a low shot towards the back post. Hollingshead placed his shot perfectly and the ball tapped the inside of the same bar Akindele had scored at 10 minutes earlier to give the visitors a two-goal advantage.

Scoring Summary:

DAL - Tesho Akindele 49

DAL - Ryan Hollingshead (Fabian Castillo) 59

FC Dallas - Chris Seitz, Moises Hernandez, Matt Hedges, Zach Loyd, Atiba Harris, Victor Ulloa, Michel (Ryan Hollingshead 46), Fabian Castillo, Mauro Diaz (David Texeira 87), Tesho Akindele, Blas Perez (Kyle Bekker 79).

Substitutes Not Used: Jesse Gonzalez, Kellyn Acosta, Walker Zimmerman, Je-Vaughn Watson.

Total Shots: 11 (Fabian Castillo 6) Shots on Goal: 4 (Fabian Castillo 2); Fouls: 15 (Ryan Hollingshead 4); Offsides: 3 (Atiba Harris, Mauro Diaz, Blas Perez); Corners: 2 (Michel 2); Saves: 5 (Chris Seitz 5).

Philadelphia Union - Rais M'bolhi, Steven Vitoria, Ethan White (Michael Lahoud ), Raymon Gaddis, Sheanon Williams (Fabinho 22), Andrew Wenger (Eric Ayuk Mbu 74), Vincent Nogueira, Maurice Edu, Zach Pfeffer, Sebastian Le Toux, Fernando Aristeguieta.

Substitutes Not Used: Dzenan Catic, John McCarthy, Vrian Carroll, Richie Marquez.

Total Shots: 12 (Fernando Aristeguieta 5) Shots on Goal: 5 (Fernando Aristeguieta 3); Fouls: 12 (Steven Vitoria 3); Offsides: 2 (Andrew Wenger, Sebastian LeToux 1); Corners: 5 (Zach Pfeffer 4); Saves: 2 (Rais M'bolhi 2).

Misconduct Summary:

PHL - Vincent Nogueira (caution) 23

DAL - Michel (caution) 26

DAL - Victor Ulloa (caution) 31

PHL - Fabinho (caution) 32

PHL - Zach Pfeffer (ejection) 41

PHL - Sebastian Le Toux (caution) 86

DAL - Ryan Hollingshead (caution) 90+1

Referee: Jose Carlos Rivero

Referee's Assistants: Peter Manikowski, Eric Weisbrod

Fourth Official: Robert Sibiga

Weather: Sunny, 50 degrees

Attendance: 16,031

Time of game: 1:53

FC Dallas head coach Oscar Pareja

On the hot start to the season and Seattle next week...

We enjoyed a big three points today, but the team understands it's a journey. We're focusing on the next one. That's the way we operate here. Now we are going to start our preparation for the next match, which is not just important but against a very good team and at our home, so we keep going. This is the time that we need to keep looking at things one step at a time.

Keys to next match...

For me, I see the team effort as a unit - I don't really single one out, I think it's everybody's effort that's taken us to this point so far. Everybody is doing a great job, our boys including the guys who come from the bench, they are doing a lot of stuff to help the team get points.

FC Dallas goalkeeper Chris Seitz:

Overall thoughts on the game and season so far...

It's good. You know, we've had a hot start but at the same time we've been smart about it. We're finding places we need to continue to work on and we work on those throughout the week and continue to get better. It's super early in the season so we know that success is not easy and we are going to continue to push for it, and continue next week at home.

On keeping a clean sheet today...

They broke us on our left side early on once or twice. I'm not sure who it was, but he had a ball across and I got a little leg to it, but outside of that, everything defensively was really, really strong today. We limited them to terrible angles to shoot on me and made things really easy for me and look, our team came out and beat a good team today. Obviously being down a man is not easy but it's not easy to attack a team that just sits back as well. So for us we took our time and knew we were gonna get our chances in the second half and we made sure we finished them.

FC Dallas forward Tesho Akindele

On today's goal and the team so far this season...

Yeah it was my first goal. I think that their left back - Fabinho - just held the ball a little too long so I got up on him, stole it from him, and then I had a one-on-one with the keeper and that was the end of it.

I think it's just all about confidence, right now our team is feeling confident. We feel like our defense is playing well - shutting people out - and we're finding goals everywhere, and on offense we're pretty confident.

On how the team can improve...

Right now, I think we just need to keep playing the way we are. I feel like we're doing well, we've obviously won three games so not really improving anywhere, just playing the way we are.

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Major League Soccer Stories from March 21, 2015


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