MLS FC Dallas

FC Dallas Equals MLS' Best Record with 16th Win of the Season, 2-0, against Vancouver Whitecaps FC

Published on October 15, 2015 under Major League Soccer (MLS)
FC Dallas News Release


FRISCO, Texas (Wednesday, Oct. 14) - FC Dallas (16-10-6, 54 points) equaled the best record in MLS with a decisive 2-0 win over Vancouver Whitecaps FC at Toyota Stadium Wednesday night.

Whitecaps FC controlled the opening 10 minutes, but FC Dallas awoke with counterattack chances in the 11th in 12th minutes. Mauro Diaz set up both opportunities. The first sprung Michael Barrios in on goal from midfield. The Colombian faked going straight to goal and delivered a perfect pass to David Teixeira inside the area. The pass left Vancouver goalkeeper David Ousted helpless, but the score stayed level as the left-footed strike smacked off the left post and was cleared away.

One minute later, Diaz found an overlapping Je-Vaughn Watson and the Jamaican tested the goalkeeper low to his left side. Ousted stayed true to his form against FC Dallas this season and made a solid diving save to his left side to keep the home team off the scoreboard.

Vancouver answered with its own shot off the post in the 19th minute. Kekuta Manneh began the play on the right flank, where he opened up space and got off a low cross into the area. Octavio Rivero set up Gershon Koffie with his first touch and the Ghanaian tried to beat FCD goalkeeper Jesse Gonzalez low to his left side with a bending shot with the outside of his foot. Fortunately for the home side, the attempt found enough of the post to stay out of net.

Teixeira opened the door for a hard strike by Barrios in the 30th minute. The shot from the right side, well inside the area near the end line was slapped away at the last second by Ousted.

Two minutes later Barrios finally unlocked Whitecaps FC's defense thanks to the beautiful build-up play orchestrated by Diaz. The No. 10 worked the left side with Hollingshead and found Barrios at the back post after receiving his second return pass in a crowd of Vancouver defenders. Barrios feinted inside, took the ball to the outside, and beat Ousted down the middle of the goal with a right-footed shot to give FCD a 1-0 lead in the 32nd minute.

Barrios worked his magic again in the 42nd minute after picking off a poor pass from a Whitecaps FC defender. The Colombian sprinted down the left side and cut back at the end line before being brought down in the area by Vancouver defender Tim Parker. Referee Jose Carlos Rivero immediately pointed to the spot, where Diaz stepped in to take the free kick. The Argentine went to the left side of the goalkeeper but Ousted saved the day once again by making a diving save to keep it at a one-goal lead heading into the break.

Diaz made up for not finishing his penalty kick attempt seven minutes into the second half. He recovered the ball deep in Vancouver's half of the field and put on a dribbling display. The Argentine stepped away from the first defender, nutmegged the second and dribbled outside of the third before beating Ousted low to his right side to make it a 2-0 game in the 52nd minute.

FC Dallas' Gonzalez sewed up his fourth clean sheet of the season with his first save of the match in the 82nd minute. The 20-year-old maintained his focus on the ball through a crowd of players and was able to get his knee down to stop a low shot from the top of the box and preserve the shutout.

The strong defensive effort was reliant on the stellar play of center back Zach Loyd. The UNC product stepped in to make several crucial stops throughout the match and limit Vancouver to a single shot on goal.

FC Dallas and the New York Red Bulls are evenly matched with 54 points and 16 wins at the top of the league table heading into the final two matches of the regular season. The Dallas side hits the road for a match at Real Salt Lake on Saturday, Oct. 17, while New York hosts Philadelphia on Sunday. FC Dallas will host San Jose in its final regular-season match on Oct. 25 at Toyota Stadium.

Scoring Summary:

DAL - Michael Barrios (Mauro Diaz, Ryan Hollingshead) 32

DAL - Mauro Diaz 52

FC Dallas - Jesse Gonzalez, Je-Vaughn Watson, Matt Hedges, Zach Loyd, Ryan Hollingshead, Ezequiel Cirigliano, Victor Ulloa, Michael Barrios, Mauro Diaz, Tesho Akindele (Rolando Escobar 69, Atiba Harris 81), David Texeira (Blas Perez 77).

Substitutes Not Used: Dan Kennedy, Michel, Walker Zimmerman, Danny Garcia, Blas Perez.

Total Shots: 14 (David Texeira 4) Shots on Goal: 6 (Michael Barrios 3); Fouls: 14 (2 with 3); Offsides: 1; Corners: 6; Saves: 1 (Jesse Gonzalez 1).

Vancouver Whitecaps FC - David Ousted, Stephen Beitashour, Pa-Modou Kah (Christian Dean 81), Tim Parker, Jordan Harvey, Matias Laba, Russell Teibert (Robert Earnshaw 76), Kekuta Manneh, Octavio Rivero, Deybi Flores (Marco Bustos 61), Gershon Koffie.

Substitutes Not Used: Paolo Tornaghi, Cristian Techera, Jordan Smith, Diego Rodriguez, Diego Rodriguez.

Total Shots: 10 (Kekuta Manneh 3) Shots on Goal: 1 (Kekuta Manneh 1); Fouls: 13 (Matias Laba 4); Offsides: 3; Corners: 4; Saves: 4 (David Ousted 4).

Misconduct Summary:

VAN - Pa-Modou Kah (caution) 46

VAN - Jordan Harvey (caution) 55

DAL - Tesho Akindele (caution) 64

DAL - Je-Vaughn Watson (caution) 80

Referee: Jose Carlos Rivero

Referee's Assistants: Adam Garner, Jonathan Johnson

Fourth Official: Nima Saghafi

Weather: Clear, 88 degrees

Attendance: 11,848

FC Dallas head coach Oscar Pareja

Opening thoughts...

There was a lot of [good] soccer today on the pitch. It was a game that had a lot of emotions and a lot of great plays. Great footballers - both on our team today and also Vancouver. They were a very good team with a very good coach. There were tremendous plays today. I think our fans and the people who came to the stadium enjoyed a game full of great moments. Vancouver made it difficult for us during the first 15 minutes, but after that we started clearing our chances and dominated.

The second half was more level. We knew that they were going to provide us with a ton and we wanted to hold the line and see if there were some spaces behind. The plan worked well.

On Je-Vaughn Watson...

I would start with [JeVaughn Watson's] commitment to his team and the versatility that [he] brings is incredible. He stayed the week here knowing he had an important game with his national team in Korea because he wanted to win this game. I think that the game rewarded him; it was a great performance by JeVaughn.

On Ezequiel Cirigliano...

It was positive to see [Ezequiel Cirigliano] growing with the team. He is very clean with the ball and he's understanding the pace of the league more and more. Sometimes he gets caught here and there with the ball as sometimes in South America we have more time and more space to play. In Major League Soccer, it's a little bit quicker and more physical. He's realizing that now and I'm happy for him to get the 90 minutes tonight.

FC Dallas defender Zach Loyd

General thoughts on the match...

It was a great team performance. Coming into this game, we knew how important it was for us. We had the Red Bull New York game on before the match. We were watching it closely. Once we saw the result, I think it gave us an extra boost knowing that three points would put us in a tie with them on top of the table with two games to go. The guys responded well. We're a good team at home. That has showed all year. We're going to continue to try and finish as high as we can in the West, so we can have that home field advantage throughout the playoffs.

Was this your best performance of the year?

I'm not sure. Any time we get a shutout, I am happy for the back line. I don't really grade personal performances so much. I am more about the team performance. I thought it was a great game for us overall, to be able to rebound after going there and picking up a big tie on the road in Vancouver last week.

On the importance of getting this win to validate last week's tie in Vancouver...

It's huge. If you go there and get a tie, then come home and lose, it didn't really mean anything. If you come out tonight and get a big three points... You put yourself in a position to fight for a trophy... That is something we have not done here in a long time. We put ourselves in the best-possible situation we could be in. I hope we can capitalize on that in the next two weeks.

FC Dallas midfielder Mauro Diaz

We are really happy that we got more points and that we are fighting for the top. We are excited and we are going to keep on fighting for it.

On playing like his old self...

The injuries were getting me, and it feels good playing back to my level.

His mentality when scoring the goal..

I didn't plan anything. It just happened. I saw the opportunity and I took it.

FC Dallas midfielder Victor Ulloa

Huge win of us. We knew what was at stake. We're tied for first place for the Shield. So that's huge for us with two games left. Mentally, it helps us a lot to keep pushing and this club can win something. So that's huge.

On two straight shutouts vs Vancouver...

Yeah, it's one of those things that we want to focus on. We know that we have a lot of offensive power and we know that we can score at any time, and that's the main focus.

Thoughts on the goal set up by Mauro Diaz...

Great goal. Great play. Like I said we have so many offensive weapons. Mauro was huge for us.

On his chemistry with Ezequiel Cirigliano...

Good. I think we are progressing. It's more getting used to how each of the players are. I think we did well tonight. We can do better, but we are definitely working in the right direction.

Vancouver Whitecaps FC head coach Carl Robinson

On tonight's game...

Certain moments change games. They managed to take their chances. They have good players. They're a good team, coached very well. We didn't take our chances. We had numerous chances, numerous shots, but we couldn't score.

His thoughts about making a tactical change at halftime...

Tactically, I think we were very good. David (Ousted) makes a save on a penalty at halftime, which maybe Casper (the Friendly Ghost) is given. I cannot believe it's a penalty. I've watched it about 10 times. It is, but if it would have gone in, I probably would have changed it earlier. Five minutes into the second half, we concede. Bad goal. Miscommunication. We take a chance, but great character shown when you're 2-0 down. It's easy to buckle, but we didn't. We stepped on. Great credit to Marco Bustos coming in making his debut, made things happen for us. We created chances, but we just couldn't score.

Vancouver Whitecaps FC midfielder Marco Bustos

On making his MLS debut...

I felt like a little kid in the park. Getting the call to come in with 30 minutes left, it was a dream come true. I just wanted to go in there and have fun.

On getting his first national cap with Canada last night and then his MLS debut tonight...

I'm not sure I can sum it up. It's an amazing feeling playing for your country, getting my first cap and then making my MLS debut within 24 hours. I left my hotel in Washington DC at 5 a.m. this morning, got here and slept for three hours before the game tonight.

Vancouver Whitecaps FC goalkeeper David Ousted

On saving the Mauro Diaz penalty shot...

The video guys help me out every time, every game. I sit down and go watch penalties and they give me all the information I need. I was well prepared today.

Next FC Dallas home game is Wednesday, October 14th at 8:00 PM vs Whitecaps FC at Toyota Stadium. Purchase your tickets at www.fcdallas.com.

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