MLS FC Dallas

FC Dallas Overcomes 2-0 Deficit to Earn a Draw against Montreal Impact

Published on March 7, 2020 under Major League Soccer (MLS)
FC Dallas News Release


Frisco, TX - FC Dallas fought until the final minute to earn a 2-2 draw at home against Montreal Impact. FC Dallas was down 2-0 in the 68th minute after Maxi Urruti scored a brace against his former club, but Zdenek Ondrasek pulled one back for Dallas with seven minutes left in the game. Ricardo Pepi scored the equalizer six minutes into stoppage time to complete the comeback for Dallas. FC Dallas earns another draw in back-to-back matches against Montreal Impact after trailing most of the match.

Game Summary

First Half:

18' - Zdenek Ondrasek sends a long ball to Michael Barrios who cuts it back and connects with Jesús Ferreira at the top of the box. He sees his effort saved by Clément Diop, who stands tall to deny the midfielder with his right boot.

31' - Matt Hedges has a great chance off a corner, but doesn't get the right connection on his effort, as Diop makes a comfortable save to keep the scoreline at 0-0.

Second Half:

54' - Barrios finds Ondrasek with a perfectly weighted ball over the top, but the striker's powerful strike is blocked by Joel Waterman out for a corner kick.

59' - Maxi Urruti opens the scoring for Montreal with a tap in inside the six. After Orji Okwonkwo's header hit the post, the ball fell kindly to Urruti, who made no mistake in scoring against his former club.

63' - A VAR check for a handball in the box by Montreal finds no foul play and the match resumes with a throw in for FC Dallas.

68' - Urruti finds the back of the net once again. After some nice play from Zachary Brault-Guillard on the right wing, the fullback's cross takes a couple of deflections and finds its way to the feet of Urruti, who simply has to tap in to grab his second goal of the contest.

83' - Ondrasek finds the bottom left corner of the net with a headed effort from a Reggie Cannon cross to pull FC Dallas back to within one and set up a marathon finish to the match.

90'+6' - Ricardo Pepi slots home his first ever MLS goal late in the game after receiving a back heel pass from Zdenek Ondrasek following a Barrios cross.

Lineups:

FC Dallas - Jesse Gonzalez; Ryan Hollingshead, Reto Ziegler, Matt Hedges, Reggie Cannon; Thiago Santos, Tanner Tessmann (Paxton Pomykal - 62'), Jesús Ferreira (Ricardo Pepi - 76'); Fafa Picault (Santiago Mosquera - 62'), Zdenek Ondrasek, Michael Barrios.

Substitutes not used Jimmy Maurer, Bryan Reynolds, Bressan, Johnny Nelson.

Montreal Impact Clément Diop; Luis Binks, Rod Fanni, Joel Waterman; Jorge Corrales, Saphir Taïder, Samuel Piette, Zachary Brault-Guillard; Romell Quioto (Shamit Shome - 86'), Anthony Jackson-Hamel (Orji Okwonkwo - 58'), Maximiliano Urruti (Amar Sejdic - 87').

Substitutes not used: Evan Bush, Mathieu Choinière, Ballou Tabla, Karifa Yao.

Scoring Summary:

MTL: Maxi Urruti (Orji Okwonkwo) - 59'

MTL: Maxi Urruti - 68'

FCD: Zdenek Ondrasek (Reggie Cannon, Thiago Santos) - 83'

FCD: Ricardo Pepi (Zdenek Ondrasek) - 90'+6'

Misconduct Summary:

FCD: Reggie Cannon (caution - 81')

FCD: Reto Ziegler (caution - 85')

Weather: Mostly cloudy, 63

Attendance: 15,865

Referee: Victor Rivas

Assistant Referees: Ian McKay, TJ Zablocki

4th Official: Ramy Touchan

VAR Official: Sorin Stoica

FC Dallas head coach Luchi Gonzalez

Overall thoughts on the match...

Our standard is three points at home. We have to be disappointed. We are disappointed we don't get three points. We need to get every point, every point, at home. You know the challenges away. I hold the boys to a higher standard this season away and that's our expectation

In my evaluation, it was too low and too high. The first half was solid. We created some good chances. Didn't kill but it was solid. Flat 15-25 minutes in the second half. We let them in the game, they defended well and countered us. It was not good enough. We didn't play to our strengths.

I'm disappointed that we didn't get the full three points but, as a coach, I have to love these boys because they don't give up. They reacted and I think if we played another five minutes, I think we would have founded a way to win this game.

On Ricardo Pepi's first MLS goal...

Congrats to our young man, Ricardo. Ricardo scored a very opportunistic goal just buzzing and mobile, active, hungry. He came into the game believing he could change the game and he did. Even without the ball he was pressing. He was closing down their goalkeeper, closing down their right center back, left center back, coming across the field, forcing them to play long and that helped us get back into the game.

On subbing Paxton Pomykal for Tanner Tessmann...

Paxton in our eyes in how he developed this season, last season, he's a 10, seven, 11 option for us. If we need to be very aggressive, push or chase the game, we play him at the eight or a double 10. That was the idea with him and Jesus.

At that point, they're leaving five back, they're just countering, so let's get another number in the box. Let's get Pepi a double nine, maybe we lose a number in the midfield but I saw Paxton dynamic in getting the ball, going up and down. So we gained something in the box, lost in the midfield but it helped us get back in the game.

FC Dallas forward Zdenek Ondrasek

On the early deficit...

Well, we gave them two goals. I think it was too easy, too easy but on the other side at the end of the day, we have to look at the bright side that we went from two-zero in [the] last six, seven, ten minutes for two-two, so it's okay point but it's a disappointment.

Thoughts on personal success so far this season...

I was happy with the goal of course because they blocked two of my big chances so I really wanted to score, help the team. So yeah I wouldn't call the second goal assist because I just, I wanted to shoot and it was a little bit behind me and I'm happy with the goal for (Ricardo) Pepi. His first goal and he gave us the point and it's important.

On the importance of 'Never Die' attitude...

It is important because we showed the fans, we showed everyone that we play until the end. We never give up. As I said, we were disappointed because we wanted to win this game but at the end, we were two-zero down, almost six minutes before the end so the point is okay. We have to take it and go prepare ourselves for New York.

On playing Montreal's back three...

It's a little harder of course because there's more defenders against me but if you play fast, if you play on the ground it doesn't really matter. We had three chances today to make an early cross or go for a goal. If we would be more hungry, I would say in the first half we could have scored the first goal but there were some good crosses but we just weren't there so we have to look at that and be better next game.

FC Dallas forward Ricardo Pepi

Thoughts on the match...

I thought it was a good match. We were down two-zero, I mean, we gotta put some energy, we gotta push the game. We pushed the game and we got a point, I mean, it's not the goal but I mean, we got a point.

On scoring first MLS goal...

I mean, obviously, it's more emotional than scoring with North Texas. It's a bigger level, a higher level. It's the first one but there's more to come.

On what was going through his mind when Luci called his name to go in the game...

I mean, I just wanted to come in the game, push the team, give them some energy, give them some emotions, and I felt like I did a great job and we caught up.

On what he saw on buildup to the goal...

I saw Reggie when he crossed the ball and then I saw Coby just flick it and it was coming my way and I just didn't really think about it. I just shot it and it went in.

On his goals for the season...

Obviously, I want to score more goals with FC Dallas, I want to have more games, more starts, more minutes but I mean, we got to keep working hard.

FC Dallas midfielder Michael Barrios

On the importance of earning a point today...

We knew it was going to be a difficult match, it's a team that is well prepared and they have a great coach and great players. In the first half we didn't take advantage of the chances we had in the first half. In the second half we lowered the rhythm of the game, and they took advantage of the two scoring opportunities. Thanks to God we are able to push at the end and earn a point at home. It wasn't what we wanted, but that's how god wanted it and how the game is. Now we just rest and see what errors were made and work on it during the week to prepare for our first away game of the season.

On coming back against Montreal for two years in a row...

We always want to start winning at home against our rivals. But, with Montreal we struggle a bit. Last season we were down 3-0 in Montreal and today 2-0. We know we are a team who always believes and works hard till the end of the match. We maybe could have won it in the last play at the end but that's how it is. That's how football is, and we need to keep working to improve.

Montreal Impact head coach Thierry Henry

General thoughts on the match...

We can improve. We could have kept the score at two nil but we did improve because it could have been 2 or 3-0 for Dallas in the first half. We did Improve in the second half, we came back with the way I would like my team to play. Respecting the opposition on and off the ball, it became more difficult for Dallas to play. Then after the second goal, for some reason we dropped a bit too much, and they got a hold of the ball too much. They got more crosses inside and scored. What a header from Ondrasek, I don't know how the ball got to the second post, and it was a good finish. Overall, I think it was a fair draw, but we reacted in the second half.

His thoughts on Urruti's performances...

Very good, I've been saying for a long time that Maxi [Urruti] doesn't need to score to play well. At the moment he is scoring, last year he had four [goals all season] and now he has three. People are going to talk about it, but still they are going to talk about the way he plays and the way he works for the team. If you can add goals, like I said, it is good.

On heading into the next match vs. Olimpia for CCL...

What I am planning is to see what players are going to recover and recover well. Because we played against Saprissa so that is two more games. It's going to be two more games against Olimpia. The traveling of course but we play them at home first. It is what it is, you have to adjust to what the league is giving you and what the champions league is giving you and that's just the way it is. You saw a couple players finishing with cramps, but hey you have to deal with that.

Montreal Impact forward Maxi Urruti

General thoughts on the match...

For me the first 45 minutes we played well. We started much better in the second half and this is more important for the team.

On scoring two goals today vs FC Dallas...

I am very happy to score, but Dallas is my home. I don't celebrate because of respect for the club and the fans. For my family when they stayed here, they were very happy at this club. But now we have to focus on the next match.

On coming back to Dallas for the first time since 2018...

I am very happy; I was welcomed the best way possible by the fans. I am happy to be back and like I mentioned earlier, I had a great time here. The best memories I have were created here. I didn't celebrate out of respect for the fans. We lived wonderful things in the club and we celebrated titles together. I think it would be wrong for me to celebrate because of the relationship I have with the fans.

Montreal Impact defender Joel Waterman

On a bittersweet ending...

Yeah, obviously we didn't come out the way we wanted in the first half, and came out a bit flat. But I think it was a better second half for sure. I think we died off a little bit. You know, that stuff will come and obviously we wanted to take away the three points but coming into a tough environment like this, we'll settle for one.

On seeing glass half full no matter what...

Yeah, I think so I mean obviously when you're involved in two competitions at one time it becomes difficult but we're not making any excuses. We were two-nil up with 15 to go and we should've preserved the lead but like the boss said, we come away with a point against a tough Dallas team. Still undefeated, we'll take it for now.

On facing pressure from Dallas...

Yeah, I think so. I think it was more on us more than anything. We knew, kind of what their game plan was and what they were going to do but we just came out a bit lethargic and we came out a bit slow and like I said, the second half was a bit better. The first 25-30 [minutes] of that second half was really, really good and that's when we got our two goals and then like I said, we died off a little bit but that'll come.

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