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FC Dallas Suffers 2-0 Defeat to Seattle Sounders FC in Postseason Opener

October 31, 2023 - Major League Soccer (MLS)
FC Dallas News Release


Seattle, WA - FC Dallas falls 2-0 to the Seattle Sounders FC in the first match of the Audi 2023 MLS Cup Playoffs Round One Best-of-3 series at Lumen Field on Monday night.

WELCOME TO THE PLAYOFFS

Six FC Dallas players made their MLS Playoffs debuts tonight: Nkosi Tafari, Asier Illarramendi, Dante Sealy, Sam Junqua, Eugene Ansah and Bernard Kamungo. Tafari and Illarramendi started and played the full 90 minutes while Sealy, Junqua, Ansah and Kamungo appeared as second-half substitutes.

POSTSEASON OVERALL RECORD

With tonight's 2-0 defeat to Seattle Sounders FC at Lumen Field, FC Dallas' postseason record falls to 14-26-10. Dallas is 2-5-2 all-time against the Sounders and 0-4-2 in Seattle.

UNBEATEN STREAK SNAPPED

FC Dallas nine-game regular season unbeaten streak came to an end on Monday evening. The last MLS loss for Dallas came 61 days ago on August 30 at St. Louis CITY SC.

UP NEXT: GAME TWO VS SEATTLE AT TOYOTA STADIUM

FC Dallas will take on the Seattle Sounders in game two of the Round One Best-of-3 series on Saturday, November 4 at 8 PM CT from Toyota Stadium in Frisco, Texas. The match will air on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV, the FC Dallas app, Talk Radio 1190 AM, Zona MX 99.1 FM and SiriusXM FC channel 157. Tickets are available at fcdallastickets.com

Lineups

FC Dallas - Maarten Paes; Marco Farfan (Sam Junqua - 70'), Nkosi Tafari, Sebastien Ibeagha, Ema Twumasi; Asier Illarramendi, Paxton Pomykal (Bernard Kamungo - 77'), Alan Velasco (Liam Fraser - 18'); Paul Arriola (Eugene Ansah - 77'), Jesús Ferreira, Jáder Obrian (Dante Sealy - 70').

Substitutes not used - Jimmy Maurer, Jesús Jiménez, Dante Sealy, Sebastian Lletget, Amet Korça.

Seattle Sounders FC - Stefan Frei; Nouhou Tolo, Jackson Ragen, Yeimar Gómez Andrade, Alex Roldan; Joshua Atencio, João Paulo; Léo Chú (Nicolás Lodeiro - 66'), Albert Rusnák, Cristian Roldan; Jordan Morris (Raúl Ruidíaz - 83').

Substitutes not used - Stefan Cleveland, Paul Rothrock, Xavier Arreaga, Obed Vargas, Fredy Montero, Kelyn Rowe, Héber.

Scoring Summary:

SEA: Albert Rusnák (penalty kick) - 43'

SEA: Jordan Morris (Nouhou Tolo) - 74'

Misconduct Summary:

DAL: Jesús Ferreira (caution) - 45'+3'

SEA: Jackson Ragen (caution) - 52'

DAL: Nkosi Tafari (caution) - 81'

Weather: Sunny, 52ºF

Attendance: 30,741

POSTGAME QUOTES FC DALLAS

Head Coach Nico Estévez

Thoughts on the performance...

"In the second half, we didn't bring the energy that we had in the first half. It was difficult for us to control the game. We changed the formation to see if we could do something different. I think we got more control on long balls and playing in behind but we were a little bit disorganized in the defensive shape and they found ways to hurt us. The second goal is a goal we shouldn't allow, we have to defend better. They had one player and we had three defenders inside the box."

On the first-half substitution following the injury to Alan Velasco...

"We had some restrictions on the bench because (Sebastian) Lletget and Bernard (Kamungo) could only play 25 minutes due to the injuries they had. We could either change the formation to play in a 4-4-2 with Jáder (Obrian) up top and Dante (Sealy) as a winger or could stick with the formation (4-3-3) and put Liam (Fraser) in there. Because we thought we were doing well when we decided to bring Liam in."

On Alan Velasco's injury status...

"We'll have to do more testing, an MRI probably on Wednesday. We'll have to do more testing to see what's going on there."

On the message to the team after the game...

"We approached the game in the right way. At the end of the day, these kinds of games are about details - as we've seen in all the games that have been played. When you have chances, you have to score it. We saw it yesterday with Kansas City, when they had the chances, they scored and they were able to win away. We had the chances but we didn't capitalize on those. Obviously when you play away, the opponent is going to have some chances because they are playing at home but I think we were controlling well, and details are making us not be able to win here. We have to be critical with our staff and our performances, collectively and individually. We need to see what things we can learn and we can do better. And when we play Saturday, the message is that we want to come back and play here."

Defender Sebastien Ibeagha

On what can be corrected ahead of Saturday...

"We had a lack of energy which is unusual for us. We need to come in with more confidence and believe in ourselves. The penalty was a penalty but we needed to shrug that off immediately to get back into the game. We created two key chances before that penalty against us, which we should have put away. Those two chances could have changed the outcome of the game. It's disappointing but we need to pick ourselves back up and bring more energy to the game."

Midfielder Paxton Pomykal

On the team's mentality...

"Another opportunity on Saturday. That's all we got to say about the game tonight. We need to turn the page and fortunately for us, it's best-of-3 so we are looking forward to the game at home."

Defender Nkosi Tafari

On Nico's message after the game...

"It was unacceptable and our energy was not there. It's a playoff game against the Seattle Sounders FC, and we need to be aware of who we are playing and where we are playing. Outside of that, it's 11 versus 11."

On the missed opportunities tonight...

"It's still a 90 minute game, regardless of whether they were to win 6-1 or 5-1. There's no aggregate. A loss is a loss no matter how you look at it. The worst part about this for me was the loss of Alan (Velasco). That's the most detrimental and he's family and a brother to us. Outside of that, we know you have to win two games to advance anyways and we know we have to win a game in Seattle. Regardless we know what we have to do."

Forward Paul Arriola

On the takeaways from the game...

"We know what to expect for next game. The beauty of the three-game series is being able to play the first one and then have another opportunity to come back, whether it's a win or a loss. For us, I thought we did a great effort to match their intensity and their atmosphere all things considered. But it wasn't enough. We didn't take our chances, we gave up a penalty and when we were chasing the game they created better chances than we did and finished it. We're looking forward to getting back to Dallas and looking forward to Saturday."

On the pressure of Saturday's must-win game...

"It's going to be great. We have to step up, we know it wasn't good enough tonight. But at the same time, we get a second chance and how often do you get a second chance in sports? We're going to be ready, we know our fans are going to be rocking the stadium-just like Seattle's were tonight. It should be fun and we're going to come out flying."

On the team's missed chances...

"It's kind of been our season whether it be myself or any of the other front three. But there's no time to dwell on it. If you dwell on things it's not going to lead to anything great for us. We'll be professionals about moving onto the next game and what's in front of us, not what's in the past. We know what we have to do. We can create chances just like we did tonight. It's about burying them and if we do it, we'll win games."

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Major League Soccer Stories from October 31, 2023


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