AUSTIN, Texas — Welcome back to Keeping Score: Your complete FC Dallas match day experience.
In yet another Texas rivalry which FC Dallas has dominated since its inception (four wins, two ties and one loss in three seasons), the Toros made the shortest road trip of their season to the state's capital, Austin. FC Dallas and Austin FC squared off just a little over a month ago in mid-May, where FC Dallas left Q2 Stadium with three points.
Wednesday's match was the second of three matchups between the clubs in 2023, with Austin coming to Frisco later this season in August. Since these two last played, FC Dallas has gone 2-3-2 (win-loss-tie) and Austin FC has gone 3-4-0.
The game's start time was already moved from 7:30 p.m. local time to 8:30 p.m. due to excessive heat warnings in Texas, but it got delayed even further due to thunderstorms in the area. The game eventually began at 10:07 p.m.
Here's how it shook out in Austin:
Austin FC took the early lead in the 17th minute after Jon Gallagher crossed the ball into the box, and it trickled to Ethan Finlay. The winger finished it home for the first goal of the game.
Diego Fagundez added another goal to extend Austin's lead in the first half. After Maarten Paes punched out a cross, Fagundez caught Paes off his line and chipped a shot into the net from outside the 18-yard box.
In the 58th minute, Gyasi Zardes continued the scoring for Austin, making it 3-0. The goal came on a connection from Julio Cascante to Nick Lima, who then found Zardes on a diagonal run through the FC Dallas back line.
With the loss, FC Dallas has lost four of their last five matches and have won three of their last 10 matches.
FC fit check
Business trip model again. We've seen the uniform look before from the team on road trips. Comfy. Cool. Casual.
Frisco Foodie Fun
Nothing this week since it's an away match.
Here's my breakdown of the Toyota Stadium new concession rankings this season:
- Hot Chicken Mac N Cheese
- Double Stack Quesadilla
- Monster Taco
- Elote on a stick
- Vegan tenders
- Birria Grilled Cheese
#DTID Man of the Match
Maarten Paes.
While he did concede XX goals, Paes made numerous highlight reel saves that kept the result from being even worse. The FC Dallas keeper entered the match third in MLS in save percentage, and he showed again he's a top tier goalkeeper in the league.
What they said
Head Coach Nico Estévez
General thoughts on the match…
“I don’t like excuses, especially me. As a team, I think we have to know that we came here to compete in this game. I'm disappointed with our focus on the defensive side; (that) is this something that we had to do better. I expressed that to the players but, overall, in the first half besides a couple plays that we had to defend, we had some good possessions, good crosses into the box. We lacked a little bit of confidence in the last third. I think we had a really good set piece right at the beginning of the game where we could have scored a goal.
I think in the second half they came out strong and I think we came up a little bit hesitant. When you come in hesitant to a game against Austin - you cannot do that. This is the difference. On May 13th we didn't hesitate and today we hesitated.”
On dealing with so many players out…
Thing about that is that we’re very unlucky because now that Jesús (Ferreira) is gone Jesús Jimenez could take that chance and help us. This is why we brought him and he was very unlucky to get injured in the game against Portland.
Overall for not having a striker, I think we created really good chances. Sam Junqua had a really good shot in the second half that was close to scoring. Edwin Cerrillo had a good shot outside the box. Alan (Velasco) also had a good shot. We had a couple good crosses there. We had the set piece. Overall, we want to better but we learned a lot in this game in terms of what we can do without Jesús Ferreira and Jesús Jimenez.
On Maarten Paes’ play tonight
“If you look at you look at the second-half, what a great response from Maarten. What an amazing response after we were unlucky to concede that goal. What an amazing response that he had. Only the big players have that mentality to switch, you know, to go and just win the next moment, the next action. I think that it shows how strong he is and how good he is, you know, because he could just start thinking about what happened and not the next action. He won every other action that he had in the game and I think that is impressive for me and I looked a lot from that.”
Defender Amet Korça
On making his MLS debut with FC Dallas…
“It means a lot to my family and I. Unfortunate to lose like that in the Texas Derby. I am grateful for the coaching staff who gave me the opportunity to come in and make my debut.”
On moving on to the next game…
“We will move on from this match. There were some mistakes and miscommunications throughout the match tonight. I know we will work hard and look to bounce back in our upcoming match.”
On the team effort put in tonight…
“I believe we could have done a bit better. Sometimes the game of football doesn’t go your way and the only thing you can do is just move on.”
Defender Collin Smith
General thoughts on the match…
“It’s an unlucky result but we are looking to bounce back against LAFC. We want to put this behind us and head into the next match to earn some points. It’s behind us now and we are moving on.”
On keeping focus throughout weather delays…
“You could say we are accustomed to the delays. It’s more about being ready at any given moment. It’s about keeping that focus whether the game is delayed 30 minutes or up to two hours. You have to be ready to perform once the game starts.”
On playing in a forward position…
“It’s been a great transition, I am always ready to learn on the fly. That is one of my quality traits. It’s great being able to come back and help the team with a 60 minute shift. Having the support from the guys makes the transition easier. We tried our best tonight, but we will come back harder next game.”
Injury update
- OUT: Tarik Scott (season-ending injury)
- OUT: Paul Arriola (quad)
- OUT: Paxton Pomykal (quad)
- OUT: Tsiki Ntsabeleng (Knee sprain)
- OUT: Ema Twumasi (ankle)
- OUT: Jesús Jiménez (ankle)
- OUT: José Martínez (knock)
What's next/8 ball prediction
FC Dallas has a nine-day break before taking on defending champion LAFC at home on July 1. FC Dallas lost to LAFC earlier this season on the road in Los Angeles, 2-1.
TV information: Apple TV+ – MLS Season Pass – 7:30 CST (kickoff at 7:39 p.m.).
"8 ball" bold prediction tracker:
At the beginning of the season, I said FC Dallas would have three players score 12-plus goals this season: Jesus Ferreira, Paul Arriola and Alan Velasco.
- Ferreira: 10/12
- Arriola: 0/12
- Velasco: 2/12
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