FRISCO, Texas — Welcome back to Keeping Score: Your complete FC Dallas match day experience.
After more than a month away from MLS regular season play, and a marquee matchup against Lionel Messi and Inter Miami in the Leagues Cup, FC Dallas returns for a home match against Texas rival Austin FC.
FC Dallas has owned the series (four wins, two draws, two losses), but struggled against their Texan counterparts as of late, with the two losses coming in the last three matchups. As was the case in the Frisco finale in 2022, Copa Tejas bragging rights are on the line. FC Dallas needs a win against Austin to keep their hopes alive of winning the supporters-driven cup.
Aside from the Star Wars festivities (which included Darth Vader using the force to light the shield), the players arrived to the stadium with pets from Dallas Pets Alive!, so that was cool.
Now, to the match!
FC Dallas was without star striker Jesus Ferreira, who was out with an illness. The first half did not have much action in either final third, with only one total shot on goal for either team, which belonged to Austin. FC Dallas controlled possession 51% to 49%, and the match was scoreless at halftime.
Midfielder Asier Illarramendi made his MLS debut in the 57th minute for FC Dallas. Illarramendi came to FC Dallas at the beginning of August.
FC Dallas nearly broke the deadlock in the 60th minute. Eugene Ansah fired a right footed shot, forcing a reaction save by Brad Stuver. In the 67th minute, Daniel Pereira picked up his second yellow card of the game (first was in the 45th minute right before half) and he was disqualified from the match. Austin played the remaining 23 minutes with 10 men.
Austin nearly stole the game in the final minutes, as Jon Gallagher hit the post on a counter attack.
With only seconds left in stoppage time, however, Nkosi Tafari knotted home a glancing header to steal the match.
Frisco Foodie Fun
On Star Wars Night, we tried the Birria Bowl. You can find this item at both Tex-Mex Q stands found on the east and west ends of the stadium by the gate entry. It costs $14 after taxes.
There's something about these items that come in bowls. The Birria Bowl was delicious! It comes with slow-cooked birria on top of white rice with cilantro, salsa, onion and lime. I'm a big cilantro guy, so having that flavor in the mix was a plus for me. Definitely recommend.
Check out all the new mid-season additions!
Here's my breakdown of the Toyota Stadium new concession rankings this season:
- Hot Chicken Mac N Cheese
- Double Patty Cherry Pepper Relish Burger.
- Double Stack Quesadilla
- Jerk Chicken Wings
- Funnel sticks with cherry sauce
- Monster Taco
- Elote on a stick
- Vegan tenders
- Birria Grilled Cheese
#DTID Man of the Match
Nkosi Tafari.
I nearly almost gave this to no one, with not a ton of action or impact for 96 minutes. But Tafari stole the show with 30 seconds or so to spare. Game. Set. Match.
Tafari enjoyed it, too. Check out what he said after the match about sending Austin home with a loss:
What they said
Head Coach Nico Estévez
Thoughts on tonight's game…
“We knew it was not going to be an easy game. Austin is a great team, and they have many talented players. We knew that with them coming from a loss they were going to have a big response in tonight's game. We prepared very well even though we had not played in over 20 days and it was sloppy, but we managed to break their great defense and penetrate to get the ball in the net”.
On the importance of winning the Texas Derby…
“It is always important to win these kinds of games. We played well tonight and had several opportunities to score but it was not easy. After Austin lost a man they made everything even harder for us. We fought until the end and it reflected in the field, and us persisting physically and mentally is what allowed us to win the game tonight”.
Forward Paul Arriola
On tonight's game…
“Obviously it feels great to get the three points tonight. It definitely wasn’t our prettiest game but at this point of the season we have to take the win no matter what. That has to be our mentality from the start. If things aren’t going our way or we’re having an off-day tactically and the other team is doing something we’re not used to, we need to adapt and find a way to win. We showed strength when they got a red card and we were able to take control of the game. The team showed a strong mentality from the way we kept pushing and pushing, and it was a great win that we definitely needed to put us back into a spot to continue climbing up the standings. We have more games coming and all we need to think about is winning each game until the end of the season.”
On playing the full game…
“I wasn’t always planning to play the whole game tonight. It was up in the air how long I would last but with the game being tight Nico told me before I would stay in if I felt good and I said of course. It felt great to be out there starting, and I’m really emotional right now with the loss of my mother-in-law, so being able to go out and play for her gave me an extra boost and more strength which made the victory feel that much sweeter
tonight.”
On Nkosi Tafari’s impact…
“Nkosi has been great this season. He’s obviously one of the key guys on our team right now and he’s played great all year. He’s really stepped up in the position and role the coaches have given him. The goal was great, it was a play that makes the difference in games like this. Winning games comes down to doing the little things like sustaining attacks and having chances to finish opportunities like that. I’m really happy for Nkosi and he deserves it. He needs to keep going and we as a team need to keep going in order to get ready for St. Louis.”
Defender Marco Farfan
Thoughts on tonight’s match…
“It feels great that we were able to come away with three points in the Texas Derby game here in front of our fans at home. It feels great knowing that this team, this group here is mentally strong.”
On what he saw during his game-winning assist…
“Obviously Nkosi has been able to capitalize last year and this year on a couple of goals where he goes up during the game. On that cross, I just saw the opportunity where everybody was dropping in and thinking there was going to be a long throw. I saw a lot of space for me to receive the ball and when I got it, I saw a lot of the big bodies there and just put it right where they’re at. They did the rest of the job.”
On how important this win is for confidence moving forward…
“It’s important. Obviously we want to win here and get some confidence. But now it’s enjoy it for a little bit and now move on tomorrow. Tomorrow we flip the page and it’s gonna be a new be a new game against St. Louis and it’s not going to be easy. We’re looking forward to it.”
Defender Nkosi Tafari
On the manner of the win…
“It’s massive. It could’ve been the first game of the season, if we’re playing Austin I’d like to beat them as bad as we can. We need to start to play better but this win can help us get the form that we need going into the last 10 games of the season.”
On keeping the shutout…
“It’s just as big as the win. We did everything we should be doing tonight in terms of the result. In terms of the play on the field, it wasn’t great. But the result of winning and getting a shutout at home, if you do that every game you’d be a champion. We did what we were supposed to tonight.”
On his goal-scoring threat this season (3 goals, 2 assists)...
“It’s something I’ve always had, it’s more of a mindset. I wanted to get more goals and assists this season and you can see I’ve been going forward more and getting in crosses and getting in the box for headers. At the end of the game, just getting in the box and getting the first contact, sometimes it just goes into the net.”
Midfielder Asier Illaramendi
On his debut tonight…
“I am very happy to finally be able to debut and especially in a Derby game as it was very important to take the three points. I am glad I was able to help the team, we fought hard and it is important to keep working hard and be in playoff positions”.
On the upcoming games….
“The team is ready for the upcoming games. We showed it tonight and we are ready to finish the season strong. I trust my team and I know that we are physically and mentally ready for the upcoming week”.
Injury update
- Jesus Ferreira (illness)
What's next/8 ball prediction
FC Dallas heads to St. Louis mid-week to take on the Western Conference's top team. The match is scheduled for kickoff at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 30 from CITYPARK. You can watch the match here on MLS Season Pass.
FC Dallas took the first matchup between the clubs, 2-0, back in June.
"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. At this point, it looks like I'll only get one of the three correct.
- Ferreira: 10/12
- Arriola: 0/12
- Velasco: 2/12
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