FRISCO, Texas — FC Dallas advanced to the the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Round of 16 after a 1-0 victory in the Round of 32 against Memphis 901 FC on Tuesday night.
The Toros were led to victory thanks to a goal from forward Logan Farrington, who scored his first professional goal in all competitions. In the 73rd minute, forward Jesús Ferreira crossed the ball into the box on a free kick, which Farrington played down off his chest and struck the ball first time into the goal.
“Everyone thought there was supposed to be a whistle blown before Jesús (Ferreira) could take the free kick," Farrington said. "I noticed the defensive line of Memphis for the free kick were unorganized and I kept focusing on that so Jesús could catch that as well. We locked eyes and he played a perfect ball into me. I was able to control it and keep it close to me so I could smash it into the back of the net.”
FC Dallas' win improved their all-time U.S. Open Cup record to 37-23-6, club officials said, including a home record of 24-7-3. FC Dallas is 2-2-0 in the Open Cup under head coach Nico Estevez.
FC Dallas is only one of eight MLS clubs that entered their first team in the U.S. Open Cup tournament.
“It’s a special tournament," Estevez said. "All of the first round games are difficult as the opponents come with energy. If you don’t score early and close the game out, you can have a difficult game. I think overall, we’re sticking together really well. We had some issues defending in the first half but we adjusted that at halftime. I think the adjustments we made at halftime, offensively and defensively, helped us to be more of a threat and aggressive. At the end, we couldn’t score more goals, and this is why it’s very important to score the first goal. It was late for us, but I think we gained good experience and now we have to recover and get ready for Austin.”
Estevez elected to play arguably the best starting lineup he could for the match, not resting any players for the non-MLS match.
“The idea is that we’ll rotate some guys on Saturday in order to allow them to play a full game today and Saturday. I think it is important for us to keep building what we are doing and to play together as a team," Estevez said. "We are not doing well at the beginning of this season. I think if we keep building, keep improving, keep getting better and playing together, it’ll help us get to where we want to be.”
FC Dallas' next match is a Saturday MLS match against Copa Tejas rival Austin FC. Austin FC won the first match-up between the two teams earlier this season, 2-1.
FC Dallas will travel in the Round of 16 to take on the winner between USL Championship sides, Tampa Bay Rowdies and Birmingham Legion FC. The Round of 16 will be played on May 21-22.
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