In front of a sellout crowd at Toyota Stadium on Sunday night, FC Dallas got to witness the greatness that is Lionel Messi as the two sides traded goals on the way to a 4-4 draw that ended with Miami winning on penalties 5-3.
Messi scored two goals and assisted on another, while FC Dallas got goals from Alan Velasco, Bernard Kamungo and Facundo Quignon.
FC Dallas nearly got on the board in the 3rd minute on a cross by Geovane Jesus that found Bernard Kamungo in the penalty box. Kamungo headed the ball toward the goal as Jesus Ferreira managed to pluck the ball down and find the back of the net. Unfortunately for FC Dallas, the call was ruled offside.
Three minutes later, Miami struck the back of the net as Messi took hammered a ball past Maarten Paes. Initially, it looked like this goal would be called off due to interference by Josef Martinez, but a video review would overturn the call to give Miami the early advantage.
FC Dallas had a couple of good chances in the attack, but in the 37th minute, they managed to tie the game up with Quignon finding the back of the net. Marco Farfan got free on the left wing and crossed the ball into the penalty box, where Jader Obrian got a slight touch on it before it landed in a perfect spot for Quignon to volley it into the far post.
Just before halftime, FC Dallas took the lead on a quick counterattack strike that Velasco set up. Velasco picked off a Miami pass in the Dallas defensive end and immediately played Ferreira into Miami defensive area. Ferreira held the ball up to allow Kamungo to get into the attack. Kamungo took a couple of touches around a Miami defender before firing a ball into the back of the net.
FC Dallas doubled their lead in the second half after missing a couple of good chances on goal. In the 63rd minute, Farfan was fouled outside the penalty box by DeAndre Yedlin. Velasco stepped up to take the kick and shot the ball through the traffic to beat the Miami keeper at the far post.
That lead didn’t last long as two minutes later Ben Cremaschi came off the bench and scored off a Messi pass at the near post with his first touch of the game.
FC Dallas managed to regain the two-goal advantage two minutes later on another counterattack led by Velasco. He played the ball wide to Paul Arriola who then played a ball back across the goal where Miami’s Robert Taylor attempted to clear the ball but into his own net.
Miami pulled another one back in the 80th minute on a Messi free kick from outside the penalty box. Messi curled in a ball into the penalty box that Farfan unfortunately headed into his own goal.
Miami tied it up in the 84th minute on a Messi free kick. Just as he’s done time and time again in his career, Messi curled a ball over the Dallas wall and past Paes for his seventh goal of the tournament.
In the penalty round, Messi scored first for Miami. Arriola tied it up for Dallas. Busquets added a second for Miami. Pomykal’s attempt to tie it back up went way over the bar. Leo Campana scored again for Miami before Quignon added one more for Dallas. Kamar Miller stepped up and scored a fourth for Miami. Jesus Ferreira added a third for Dallas. Cremaschi scored the final Miami goal to seal the match.
Instant Reaction: One thing is certain in this life, you cannot give Messi anything easy. He made FC Dallas pay on each goals. The other thing certain in this life, FC Dallas has to find a way to close out games and not take their foot off the pedal. Twice they had a two goal lead given up by poor defensive mistakes or unlucky play.
The Leagues Cup time is now over and FC Dallas will have two weeks before their next game.
Man of the Match: You have to give it to Velasco. He put his heart and soul on the line in this one.
What’s next for FC Dallas: The club will resume league play on August 20 when they head east to battle the Philadelphia Union.
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