Lineups
FC Dallas — Maarten Paes; Marco Farfan (José Martínez – 82’), Nkosi Tafari, Ema Twumasi, Sebastien Ibeagha; Asier Illarramendi, Paxton Pomykal (Liam Fraser – 76’), Alan Velasco (Jesús Jiménez – 83’); Paul Arriola (Dante Sealy – 77’), Jesús Ferreira, Bernard Kamungo (Jáder Obrian – 43’).
Substitutes not used — Jimmy Maurer, Katlego Ntsabeleng, Sam Junqua, Eugene Ansah.
Los Angeles Galaxy — Novak Micovic; Julián Aude (Raheem Edwards – 18’), Tony Alfaro (Chris Mavinga – 45’), Maya Yoshida, Kelvin Leerdam (Eriq Zavaleta – 82); Diego Fagundez (Riqui Puig – 64’), Edwin Cerrillo; Dejan Joveljic, Douglas Costa, Tyler Boyd; Billy Sharp (Jonathan Pérez – 45’).
Substitutes not used — Jonathan Bond, Michael Barrios, Gino Vivi, Adam Saldaña.
Scoring Summary:
DAL: Bernard Kamugo (Nkosi Tafari) – 3’
DAL: Ema Twumasi – 13’
LA: Raheem Edwards (Tyler Boyd) – 24’
DAL: Bernard Kamugo (Jesús Ferreira, Paxton Pomykal) – 30’
DAL: Jáder Obrian (Paul Arriola, Nkosi Tafari) – 45’+2’
Misconduct Summary:
LA: Edwin Cerrillo (caution) – 45’+1’
LA: Raheem Edwards (caution) – 45’+5’
DAL: Asier Illarramendi (caution) – 70’
LA: Maya Yoshida (caution) – 73’
LA: Jonathan Pérez (caution) – 79’
Weather: Sunny, 81ºF
Attendance: 22,491
Stats
POSTGAME QUOTES FC DALLAS
Head Coach Nico Estévez
On the difference tonight…
“Well, I think the first chance we had, we scored and this gives the team confidence. And I think the chances were very clear, as we all also had in some of those games that we couldn't score a second goal. And I'm glad and I'm really, really proud of the group, of the team, because this year has been a difficult year with a lot of adversity. We know how hard we have worked, how much we have suffered and how much we didn't deserve to be in the last day just trying to get that playoff spot. And I'm really, really proud of the other players.”
On Bernard Kamungo’s performance…
“I think it is important to know that he's still a young player, he is still developing, and then we have to be aware that he needs to know what things he is doing well, what things he needs to improve. He has a lot of room to improve. I think he has to be hungry and I think he showed what his character is as a person and as a player. He doesn’t care about the opponent, doesn't care about the situation of the game. He just goes out and competes in the best way that he can do it. He's helping the team and we have to keep going slow with him.”
On the playoff matchup…
“I just said in Spanish you know, one of the important things about finishing seventh and playing against Seattle is to play at home in front of our fans. This season we haven't given them as many wins as we did last year. We know they have been suffering the last month when we've played at home and we had so many ties. It is great to have a playoff game in front of our fans. They deserve it. We want a full packed stadium cheering for us. And we're gonna return that with an amazing performance and amazing effort. We can’t wait to have that second game at home, in front of our fans and give them everything that they deserve.”
Defender Ema Twumasi
On earning the win on Decision Day looking to lock a playoff spot…
“It’s massive to get a goal, and at a great time. We knew what was at steak tonight, we wanted to get into the playoffs. We wanted to start strong tonight and I am just fortunate to help the team with the win and with the goal as well. Everyone on the team brought their best game and we buried them early.”
On scoring his first career goal for the club…
“It’s an amazing feeling, but for me it's more important getting into the playoffs. Last year we made it and came up short. We came here looking to win and secure our spot. It’s amazing getting my first goal and help the team, but we still have a lot of work in front of us. We get ready to take on Seattle Sounders and hopefully get a win over there as well.”
Midfielder Paxton Pomykal…
On clinching playoffs…
“I wish he didn’t leave it down to the wire like that but it just shows the resilience of the team to have the right mindset coming away to LA, against a team that had nothing to lose and putting a strong performance together like that. That’s a testament to who we are as a team. We had a stretch of games where we tied a bunch but at the end of the day, those points helped us out and put us in a position to take care of our own destiny today, now we don’t have to play on Wednesday (in the Wildcard game) which is great.”
On the playoff matchup against Seattle…
“It just has to be a classic Dallas-Seattle matchup. It’s going to be a good one, like it always is. We’re looking forward to going up there and competing. We know the environment that they have, we know the quality of team that they are–they finished second for a reason. We’ll need to have a complete performance.”
On the team’s four-goal performance tonight…
“It was now or never. We’d created a lot of opportunities in front of goal the past few games but didn’t put away our chances early. When you can do that to a team that’s already out of the playoffs, the second and third come easier. I thought that we did really well off the ball today, we were hungry and the result reflected that.”
