FC Dallas is starting to look more and more like the team that understands the assignment in front of them. After a statement win the week prior in New York, that snapped a four-game winless streak in league play and a 20 year drought in the Big Apple, returning home to play a conference opponent felt like it could fall into a similar trap that we’ve seen before.
Instead, we got a game that Dallas picked their moments, made the most of them and was relentless again on defense in their 3-1 win over Real Salt Lake. Also, anytime you get a chaotic goal in stoppage-time from a guy that runs 60-70 yards to make it happen, it is reason to get excited about what is going on.
Let’s dive in.
Who needs the ball that much?
Depending on which website metrics you follow, FC Dallas ended the night with anywhere between 26-33% of the possession on the night. But who gives a damn about that? FC Dallas manager Eric Quill certainly did not after the game when he was asked about that.
“Possession only matters if you do something with it, and while they had possession, it only led to a few shots on goal. I really liked what we did defensively tonight.” - Eric Quill on the possession battle
Salt Lake only had a couple of ‘clean’ looks on goal all night, including the Diego Luna goal late. Everything else as you’ll see below was largely from distance.
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