FC Dallas Beats Seattle
Maximiliano Urruti and Carlos Ruiz scored goals in a 10-minute span of the second half to lift FC Dallas to a thrilling 2-1 come-from-behind victory over the Seattle Sounders FC on Sunday afternoon at Toyota Stadium in the northern Dallas suburb of Frisco.
The win, combined with Portland’s 1-0 win over Colorado, sends FC Dallas (17-8-8, 59 points with one match to play) back to the top of the Western Conference. A Dallas win or a tie on Oct. 23 on the road against the LA Galaxy or a Colorado loss or tie versus Houston would grant Dallas the league’s best record and the home pitch advantage that carries.
Seattle broke through in the 41st minute when Nicolas Lodeiro’s free kick from the right wing found the net just inside the low post to Dallas goalkeeper Chris Seitz’s extreme left.
FC Dallas outshot the Sounders FC 8-2 in the half but could only match Seattle’s two shots on goal over the first 45 minutes. Dallas had two corner kicks to the Sounders FC’s one and owned a 55-45 percent advantage in possession.
Urruti evened the game in the 79th minute when he got enough of a deflected ball during a scrum in the goalmouth to bounce a shot off Frei and into the net.
The winning goal came 10 minutes later as Mauro Diaz lofted a pass right onto the foot of Ruiz as he had a step on Seattle defender Zach Scott. Ruiz calmly volleyed the ball over Frei and into the goal and FC Dallas held on for the win over the final 11 minutes and seven minutes of stoppage time.
The loss was the second in a row for Seattle (13-14-6, 45 points) and kept the Sounders FC from officially clinching a spot in the postseason.
Dallas had an excellent chance to score in the 16th minute as Urruti broke through the defense and was alone and in range. But Sounders FC goalkeeper Stefan Frei came off his line and found to deflect Urruti’s shot away, keeping the match scoreless.
Seventeen minutes later, Seattle midfielder Herculez Gomez got his foot on a deflected shot and volleyed it into the net. But the goal was disallowed when the Sounders FC’s Roman Torres was called for a foul against Seitz.
