FC Dallas Defeats Philadelphia
FRISCO, Texas — FC Dallas used a lot of pressure and a bit of luck as an own goal off of Philadelphia defender Sheanon Williams was the difference in a 2-1 victory over the visiting Union at Toyota Stadium Saturday night.
After good pressure from FC Dallas for much of the first half, the Texans finally broke through with Blas Perez making a quality floating pass to Tesho Akindele, who had worked his way behind the Union defense. The rookie made no mistake, hitting the volley past onrushing goalkeeper Zac MacMath in the 26th minute.
Philadelphia responded with their own goal in the run of play, and in the 43rd minute Amobi Okugo buried a cross by teammate Cristian Maidana that made its way through a number of FC Dallas defenders, including a late effort from Victor Ulloa.
Then Dallas scored four minutes after the break when a passing sequence was intercepted in the box by Union left back Fabinho, but the defender inadvertently played the ball into his teammate Williams, and the ball rebounded into the Union net.
The rest of the half saw Philadelphia press without success, as they inserted forwards Andrew Wenger and Aaron Wheeler into the attack in search of an equalizer. But Dallas brought on influential midfielders Hendry Thomas and Mauro Diaz, allowing the home team to comfortably manage the ball and their lead through the rest of the match.
Things were made that much easier for Dallas when the Union went down a man after Maurice Edu’s late sliding tackle into Perez led to an 88th minute red card.
FC Dallas returns to the field on Wednesday evening as they travel to North Carolina to face the NASL’s Carolina Railhawks in the quarterfinals of the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup.
