FC Dallas left America First Field with three points on Wednesday night, beating Real Salt Lake 4-3 in a game they had effectively won once already by half-time. Petar Musa scored twice inside the opening 45 minutes and Joaquín Valiente had a hand in all three first-half goals as Dallas went in 3-1 up. Real Salt Lake dragged it back to 3-3 after the break, but rookie Ran Binyamin, on as a half-time substitute, struck in the 90th minute to settle it. Dallas move to 33 points, level with San Jose Earthquakes and fifth in the Western Conference on goal difference; Real Salt Lake stay eighth on 28.
Key Moments
- 16′, Joaquín Valiente opens the scoring for FC Dallas after the ball breaks to him inside the box, Ramiro credited with the assist.
- 20′, Petar Musa heads in a Valiente delivery to double the lead at 2-0.
- 38′, Sergi Solans finishes a Diego Luna free kick for 2-1. It is his ninth MLS goal of the season, a Real Salt Lake rookie record.
- 45′, Musa gets his second, again from Valiente, and Dallas go in 3-1 up at the break.
- 46′, Eric Quill takes Musa and Santiago Moreno off at half-time. Ran Binyamin and Logan Farrington come on.
- 50′, Morgan Guilavogui converts a Noel Caliskan pass to make it 3-2.
- 64′, Diego Luna, booked three minutes earlier, heads home Sabir Lobjanidze’s cross for 3-3. Lobjanidze had come on at half-time for Juan José Arias.
- 90′, Ran Binyamin scores his first MLS goal to win it 4-3, and is booked moments later in stoppage time.
Tactical Breakdown
FC Dallas worked with less of the ball, finishing with 41% possession against Real Salt Lake’s 59%, and still walked off with four goals. Their xG of 1.92 edged RSL’s 1.67, but the gap that decided the night was conversion: five shots on target became four goals for Dallas, while seven on target yielded three for the hosts. Jonathan Sirois made four saves at the other end; Rafael Cabral made one.
Both sides lined up in a 3-4-2-1, and the first half belonged to one player who never appeared on the scoresheet as a scorer twice over. Valiente opened the scoring in the 16th minute and then supplied both Musa goals, the second of them right on the half-time whistle. Musa’s brace moved him clear at the top of the MLS scoring charts and, at 3-1 up, Eric Quill took him off along with Santiago Moreno at the interval.
That call nearly cost Dallas the match before it won it for them. Without Musa to hold the ball up, the visitors sat deeper, and Pablo Mastroeni’s own half-time change paid off: Sabir Lobjanidze, on for Arias, delivered the cross Luna headed in. Guilavogui and Luna hauled the game level inside 20 minutes of the restart. But one of the half-time replacements, Binyamin, was the man who finished it in the 90th minute for his first goal in MLS.
For Real Salt Lake, the first half is the story. Conceding three times at home before the break, while dominating the ball, is the same defensive fragility that has followed them all summer. They arrived unbeaten in five across all competitions in a congested August, including two Leagues Cup wins, but they have not won an MLS match since beating Colorado on 17 May. Levelling at 3-3 showed character. Losing it in the 90th minute made that character expensive.
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Verdict
FC Dallas move to 33 points from 20 games, level with San Jose Earthquakes and fifth in the Western Conference on goal difference, still in the fight for a direct route into the MLS Cup playoff round of eight. Real Salt Lake stay eighth on 28 points, level with Colorado Rapids directly above them but with a game in hand, and a single point clear of Portland Timbers. Mastroeni’s side still hold a playoff place. A sixth MLS match without a win, and a home defeat after clawing back a two-goal deficit, is not the way to defend it. They travel to Orlando City on Saturday.