FC Dallas vs Columbus Crew SC, Draw
FC Dallas and Columbus Crew SC Battle for a Scoreless Draw and Jesse Gonzalez earns his fourth clean sheet of the season.
First Half
17’ – Michael Barrios beautifully controlled a long pass from Santiago Mosquera before beating his defender with his speed and firing a shot into the side netting.
33’ – FC Dallas came close to breaking the deadlock when Santiago Mosquera curled a free kick over the wall, but Zack Steffen was able to get his body behind the ball and caught it safely.
43’ – Right before the end of the first half, Columbus created a decent chance when Federico Higuaín latched onto a cross from Harrison Afful but his first-time shot sailed a few feet over Jesse Gonzalez’s goal.
Second Half
73’ – FC Dallas experienced a nervy moment when a Federico Higuian corner bounced around in the box but the ensuing shot was blocked by Maynor Figueroa.
75’ – Zack Steffen was forced out of his box to sweep up after a Victor Ulloa through-ball for Michael Barrios had the Columbus defense beaten.
78’ – Substitute Abel Aguilar tried his luck when the ball bounced up nicely for him, but his volley was wild and ended up high and wide.
83’ – Columbus’ best chance of the night came when Federico Higuian’s first-time volley from a Justin Meram cross flashed across the face of goal.
89’ – Dallas came close to breaking the deadlock four minutes from time when Michael Barrios volleyed Tesho Akindele’s looped through-ball just over the bar. FC Dallas nearly won the game in the last minute of the 90 when Maxi Urruti’s low cross was nearly tapped home by Tesho Akindele.
Lineups:
FC Dallas — Jesse Gonzalez; Marquinhos Pedroso, Reto Ziegler, Matt Hedges (Maynor Figueroa – 46’), Reggie Cannon; Carlos Gruezo, Victor Ulloa; Santiago Mosquera (Tesho Akindele – 80’), Maxi Urruti, Michael Barrios; Dominique Badji (Abel Aguilar – 69’).
Substitutes not used — Jimmy Maurer, Ryan Hollingshead, Pablo Aránguiz, Cristian Colmán.
Columbus Crew SC — Zac Steffen; Milton Valenzuela, Lalas Abubakar, Jonathan Mensah, Harrison Afful; Artur, Ricardo Clark (Wil Trapp – 74’); Justin Meram, Federico Higuaín (Patrick Mullins– 87’), Pedro Santos (Niko Hansen – 74’); Gyasi Zardes.
Substitutes not used — Jon Kempin, Gastón Sauro, Héctor Jiménez, Luis Argudo.
Scoring Summary:
None
Misconduct Summary:
CLB: Ricardo Clark (caution) – 53’
CLB: Lalas Abubakar (caution) – 67’
Weather: Partly Cloudy, 83
Attendance: 16,030
Referee: Hilario Grajeda
Assistant Referee: Corey Rockwell, Michael Kampmeinert
4th Official: Joseph Dickerson
VAR: Jorge Gonzalez
FC Dallas head coach Oscar Pareja
General thoughts on tonight’s match…
Tough game against a good rival. In the first half, they created a lot of problems for us. Especially in the right side where they started exposing us in the space used by [Harrison] Afful and the midfielder at times was [Federico] Higuaín or [Pedro] Santos or even Artur. They started to outnumber us. In the first half especially, when we had the ball we didn’t have probably the energy we had in the second half and that made me think the second half was much better. When we had sequences and we put the ball on the ground and we started thinking and creating and they were getting tired, we would create some sequences that would provide us a couple of options that could add balance to the game. But overall, two good teams playing soccer today at times probably respecting each other too much, but at the same times trying to see if we could take advantage of any mistake.
On the tactical shift…
We wanted to have more control in the middle. That way we either gave them the ball and wait for a mistake so we could counter, or we can have the initiative to have the ball. And then we wanted to clog the middle more and have someone in that position between the two center backs who can have personality to ask for the ball and make a play from that zone. At times it worked well, and we found some chemistry there and without being very vertical or a team that created many chances, so we had more control of the game, and I liked that.
On Matt Hedges substitution:
It took us by surprise. In the last minute of the break we received the news that Matt wasn’t feeling very good with a hit that he took in the first half. We’re waiting for the medical report and hopefully it’s not serious. But as you know, we try to protect the platers as much as we can. Maynor [Figueroa] did a great job of coming and we put Reto [Ziegler] on the right and we have played with that a couple times—and they did pretty well. Maynor gave us the opportinuty to find Mikey [Barrios] on the right with the cross ball that he likes. We have two sequences coming from there. Defensively, the experience was good. I saw more and more balance—it was okay, and I don’t think we suffered much.
On upcoming games…
My answer is always about the future of the games. Tomorrow is working towards the next game. The preparation is trying to get the team synchronized for the next game that is coming. You have a plan and we have a couple games away but at this stage of the league we know that we need to grind, and we have to go get points away now.
FC Dallas midfielder Michael Barrios
On what was missing in tonight’s match…
I think we needed calmness, if we look back at what happened today, our emotions were all over the place unlike past games. The other team stood well and were organized and had players that would complicate the game for us.
On his century milestone…
Happy, it’s a personal accomplishment for me and my career. It’s something that I’ve been working on and not only me, but also the whole team, our equipment team and director and we hope to keep raising our game and giving our club happiness.
On getting the shutout…
Yeah maintaining the 0 is always going to be important and we worked hard for that so that they wouldn’t score against us. Sadly, we as a team we couldn’t complete that other goal that would have given us the other point but we leave calmly knowing that the team did a good job in all our lines and now we just have to see the errors we made and what else was needed so that we can correct that for the next game and get the other points.”
FC Dallas defender Marquinhos Pedroso
General thoughts on the game…
I think our first half was not so good. It was tough for us in the middle, they are playing in a way where some players are free all the time. But in the second half we stopped them right until the end. Unfortunately, we couldn’t score but we didn’t concede goals at home and that’s good too because I think the last game against Houston we took two goals. So it’s a good thing, but of course it’s better to win. But if you can’t win, a draw it’s better to draw.
We maybe suffered sometimes in the first, but we can talk about this in the second half, that’s why I think we got better in the game. This happens sometimes, you’re not prepared for something about the other team and they play higher or deeper but you never know. Of course we train and saw the videos but sometimes things change. We tried to play better in the second half and unfortunately, we couldn’t score but the fight was good and that’s what we need every time.
FC Dallas forward Dominique Badji
General thoughts on the game…
The first half was slow obviously. Came in with another game plan in the second half and executed it. A lot of our chances came from counters. Speaking for himself just to be more sharp in the box, there were a few balls that were loose that we could’ve gotten on to, but that’s the way the game goes sometimes. Another day those are going in but today just it didn’t.
On Barrios creating chances…
He’s always a threat with his speed. He’s definitely one of the weapons that we want to look to use. I favor him against anybody and he did well today.
On the fouls during the game:
We’re used to it. None of these games are easy and it does get chippy and there are fouls in there but you have to stay composed because they want to throw you off, but you have to be the bigger person. We always want to get three points but definitely after not getting what we wanted this week we’re going to be a lot more motivated to get the three points next week.”
Columbus Crew SC head coach Gregg Berhalter
On tonight’s game…
I think in the first half we performed really well. Moving the ball well, creating a number of opportunities. Maybe a little too hasty trying to finish the attacks. We could have set them up a little better. Second half, I think our level dropped, we got a little fatigued. We gave Dallas a little bit more control of the game, and in the end, I think, it’s a positive point and the guys had to work really hard so I’m really proud of the effort.
On the game plan decision to press high on defense…
We always want to play compact. We always want to keep our compactness. I think our forwards did an outstanding job of getting pressure to their center backs. (Dallas) resorted to playing a lot of long balls, and we have good center backs in the air. I think it played into our hands a little bit. We did a good job of shutting them down on the wings. They have very dangerous players on the wings and we did a decent job of that.
On what the offensive game plan was trying to exploit…
We were looking to find the pockets and I think we did that pretty well in the first half finding those half spaces then attack to get the ball in the penalty box through crosses. On the crosses themselves, we thought there would be space for the cut back and far post, and they did a good job of defending it. They are a tough team defensively.
On limiting FC Dallas to just two shots on goal…
It’s a real collective effort, working together. Great compactness, blocking shots, minimizing the space. Our defense starts from the two up top, but it’s a team effort. It’s 11 guys and I think they did a good job tonight.
Columbus Crew SC midfielder Artur
On tonight’s game, also his 50th with the Crew SC…
It was a hard game here, and one point for us here is very important at this phase of the season. I’m very happy to have played this many games for this club and it means a lot to me. I am excited to play many more.
On limiting FC Dallas to just two shots on goal…
It was an important part of training all week to be ready to play against them and I think we did a good job. We had a good understanding of the game and our focus helped us do a good job.
Columbus Crew SC goalkeeper Zack Steffen
On tonight’s game…
I thought our intensity today was pretty good. It was tough with the humidity and the heat. I thought the guys in front of me played really well and stayed in it mentally.They battled for 90 minutes and that’s what it takes at this level. Getting a point on the road against the first team in the West is good. We’re going to get our rest, get our bodies back, and do it all again Wednesday.
On getting his ninth shutout of the season…
Each year you want to do better and better. It was a goal of ours to do better, get more wins, get more shutouts, get more goals and let in less goals. We’re on the right path.
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