FC Dallas Clinches Playoff Berth With Win Over LA Galaxy

That’s right, Dallas! Break out your best Jim Mora impersonations because playoff sports are coming back to DFW. With their come from behind 2-1 victory last night against the streaking LA Galaxy, FC Dallas clinched their first MLS playoff spot since 2011 in front of the home faithful at Toyota Stadium.

Dallas was able to shake off a slow start to the first half, which saw Stefan Ishizaki open the scoring for LA with a spectacular chip. When I say spectacular, imagine Phil Mickelson flop shot from the cart path spectacular. At that point, the commentators, and honestly, most MLS fans, had written off Dallas’ chances going into the second half. LA was 14-0-4 against FC Dallas previously when scoring first and had only conceded 8 goals in their previous ten games (8-0-2).

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FCD had already lost two games to LA earlier in the season and, for the first half, looked to continue the trend. The attacking threat lacked the necessary team approach to break down a side like the Galaxy. All too often, Andres Escobar would sprint down the middle, trying to break down the entire LA backline, only to have the ball taken from him with ease. Castillo would then do the same thing down the left. For much of the game, it just wasn’t enough. It was too direct and too predictable.

The second half saw a much-changed FCD side. Early into the half, Escobar started another one of his runs down the middle…here we go again. But then, at the critical moment, something beautiful happened, he passed the ball. He passed the ball! Texeira found the end of Escobar’s toe-poked pass and slotted coolly past the oncoming Jaime Penedo in the Galaxy goal. Texeira netted for the third time in the last two home games. Fortunately for FCD fans, he is finding form at the right time of the season.

And even though I give him a hard time, Escobar really did look the most dangerous player for FCD. The disjointed attack often left Escobar no choice but to try and do the spectacular, which he nearly did on a number of occasions. Thankfully, Escobar’s brilliance paid off with his assist to Texeira and his parried shot in the 87^th minute, which found the head of Fabian Castillo, earning him a much deserved go ahead goal.

At this point, any reasonable team would have sat back and absorbed pressure, looking for the release valve through a booted clearance or a streaking run to the corner flag. And for a whole two minutes, that’s what FCD did. Then, channeling his inner Randy Orton, Moses Hernandez performed a perfectly executed dropkick. His form was fantastic, earning him a 10 from the judges, and a deserved red card from the referee.

The collective groan from the FCD faithful was only quelled by the referee’s whistle just a few minutes later. The final whistle meant FCD were destined for the playoffs, a feat they were unable to accomplish last weekend against Vancouver.

It should be said that while a playoff spot has been clinched, FCD will not be content with their positioning. The way that the MLS playoffs work is similar to the MLB playoffs. Well, when I say the playoffs are similar, I really mean than one round is similar. Like the wildcard play-in in baseball, the fourth and fifth placed teams in each conference play a one game, winner-take-all match for the final two spots in an eight team bracket for the MLS Cup. Dallas sits a mere point behind Real Salt Lake for the third and final automatic qualifying spot.

Provided we can avoid more dropkicks and bring a bit more cohesion to the attack, we stand a good chance of clinching that third spot ahead of Real Salt Lake. With recent home victories over the top two teams in the Western Conference, Dallas is showing promise at the perfect time of the season and giving fans much to be hopeful for!