Copa Tejas Is Home: FC Dallas Dominates Austin FC, 3-1
FC Dallas gets their first trophy of the year, and more importantly, kept making improvements. The playoff line is close. What a night.
Let’s give love and credit to the FC Dallas photography and media crew for capturing this moment, Nkosi Tafari rubbing in a huge PK from Petar Musa in an emotional and feisty match.
Really, that photo captures our experience watching the match on Wednesday night. Did we know what to expect? No. FC Dallas is dealing with mountains of injuries right now. Asier Illaramendi was a late scratch. Ema Twumasi started in the midfield. Could the team find goals? Could they hold strong against an Austin FC squad that, though struggling, could still do damage?
Yes.
FC Dallas dug deep, weathered the emotions, battled in front of fans, and came away with their first hardware of the year. Copa Tejas is home where it belongs.
Last week, after two tough losses to Sporting Kansas City, some of us were wondering if we had seen the peak of this team in what was turning out to be a difficult season. We wondered if we had seen the best of what Peter Luccin could bring out from the squad so far in his tenure. But thankfully, the interim head coach and this team aren’t giving up. Wins over Los Angeles Galaxy and now Austin FC have this team in much better shape than some might have thought. FC Dallas are in this, and as players get healthy, maybe the push to go further continues.
A few other thoughts:
Paul Arriola had his best game in an FC Dallas uniform in quite a while. His work rate out on the field is never in doubt, but with a goal and an assist, he rightly earned Team of the Week honors. The winger has leadership and a renewed attacking confidence lately. Let’s hope it continues.
VAR went right for FC Dallas. What a remarkable thing.
Young players are stepping up, even if their contributions are uneven. I want to shout out Carl Sainte, not for having a spectacular game, but for coming in and finding ways to help his team hold on to a lead. Young players are sometimes expected to do the impossible, to create out of nothing. But what might be better is for young players to take minutes that come, focus on the little things, and playing their part. You are going to make mistakes, but can you keep fighting? I feel like Sainte did that on Wednesday night. These are minutes he can take some confidence from and build on.
This team has attitude. Nkosi Tafari, and now Petar Musa, serve as the emotional leaders of this squad. That was clear against Austin. No doubt, our visitors from the state capitol would have loved to create a reaction from the home side, to put odds in their favor. But Petar and Tafari and the whole squad stepped up, fiercely, without crossing that line. If they are going to make a run, they will need that emotion and that courage to face some difficult teams and claw their way back into contention.
It’s wild in this league how week to week can feel like feast or famine. That’s been true for FC Dallas. For now, we just need to take it as it comes. Enjoy the ride, and know regardless, this team is going to go down fighting.