AVILA’S LATE GOAL BOOSTS FC DALLAS PAST REAL SALT LAKE 2-1 IN FIRST LEG OF WESTERN CONFERENCE SEMIFINAL
FRISCO, Texas (Oct. 30, 2010) – FC Dallas midfielder Eric Avila needed just one minute to score his first career playoff goal, blasting a shot just inside the far post in the 88th minute to give FC Dallas a 2-1 win over defending MLS Champion Real Salt Lake.
MLS MVP candidate David Ferreira beat a trio of Real Salt Lake defenders before slipping a pass to Avila, who had subbed on in the 87th minute. Avila took the pass in stride and cut hard to his left before taking the game-winning shot.
FC Dallas went down a goal early when Real Salt Lake’s Fabian Espindola got through the back line and scored in just the fifth minute of the game. The score stayed at 1-0 until nearly the end of the first half when Jeff Cunningham leveled the match, 1-1, on an unassisted strike for his fifth career playoff score. Cunningham had subbed on in the 32nd minute for an injured Milton Rodriguez.
The win gives FC Dallas a one-goal advantage heading into the second leg of the Western Conference Semifinal, which will be played at Real Salt Lake’s Rio Tinto Stadium on Saturday, Nov. 6 at 9 p.m. Central Time. Should FC Dallas tie or win at Salt Lake, the Dallas side would advance to the Western Conference Final. Real Salt Lake has never won a match at Pizza Hut Park, but is undefeated in their last 25 games at Rio Tinto Stadium.
Real Salt Lake’s Javier Morales was issued a red card in the 69th minute after earning his second caution of the match for a high kick on Dax McCarty. Just six minutes later, FC Dallas midfielder Atiba Harris was sent off for a reckless challenge. Both players will serve a one-game suspension and are unavailable for the second leg of the series.
About the Western Conference Semifinal
The Western Conference Semifinal Series is contested as an aggregate goals series in which no weight is placed on away goals. Should FC Dallas and Real Salt Lake be tied in overall goals across the two games at the end of regulation of the second leg in Sandy, the squads will square off in a 30-minute mini-game (played in its entirety) to determine a winner. Should that end even, the teams will then decide advancement to the Western Conference Championship by kicks from the penalty spot.
Western Conference Semifinal Summary
FC Dallas 2, Real Salt Lake 1
Pizza Hut Park – Frisco, Texas
Attendance: 11,003
RSL – Fabian Espindola (Andy Williams) 5
DAL – Jeff Cunningham (unassisted) 44
DAL – Eric Avila (David Ferreira) 88
FC Dallas – Kevin Hartman, Jair Benitez (Eric Avila 87), Jackson Goncalves, Zach Loyd, Ugo Ihemelu, Daniel Hernandez, Atiba Harris, Marvin Chavez (Brek Shea 69), Dax McCarty, David Ferreira, Milton Rodriguez (Jeff Cunningham 32).
Substitutes Not Used: Dario Sala, Eric Alexander, Ruben Luna, George John.
TOTAL SHOTS: 11 (David Ferreira 4); SHOTS ON GOAL: 4 (four players tied with one); FOULS: 16 (Atiba Harris, Daniel Hernandez 4); OFFSIDES: 1 (Atiba Harris 1); CORNER KICKS: 7 (David Ferreira 7); SAVES: 3 (Kevin Hartman 3)
Real Salt Lake – Nick Rimando, Robbie Russell, Jamison Olave, Nat Borchers, Chris Wingert, Andy Williams (Will Johnson 68), Kyle Beckerman, Javier Morales, Ned Grabavoy, Alvaro Saborio (Robbie Findley 68), Fabian Espindola (Jean Alexandre 73).
Substitutes Not Used: Kyle Reynish, Tony Beltran, Pablo Campos, Collen Warner.
TOTAL SHOTS: 7 (Fabian Espindola 2); SHOTS ON GOAL: 4 (Fabian Espindola 1); FOULS: 16 (Javier Morales 5); OFFSIDES: 3 (Fabian Espindola 2); CORNER KICKS: 1 (Will Johnson 1); SAVES: 2 (Nick Rimando 2)
Misconduct Summary:
DAL – Jair Benitez (caution; reckless foul) 25
RSL – Andy Williams (caution; reckless foul) 46
RSL – Javier Morales (caution; unsporting behavior) 49
DAL – Daniel Hernandez (caution; unsporting behavior) 49
RSL – Javier Morales (caution; reckless foul) 69
RSL – Javier Morales (ejection; second caution) 69
DAL – Atiba Harris(ejection; serious foul play) 75
Referee: Kevin Scott
Referee’s Assistants: Kermit Quisenberry, Cameron Blair
4th Official: Abiodun Okulaja
Time of Game: 1:54
Weather: Clear, 78 degrees
QUOTES:
FC Dallas Head Coach Schellas Hyndman
Overall thoughts on the game…
It’s a nice result; a 2-1 victory against the reigning MLS champion is great. Being down a goal and then scoring two to win the game was tremendous. One of the things we have talked about since day one of my arrival here is we wanted to develop a culture of winning and I think we have done that. We have that culture for winning. We don’t go for ties; we go for wins. The other thing that has been developed is an attitude of refusing to lose, so this was a great result for us.
On Morales being sent off for RSL…
He’s a big factor for them. He’s the one that pulls the strings. It’s nothing different than having a loss of David Ferreira for us. It was a huge loss for them but they are a good team, a team that doesn’t lose very often at home. What we need to do now is go out there with the same kind of intensity that we did here.
On Eric Avila’s goal…
It was a great goal, and more importantly it was when we were 10 against 10. I had to put someone in that was going to attack because we didn’t want to go for the tie. My message to Avila was don’t give up any chances, we’re putting you on the field to go forward, to get the services off, get the shots off. It was an excellent performance on his part.
On Jeff Cunningham’s goal…
The timing was great with Jeff. We gave the ball up too much in the first half and I thought the last 10-11 minutes of the first half we started to calm it down a bit and our feet weren’t so anxious. If it’s the situation where you want someone in the box that’s going to beat people, then Jeff Cunningham is who you want. I think he did a great job finishing.
On Milton Rodriguez’s injury…
He got hit pretty hard and the referee decided not to make the call. It was probably a shoulder to shoulder but turned out to be a tweak of a groin, we’ll see how long it takes for that to recover.
Describe the red card on Atiba Harris…
I have a little bit of an advantage because I saw the video. It was just a hard contact. I don’t know if it needed to be a straight red, but that was the call. It’s an interesting thing in soccer because they were sitting back not wanting to give up a goal and go for the tie. Once it became 10 v. 10 they started opening up just a little bit more, and gave us a little bit more room to play. As it turns out, we played better going 10 v. 10. The worst part was going up against them and trying to shut them down without a left back.
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