Although the team was ousted from the Western Conference semifinals by the slightest of margins – a 3-3 aggregate-score series finally decided by penalty kicks – general manager Garth Lagerwey had indicated last week that an early exit from the playoffs could cause changes that an MLS Cup victory wouldn’t.
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A 2-1 win by Dallas would send the series to added time and, if needed, penalty kicks.
FC Dallas will face the Portland Timbers in the conference finals, with the first leg in Portland on November 22. They barely missed out on a road draw against Western Conference Semifinal opponents Seattle Sounders, succumbing to a late Clint Dempsey free kick goal.
Seattle led 2-1 after the first leg and the second leg was scoreless until Dallas’s Tesho Akindele scored on a header in the 84th minute.
That lead lasted just six minutes, however, as Chad Marshall headed in from a corner to seemingly put Seattle into the final, but a remarkable final few minutes of the 90 contained another twist when a corner at the other end led to Walker Zimmerman turning home from close range to send the game to extra-time. “They were getting opportunities to hit crosses and we weren’t putting enough pressure on the ball on the service so they were hitting crosses and they were all around the goal”. The Timbers will host the first leg on November 22, and FC Dallas will be at home for the return leg on November 29.
This would have been one of the matches of the year, even if it were a midweek regular-season game during the dog days of July.
New York’s Bradley Wright-Phillips scored 2 minutes into second-half stoppage time to clinch a place in the Eastern Conference finals against Columbus.
“I think you come in with the mentality that you want to win”, Schmid repeated Saturday. That goal would send the game to extra time with the teams level on all counts. The Hoops are 17-1-0 when scoring two or more goals.
A second straight season ended by the Red Bulls in the playoffs leaves Ben Olsen’s team searching for answers as it heads into the offseason with a plethora of needs to address.
“When I was subbing on, I was thinking there was no way we were going to overtime”, Akindele said.
Sunday was the ultimate end of Seattle’s wild ride this season through possession soccer in the spring, an injury-fueled nadir in the summer and a masterclass of counter-attacking summer in the fall.
Zimmerman gave Dallas a 4-2 win on penalty kicks after his team’s 2-1 victory through regulation and extra time. Late sub Marco Pappa swung in the corner and Marshall managed to find it at the far post to equalize the game at 1-1 and put a firm foot into the next round.
And Dallas emerged triumphant in the shoot-out after goalkeeper Jesse Gonzalez made saves to deny Andreas Ivanschitz and Chad Barrett, and second-half substitute Walker Zimmerman scored the winning penalty.
In the conference semi-finals, the teams played a two-game series with goal differential being the deciding factor so every minute of both games matters.
The North Carolina native who was raised in Texas and joined FC Dallas’ Development Academy program in 2010, played for Mexico at last summer’s U-20 World Cup.
“They were throwing a lot of people forward and they had a lot of big guys in the box”, Seattle coach Sigi Schmid said. As much of a toss-up as penalties can be, a cool head and experience can often help tip the balance.
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“I don’t think it hits you yet”, said Frei, who made eight saves on Sunday.
