FRISCO, TX – New England’s winning streak in recent outings has been impressive but a visit to the deep south brought an end to that last night. Bruce Arena’s side came back from the international break and enjoyed a pair of 3-2 victories over the two New York sides, Matt Turner’s goalkeeping heroics paired with Carles Gil’s magical playmaking being integral. This time out though they visited Toyota Stadium to face an FC Dallas team who are unbeaten at home, winning once and drawing the other four this campaign to date.
New England Revs winning streak ends, FC Dallas wins 2-1
On the other hand, New England’s winning streak hasn’t really come as a result of excelling on the road, dropping points in three of their fixtures away from Gillette Stadium. In regards to team news and Paxton Pomykal began on the bench for Dallas, the youngster is clearly being eased back into action after a long layoff with injury. Jose Martinez missed this one altogether as it was revealed at the last minute that he had picked up a minor injury. Elsewhere Luchi Gonzalez kept his faith in Ricardo Pepi and Obrian as opposed to Franco Jara, meanwhile Ryan Hollingshead and a Bayern-bound Justin Che started as wingbacks in a back five.
Focusing on the Revs’ selections and it wasn’t really a surprise to see Gustavo Bou keep his place up front ahead of Pole Adam Buksa given the former’s rich vein of form. Brandon Bye and Tajon Buchanan’s partnership down the right is intensifying in the XI with the likes of Kessler, Tommy McNamara and Teal Bunbury starting on the bench.
There were a few early giveaways from the Revs and this was something that shone through in the previous games- they were able to make up for it prior but not this time around. This brought an end to New England’s winning streak, it took ten minutes for Dallas to punish their opponents with Jesus Ferreira playing in Ricardo Pepi, the two academy products linking up well and Pepi beating Turner impressively.
The eighteen year old then came to the fore again, hitting the woodwork from a Che cross, talking about Che and the fact he’s a centre-back playing as a wingback in MLS at his age is a testament to his talent, Bayern have a future star on their hands!
Bryan Acosta and Matt Polster were booked in the first half for kicking the ball away and shouting in the face of referee Kevin Stott respectively, the discipline wasn’t great from either side. Bou had netted three games in a row and in this one made it four: Bye’s cross got a slight deflection and the Argentine was then the first on the scene, nonchalantly poking home an equalizer in a bid to continue New England’s winning streak. Ferreira having assisted Pepi’s fourth goal of the season then had a chance of his own not long before the break but Turner was equal to him, the message at half time from a frustrated Bruce Arena surely being about the poor ball retention from his side.
There were a lot of spots on the field with puddles and this was evident with the ball getting caught up from time to time. Carles Gil started to get into the game after the break but it was FC Dallas who scored the third goal of the game, Pepi with a finish beyond his years to complete his first ever senior brace. From Pepi, to Pomykal, Che to Chris Richards and you can’t forget Weston McKennie either, there are so many amazing players coming out of their academy and it is a true testament to how they operate within their available talent pool.
From then on out, in the fight to keep New England’s winning streak alive and well, Gil and co didn’t offer a whole lot in a game that was quite quiet for the last half hour or so. Pomykal, Gil and Buksa all had half chances of their own but 2-1 was how it finished thanks to Pepi being at the double! Elsewhere in the league and Seattle played Vancouver, top versus bottom in the west, the sides drawing 2-2.
FC Dallas were the only Texan side to win; Austin drawing 0-0 with Columbus in their second ever game at Q2 Stadium whilst Houston versus RSL finished 1-1. New England have now dropped from second to third in the Shield standings due to Sporting Kansas City and one of their usual come from behind wins, this time over LAFC at Children’s Mercy Park.
