FRISCO, Tx. — Real Salt Lake, without suspended head coach Mike Petke, stole a road point against FC Dallas in a scoreless affair at Toyota Stadium Saturday.
In a crucial match-up in the Western Conference playoff race, with the sixth and seventh teams squaring off, Dallas could not get on the scoreboard or dominate the match, being outshot 17-10.
“Around the box, we had more crosses, but they had more shots on target,” Dallas coach Luchi Gonzalez said. “That tells me that we need to work on efficiency, creating the shot for a teammate or yourself. We need shots. We need shots on target. If we don’t shoot, we don’t score, following that shot, following that rebound. I think we could’ve had a little more conviction to push that. That’s not the forward’s job, that’s everyone’s job. That’s everybody’s job to create shots and to follow them up. That’s something that we have to do better if we want to guarantee ourselves three points.”
It was another case of poor finishing for FCD, which has now drawn five matches at home. In a league where home-field advantage is profound, those dropped points could come back to haunt the team for a spot amongst the conference’s top seven teams.
“We want to separate ourselves from the teams that are near us and us moving in a positive direction,” Gonzalez said. “We’re disappointed, we don’t play for this point. We have to be better, but there’s still a lot of positives in terms of the game that I can take away. If I can look at the series, four points from home and away, that’s good. But we want six. We’re pushing for six.”
Goalkeeper Jesse Gonzalez continued his strong 2019 form, keeping Dallas (9-8-6, 33 points) in the match at the beginning of the second half. After a poor punch, the ball fell to RSL forward Corey Baird, who teed up the shot on a half-volley. Gonzalez turned and saved the shot, keeping things level as the match went on.
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The ball fell to Real Salt Lake’s Jefferson Savarino in the 63rd minute in the box, but the shot went just wide.
Dallas’ golden opportunity came in the 68th minute off work in the midfield. Midfielder Paxton Pomykal played a line-breaking ball to winger Santiago Mosquera. Through on a one-on-one with goalkeeper Nick Rimando, he put the effort wide. It was the last moment for Mosquera, who was subbed out after.
Pomykal is coming off a week of rest after the team elected not to play him in the 2-0 victory over Sporting Kansas City July 20 due to load management. After recharging his battery, Pomykal made an instant impact, getting stuck into tackles and forcing turnovers in the midfield, a trademark of his game.
“There’s a time and place, sometimes for guys that do not have specific injuries, like fatigue and a lot of minutes for guys to shut down,” Pomykal said. “That’s kind of something that happened to me last week, wasn’t good enough to go. So that was between me and everybody and now I shut down for the weekend and now I’m ready and now with energy, just bringing a presence, making a tackle in the first 30 seconds just shows the level.”
Matt Hedges made a critical save in the last few minutes of the match, a late tackle to prevent an RSL attack from reaching its fruition. It was key, as RSL (9-9-4, 31 points) was looking to have a two-on-one in the 82nd minute.
Real Salt Lake will return home to take on NYCFC August 3. On the same day, Dallas will look toward an Orlando City SC side also fighting to stay alive in the Eastern Conference. An improvement in the offense will provide relief to a team that has looked sharp in every aspect except the final third.
“The next step for this team is just learning how to put the ball in the back of the net,” right back Reggie Cannon said. “It’s consistency. We trust in everyone. We trust in our forwards, we trust in [Dominique] Badji, we trust in Jesus [Ferreira], we trust in whoever is going to step up in that position. I couldn’t imagine how tough it is to be a forward but eventually, this team is going to find a way to put the ball in the back of the net and be the most dangerous team in the league.”