FC Dallas was coming off a 2-0 victory over the Union to kick off their 25th season, and looking to stay unbeaten at home against Montréal. (MLS) goalkeeper of the year in 1996 and first ever Dallas Burn keeper Mark Dodd was on hand to scarf the Lamar Hunt statue. It was another early kickoff, this time a 2pm start on a perfect sunny afternoon.
They were welcoming back their old teammate Maxi Urruti who was returning to Toyota Stadium for the first time since his departure from FCD in December 2018. Thierry Henry was making his managerial debut at Toyota Stadium in his first season as the head man at Montreal. Henry was 1-1-1 as a player against Dallas in his stint with the New York Red Bulls.
Dallas was the dominant side in the first half. Michael Barrios and Jesus Ferreira creating chances and again in the 18th minute, like last week, Barrios with some fancy footwork just inside the 18 yard box drops it off for Ferreira and Diop makes a great save to keep it scoreless. About 8 minutes later Hollingshead drops it in beautifully from about 50 plus yards for Barrios again making a great run but his shot gets deflected after a great first touch.
No changes were made for FCD to start the second half and a great chance again for Kobra in the 54’ from who else, Mikey Barrios, but Ondrasek’s right footed shot was blocked. After that it was Henry who made the necessary adjustments bringing in his first sub in the 57th min and that paid dividends just a minute after when Okwonkwo’s header went off the bar and Maxi punched in the rebound after catching the FCD defense napping.
FCD had a couple chances right after to equalize but Ferreira missed wide in the 61’ and VAR confirmed no handball shortly after to keep it 1-0 Impact. Didn’t take long for Maxi to strike again in the 68th minute off a cross into the box from Brault-Guillard that bounced off a few defenders and fell again to Maxi’s feet to make it a commanding 2-0 lead for Montréal.
Luchi made his last substitution in the 75’ to bring in Pepi for Ferreira and that seemed to inject some life into the offense. Pepi was active, energized and poised and after Kobra cut the lead to 2-1 on a header off the pass from Reggie Cannon in the 84th minute, the 17 year old Pepi got the equalizer and his first career MLS goal well into stoppage time to complete the comeback and remain unbeaten at home against the Impact.
Afterwards Luchi Gonzalez mentioned how crucial it is to get three points at home and that’s always their goal and he’s set that standard with his group, he was disappointed with the outcome but pleased with their reaction late to salvage one point at home. Gonzalez mentioned “in my evaluation it was too low and too high in the game.”
FC Dallas will travel to winless NYFC next week. An 11:30am start on ESPN+.