The Quakes suffered a tough 1-0 road loss, giving up the game-winning stoppage time goal at 92′. People will blame Bingham, but the loss was the result of a team meltdown in the second half, not just the result of one bad play in stoppage time.

Recap

During the first half, the Quakes and Dallas appeared to be evenly matched.

Ten minutes in, Wondo managed to pick off a pass from Matt Hedges and fired a shot to the far post, which was saved by Seitz. The Quakes’ second scoring chance came at 33′ when an MPG corner connected with Wondo, who headed the shot just over the crossbar.

Within the span of four minutes, Dallas collected three scoring chances. At 18′, Victor Ulloa blasted a shot from the top of the box to the far post, and Bingham got his fingers on it to push it wide. Two minutes later, Dallas had a free kick due to a reckless challenge by Bernardez, and Mauro Diaz took the kick with two unmarked Dallas players playing the far post. Diaz’s pass went to Blas Perez, and his point-blank shot was saved by Bingham. Perez got a second chance at 22′ when Castillo dribbled around Bernardez into the box and put a perfect pass on his feet. This time Perez’s shot got past Bingham, but the goal was saved by Paulo Renato’s rush to cover the far post.

At the end of the first half, the Quakes had won the possession and shots battle, possessing the ball 53% of the time and managing five shots to Dallas’s four. Dallas had a slight edge for shots on target, hitting three on frame to the Quakes’ two. Dallas also had one more scoring chance.

In the second half, Dallas established themselves as the dominant team.

The Quakes had two scoring opportunities in the second half, with one real threat of a goal. Wondo missed high and wide on a shot 15 yards out at 48′. 15 minutes later, Nyassi tried to direct an MPG pass on goal, rather than pass to an open Jahn at the far post, his header also went high and wide. Believe it or not, that was the last time a Quakes player touched the ball inside the Dallas penalty area.

Dallas had seven quality scoring opportunities in the second half: 46′ (Perez header shot wide), 56′ (Diaz open shot from top of the box just over the crossbar), 59′ (Castillo shot from top of box just over the crossbar), 61′ (Akindele shot beats Bingham, but shot wide of far post), 82′ (Barrios cross to wide open Perez in the box), 84′ (Barrios cross to wide open Castillo six yards out, who kneed it right to Bingham), and the game winning goal at 92′.

The story of this game will be the goal, and Bingham’s aggressiveness getting the better of his judgment. Bingham played well during the first half, coming out of goal when needed and letting his defenders do their job. But as pressure mounted, Bingham became more aggressive, coming off his line in the 68′ and 83′ with some risky punch saves. At 92′, the Quakes had five players ready to defend against an arching pass to no one in particular, but Bingham came off his line again to rush to the top of the box and attempt a third punch save. This time he ran into Bernardez as he was trying to punch the ball, both players fell down, and the ball bounced right to the foot of Moises Hernandez, whose shot/pass found Blas Perez’s head, and then the back of the net. Game, Dallas.

In the end, Dallas had a +2 shots advantage, +3 shot on target advantage (one of those for San Jose was an MPG pass that bounced right to Seitz), +2 corners advantage, a 51.2% possession advantage, and (to my count) a +6 scoring opportunities advantage. It’s difficult to say Bingham was the goat with stats like these. The Quakes lost late, but Dallas deserved the victory.

Take Aways

In terms of player performance, I was surprised to see that Jahn was a non-factor in the match. He was subbed at the 60′ mark, but I fail to remember him touching the ball at all. This probably has to do with the Quakes’ inability to establish an attack.

Paulo Renato was my Man of the Match for his defense. Great signing, and I look forward to seeing him in more games this season.

I was surprised when Kinnear subbed out Koval for Jahn. It was an aggressive sub, as Dallas is a fast team, and Jahn ain’t the fastest guy! Kinnear was probably looking for more of an attack from his team, but the Quakes could not control the ball the second half, which brings me to my next point . . .

Why sub MPG out for Alashe? With the game on the line and the score tied on the road, Kinnear put in a rookie midfielder for an experienced DP. I think that may have been the wrong time for Alashe’s first minutes in MLS.

In the end, this is only the first game, there’s still plenty of soccer left to be played. As I said in my FC Dallas match preview, Dallas is a good team looking to build on a solid year last season, and this game was going to be a challenge. It’s a tough loss, but we can grow from it and get better.

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