FC Dallas traveled to Salt Lake over the weekend for their second road game of the year and came away with the win after an exciting 4-2 shootout of a game. RSL had the best home record in MLS from 2009 to 2018 so Rio Tinto is always a tough place to play. Getting the win there took a pretty comprehensive performance.

Let's break it down.

Lineups and Tactics

FC Dallas rolled out the 4-3-3 with the inverted midfield triangle, two deep players behind a 10. With Dom Badji being out with a hamstring and Santiago Mosquera not traveling with what FCD reported is an aggravated ankle injury, Pablo Aranguiz got the nod at left wing in the "false wing" set up he played a lot this spring training to positive effect.

Edwin Cerrillo and Jesus Ferreira kept their places and Carlos Gruezo returns playing a slightly higher 6/8 hybrid type role. John Nelson making the bench ahead of Marcos Pedroso was a bit of a surprise but it's indicative of how well Nelson is playing as well as his positional flexibility.

FC Dallas starting XI and bench at Real Salt Lake. (3-30-19) (FCD / FC Dallas)

Coach Luchi Gonzalez burned all three of his subs. In the 53rd minute bringing back Bryan Acosta for Cerrillo in a straight swap, although Gruezo shifted a little deeper with the change it seemed to me.

Jacori Hayes came on for Pablo Aranguiz in the 65th minute and played in the midfield with Paxton Pomykal taking up the left wing.

The finally Zdenek Ondrasek came on for Jesus Ferreira in the 82nd minute in a move to kill off the game. Cobra's defensive intensity and work rate can make it hard for a team to play out of the back like RSL likes to.

RSL played a 4-3-3 also with the same two deep players behind a 10 as FCD. MLSSoccer.com drew it up like a 4-2-3-1 (left image) but the real average position shows it to be a 4-3-3 (right image).

RSL's starting lineup by MLSSoccer,com left and the average position showing it to be a 4-3-3 on the right. (3-30-19) (Whoscored.com / MLSSoccer.com)

Unfortunately for RSL, center back Erik Holt got hurt early and was subbed in the 11th minute for Marcelo Silva. In the 62nd minute, RSL coach Mike Petke went to his Homegrown national teamer Corey Baird for Sebastian Saucedo. Then finally late in the game RSL pulled arguably their best player Albert Rusnak to give their new DP Sam Johnson some playing time. Or perhaps steal a goal.

Goals

1-0 FC Dallas goal. 1st minute. Yes, seriously. Pablo Aranguiz and Paxton Pomykal press in midfield and Pomykal steals it. Pomykal feeds a checking back Jesus Ferreira, who finds Michael Barrios filling in behind (that's a Luchi special, the outside wing filling in behind a checking 9), Barrios finds Carlos Gruezo on the overlap, who goes top left shelf. Beautiful goal.

1-1 RSL goal. 31st minute. Dallas has a good back-6 position, RSL works in from the left to Jefferson Savarino who takes one touch, catching Carlos Gruezo off guard, and rips the goal far post. That's a really nice move and a really nice shot. Sometimes a dude just makes a great play. Full credit to Savarino.

2-1 FC Dallas goal. 32nd minute. Paxton Pomykal's first career goal. About a minute after Savarino's goal, the RSL commentators were still talking about it. A hopeful ball in from the right side by Matt Hedges is muffed by RSL's Marcelo Silva. The lurking Pomykal pounces takes a touch and buries it. Heads up play by Pomykal.

3-1 FC Dallas goal. 64th minute. Paxton Pomykal's second career goal completing the first career brace. FCD playing down the right side on a sequence started by Pablo Aranguiz. Ryan Hollingshead getting forward feeds Jesus Ferreira who taps it on to Pomykal (or flubs it on?). Pomykal rounds a recovering defender takes a touch for space, and fires... the ball deflects off a RSL defender, catches Rimando a bit, and goes in.

3-2 RSL Goal. 66th minute. Marcelo Silva goes up and over Reggie Cannon on a corner. As RSL commentator Brian Dunseth says on the clip, you can ask why that's not a foul. Silva clearly has his hands on Cannon's shoulders and goes up and over him. No call. It happens I guess.

4-2 FC Dallas Goal. 69th minute. FCD works the ball around the back and Matt Hedges makes a gorgeous long pass to hit Michael Barrios in stride getting behind the defense. Barrios hits a hard cross to the near post atop the goal box where Jesus Ferreira is crashing. Ferreira gets enough to redirect for the goal.

Red Card

Damir Kreilach gets the red card for the headbutt'ish type motion toward Carlos Gruezo. Gruezo probably got a little aggressive with the studs when Kreilach was on the ground and the RSL man gets up, perhaps understandably, pissed. The headbutt type motion is a no-no though and Gruezo makes a meal of it getting Kreilach sent off. Kreilach probably feels hard done by but you can't make that headbutt motion even if you don't make contact.

El Bueno

Paxton Pomykal, Man of the Match. Again. This is getting ridiculous. Confidence is a beautiful thing. And he played in yet a new position this game as a purer 10 and even some left-wing in mop-up time. 93 touches (2nd most on FCD), 92% passing, 4 shots (3 on target!), 2 goals, 2 key passes, drew 3 fouls. 5 of 6 successful tackles are you kidding me? A couple of intercepts and 5 recoveries. Sidenote: Pomykal is also (relatively) mature and level headed for 19 years of age.

I'm happy with the goals, but at the end of the day, I'm happy that we won. It's key to get points on the road for the season. This is our second road trip, we lost the first one, so it's good to be able to go on the road, get a win and get that out of the way, so we know that whenever we go on the road, we can do it. - Paxton Pomykal

There

a subtleness and intelligence to

Jesus Ferreira's

game I like. He can check back and play some one-two combos as well as hold for possession and turn for a layoff. But he also knows how to run a high line. Look back above at the near post run he makes for his goal. That's a pure striker nose for goal run. The will to get there a couple of inches before the defender. When you play with a winger with the pace of Barrios, you absolutely have to be able to make that run and reward Barrios' effort and cross. Ferreira draws attention and play opens up behind him.

Intelligence. Timing. Technique. Taking the next step. Growth. Just doing what he's good at and knowing that the game is one where it's [about] smart movement and timing as opposed to physicality and athleticism. He's showing that he's a footballer, and he had some smart movements at the nine or a false-nine position. [He] put himself around the goal, connected with others and that was a great layup off the first goal, so he continues to contribute and helps this team. - Luchi Gonzalez on Ferreira

Michael Barrios had two assists and 4 key passes. Remember last week when I talked about him getting to the end and getting the crosses into no one? Compare these two charts: vs. COL left, vs. RSL right. From that corner runs against RSL... a connected cross, a key pass, and the assist on Ferreira's goal. Nice improvement.

Michael Barrios passing charts against Colorado Rapids 3-23-19 (left) and Real Salt Lake 3-30-19 (Right). (MLS / MLS)

When you are up a man for a long run, you are supposed to dominate possession. But the FCD midfield was wonderful. Check out the passing numbers. Carlos Gruezo - 94% on 93 passes. Rookie Edwin Cerrillo - 92% on 48 passes. Paxton Pomykal - 92% on 63 passes. Jacori Hayes, off the bench, 96% on 27 passes.

But I particularly want to single out Bryan Acosta. He subbed in for the rookie Cerrillo in a protect-the-led-with-a-veteran type move... and proceeded to have 70 touches in 37 minutes of play! That's amazing to me. 94% passing on 68 passes, 4 for 5 on long balls. 1 foul committed.

Bryan Acosta's passing chart in just 37 minutes of work against RSL. (3-30-19) (MLS / MLS)

The back 4 are, for the most part, playing some pretty dang good football. They were all good on this night, both to the eye test and the stat check afterward. Collectively, they held Albert Rusnak to only 24 touches and 1 shot. That's pretty good. None of them is going to the bench anytime soon if they keep this up.

One stat that did jump out at me... Matt Hedges was 6 for 7 on long balls and the one miss was probably the one Pomykal pounced on for his second goal. Hedges has really improved his passing this season. Who says you can't team an old dog new tricks?

I thought Pablo Aranguiz was serviceable on the left wing. 85% passing on 33 passes. Only 46 touches as he was lifted in the 65th minute for what I see as a kill-the-game-off sub rather than any kind of indictment of Arangiuz's game. My biggest complaint about Aranguiz is the same as always, impact. But he did start the sequence that led to the second Pomykal goal, so that's a positive.

I'll continue to credit Jesse Gonzalez with his improved passing this year - and his coach Drew Keeshan - I've seen them working on it. Also, did anyone else notice that Gonzalez's name is showing up on the stat sheet as José Luis González? I wonder if he asked for that change.

Blue shorts rule. Blue shorts with the new white top is a win. Classic soccer kit design.

Real Salt Lake midfielder Kyle Beckerman (5) and FC Dallas midfielder Paxton Pomykal (19) watch the ball during an MLS soccer match Saturday, March 30, 2019, in Sandy, Utah. (Jeffrey D. Allred/The Deseret News via AP) (Jeffrey D. Allred / AP)

El Camino del Medio

In 8 minutes of play, Zdenek Ondrasek, the Cobra, had 3 touches. I can't really do anything with that in terms of a breakdown. So I'll credit where I saw a positive. He worked hard and made a couple of high presses that kept RSL on their back foot trying to play out.

Muy Feo

Man, I can't stand jersey numbers like 50 or 51. Numbers matter.

Honestly, there isn't a whole lot bad to say about FCD in this one. Big win on the road. They got some help from RSL but you take it when you get it. This is a young team still learning how to kill off a game. Overall, a solid showing.

We need to be better at killing out the game. We were up two goals and we gave them a goal and then every time they scored, we came back really quickly and scored right back. So, we were never in doubt that we didn't have control of the game. - Paxton Pomykal

Next Game

FC Dallas (10 points, 4th in the West) plays the second of back to back road games, this one at Philadelphia Union (7 points, 4th in the East). Kickoff 6:30 pm CT on TXA21.

Western Conference Standings week 5. (4-1-19) (MLS / MLS)