MATCH NOTES
- Forward Jesús Ferreira scored his sixth goal of the season
- Midfielder Tsiki Ntsabeleng recorded his second assist of the season
- Goalkeeper Maarten Paes registered his third shutout of the season
- MLS Box Score
AUSTIN, Texas (May 13, 2023) – FC Dallas (5-3-3, 18 points) defeats Austin FC (2-5-4, 10 points) thanks to Jesús Ferreira’s game-winning goal in the 89th minute on Saturday night at Q2 Stadium.
RISING TO THE OCCASION
Jesús Ferreira’s goal in the 89th minute of the match was his fifth goal in seven career games against Austin FC, the most against Austin in the club’s MLS history. That is his third goal scored at Q2 Stadium and his first since his brace on August 29, 2021 in the 5-3 win. Ferreira leads FC Dallas with four game winners this season.
TOTAL DOMINANCE
FC Dallas improves to 4-0-2 when facing in-state rival Austin FC in the regular season. That’s the club’s first win over Austin since the 2021 season and its second win at Q2 Stadium.
SHUTOUT WIN
Dallas earns its third clean sheet of the season and second 1-0 road victory. FC Dallas defeated Inter Miami CF on April 8 and later played to a scoreless draw against Minnesota United FC on April 30. The win is also FC Dallas’ first shutout win over Austin FC after six regular season matchups.
UP NEXT
FC Dallas starts a two-game homestand by hosting Vancouver Whitecaps FC on Wednesday, May 17, then hosting the Texas Derby versus Houston Dynamo FC on Saturday, May 20 for Armed Forces night presented by Chick-fil-A. Both matches are scheduled to kickoff at 7:30PM CT on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV, the FC Dallas App, Talk Radio 1190AM and TUDN 1270AM.
POSTGAME QUOTES FC DALLAS
Head Coach Nico Estévez
General thoughts on the match…
“We played amazing today. We did not allow this attacking-oriented team to create danger up front. This is due to the players' performance. On Friday, I sat with a couple of the players and I informed them of the plan to contain Austin FC’s attack. We just needed the sacrifice of one player and (Sebastian) Lletget was the player who stepped up and took that responsibility. He worked hard, engaged in every battle and helped the team defensively. These are things that leaders tend to do and that is why we have him on the team because he is important to us. In the attack we could’ve scored two or three. We had three shots on target and 13 shots total with 18 crosses. It’s not about the quantity but it is about the quality of things. We are coming from a difficult result against Nashville where we had a disappointing performance and result. We wanted to respond and bounce back today and all of our guys deserve a lot of credit. We are building towards the way we want to play and be at, and sometimes that can take long and is never easy. The guys have a strong mentality and we can respond to any adversity we have in front of us.”
On Jesús Ferreira 's performance…
“If he wants to raise his level to the top, he needs to have phenomenal physical performances. Pressing, running and fighting is what makes him different. He has the ability to keep repeating these actions at a high speed. The moment he does not do that, he loses that strength and power that he has. This is what we asked from him today and he delivered. He made runs behind the defender and he did not stop all night. Sometimes he scored and sometimes he does not, but today he put himself in a good position to score. It was the game winning goal and I am very happy with his performance. These are the types of performances we demand from him because he is growing into that leadership role and when he encourages others, the team looks a whole lot better as a unit. He led by example tonight and I am glad he had this performance tonight.”
On Alan Velasco’s return…
“It’s great to have a full healthy roster, especially getting a player with special qualities like Alan (Velasco). He also helps provide pressure and fight to the team. It’s his first full game in a month and he showed some miscues but at the same time he showed danger in the attack for us. He put good crosses and had good one on one scenarios. He wanted to play more but we have three games this week and I told him we have to be smart about his minutes.”
Midfielder Paxton Pomykal
Thoughts on the game…
“Obviously a huge result. Yeah I think derbies are always special to win but considering how poor our performance was on Wednesday away, we really wanted to respond and show that that's not who we are. We did that tonight.”
On the overall play against Austin…
“There's still work to be done but the overall football today was much better: the connections were better, the passing was better. Really, really happy to get a goal. Clean sheets are obviously important as well in this league, especially on the road, so it's a collective effort to win.”
Importance of getting the win during a heavy run of play in May…
“We have a lot of games this month so we're going to need everybody, the entire roster. The wins don't really mean anything if you don't follow them up, especially at home. Wednesday and Saturday are very important for us to build momentum on this one.”
Midfielder Tsiki Ntsabeleng
On beating Austin…
“It's amazing especially after what we went through during the week. It was a tough week for us but I think we are a team that has always responded. We responded very well tonight.”
On subbing into the game in the 77th minute…“It was high pace, high intensity. The instruction was to just bring energy and add more pressure and with (Austin) 10 men down you could take more risk and get a little bit more forward.”
On how Rodney Redes’ red card changed the match…
“The game changed because you could see now they couldn't take as much and you were able to keep them in their half longer. If you do that to a team they're likely to concede.”
On Jesus Ferreira’s game-winner…
“Amazing. I'm not surprised that he did it. I'm just happy that he did it.”
