FC Dallas bolstered their roster this offseason for these exact moments and the team responded.
With five players making their first or second starts of the season, Oscar Pareja's side grinded out a penalty kick shootout win over Oklahoma City Energy FC on Wednesday night in the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup and it was two of those five players who played a direct hand in both goals.
Making his second start of the year, Carlos Lizarazo scored both goals for FCD in a six-minute flurry with Homegrown winger Coy Craft assisting on both in his first FCD start of the year.
"[All the players] that came back in the team...this is giving us a lot of options now and I wanted to see them in competition," Oscar Pareja said after the match. "It just magnified the victory. We played against a good team, indeed, but actually these guys responded well to win it."
At the heart of the action on the other end of the field was Homegrown defender Aaron Guillen. Making his second start of the season, Guillen was significantly busier on Wednesday night than his first appearance, a comfortable 3-0 win at DC United earlier this year. The rookie was strong at the back making multiple key defensive plays in a confidence-building performance.
"I felt good out there. We executed our plan that we had during the week," said Guillen. "Unfortunately, we had a bad play at the end, but the important part is winning the game and that’s what we did."
The start of a stretch that could see FC Dallas play 11 games between yesterday and the end of July, the squad's whole roster will certainly be needed through the end of the year.
"We know we have a big team, a big squad and we’re going to need the whole team for all three competitions," said Guillen. "We’re here to win all three of them and we’ve worked hard. Even the guys who aren’t getting as many minutes we’re ready to step up."
FC Dallas will host the Colorado Rapids in the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup Round of 16 at Toyota Stadium on Wednesday, June 29th at 7:30PM with the winner advancing to the quarterfinals where they will face the winner of the Houston Dynamo vs Sporting KC match.