By Jon Arnold
23:13, 10 December 2020 CST
FC Dallas’ 2020 season ended Tuesday night with a 1-0 loss to the Seattle Sounders when the MLS Cup protective champion nearly beat the CDF with a headbutt in the second half of Shane O’Neill’s headbutt from a corner.
The Sounders qualify for the Western Conference finals, now two defense victories of their name, while the CDF will begin the off-season and arrangements for 2021.
The decisive purpose came in the minute, when the Sounders’ central defender, O’Neill, overlooked FCD midfielder Thiago Santos in a corner and put his headbutt on Nicolas Loderio’s pitch, sending his shot past FCD goalkeeper Jimmy Maurer.
The defeat ended a crusade for the CDF. After the MLS season break in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic, FCD was removed from the one-site summer tournament used to restart the game due to an outbreak of coronavirus cases within When the normal season resumed in local markets, the CDF struggled to locate a pace and began at the end of the year , with a 4-2-1 mark in his last seven games.
The momentum continued until last week’s run over the Portland Timbers, allowing the CDF to advance to the playoffs for the first time since the 2015 season. However, despite the fact that the sounders’ much-acclaimed offensive trio, Raul Ruidiaz, Jordan Morris and Nicolas Loderio, are not on set, the FCD season ends in the convention semifinals.
The game was very different from the wild playoff contest of the first circular of 2019, in which the CDF returned from 2-0 back, then 3-2 to force overtime, but eventually fell to the Sounders in overtime.
Both groups left on Tuesday night as if their coaches’ pre-game speeches had encouraged them, all the teams seemed to have a lot of energy. The first 10 minutes ended with Sounders defender Nouhou shooting at a crowded penalty domain that blocked diver Matt Setos
An out-of-place transparency of Ryan Hollingshead fell on Jordan Morris just after the 25th minute, but Hollingshead made up for the mistake, backing down to catch Morris in the area and transparent the ball to a corner, which FCD was able to more effectively transparent. .
Then things have become much more confusing. The groups entered the break goallessly, with the CDF preventing the Sounders from recording a framed shot in the first half. It was only the time this season that the Sounders didn’t score at home.
After O’Neill’s first framed shot, Gonzalez went to his bench, taking winger Michael Barrios and Hollingshead to the left winger.
The FCD has pointed to the point in time. Tanner Tessmann used a little dexterity to take the ball to Hollingshead, who temporarily played a center, discovered Barrios, who directed his shot to goal but was denied a goal at the post. The rebound fell on Andrés Ricaurte, but the Colombian shot. was blocked before achieving the mouth of purpose.
The task seemed even more complicated in the 74th minute when FCD central Bressan, who had already received a yellow card in the match, knocked down Lodeiro with a hard entrance. Fortunately for the Brazilian, referee Robert Sibiga charged compatriot Santos with an incident just before, prompting the game to skip and let Bressan through with an undeniable warning.
With the full 11 still intact, Gonzalez continued to make adjustments in search of the tie, with the CDF still keeping the Sounders’ offensive trio silent. The hairmaker Santiago Mosquera and striker Ricardo Pepi competed in the 81st minute. There were a handful of other, partial opportunities for the FCD, but nothing that challenged the Sounders goalkeeper, Stefan Frei.
The FCD is now entering a off-season in which it will have to make decisions about the long term of a number of players in Frisco. The team is known for having young players and 4 teenagers witnessed Tuesday’s defeat. How to continue combining those emerging stars with experienced veterans and where more reinforcements are needed will dictate many decisions that technical director Andre Zanotta and the rest of the front will make about what the team will look like in 2021.
Find out more about FC Dallas at The Dallas Morning News here.
Jon Arnold, special collaborator
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