FRISCO, Texas — FC Dallas coach Eric Quill said his team spotted Sporting Kansas City two goals inside the first 10 minutes on Saturday night, and that the deficit was tough to take and swallow on a night the club had spent three months waiting for.
Dallas won 4-3 at Toyota Stadium on a Petar Musa penalty kick seven minutes into second-half stoppage time. The club announced a crowd of 10,925.
Eric Quill On The Toyota Stadium Crowd
Quill’s own read is that the crowd is what restarted the night after the first Dallas goal, in postgame comments reported by Big D Soccer.
“We needed our fans tonight,” Quill said. “I’m going to say thank you to our fans because that’s how you come back home. This is what home crowds do for you. They give you that life after you score a goal, and they brought us back.”
Logan Farrington scored that first goal in the 27th minute, with Musa supplying the assist. Musa headed in a Bernard Kamungo cross three minutes later. Kaick put Dallas ahead in first-half stoppage time.
Quill has spent the past several weeks on the resilience of the group, and his line Saturday was that the players keep proving they are never going to turn over and die.
Nine days earlier, after a 3-3 draw at St. Louis City SC closed the road stretch, Quill set the terms for the homestand.
“I’m going to get on the airplane and let it soak in,” Quill explained on Aug. 30. “We’ve all been looking forward to getting through this stretch. We had goals for ourselves, and we met them. Now it’s about maximizing this experience at home and making sure we take care of home-field advantage and don’t squander points.”
“We’ve got to have a really good mindset about ourselves,” Quill continued. “Going home doesn’t guarantee you wins, so we’ve got to execute and have a proper game plan.”
FC Dallas Returns Home After 115 Days
Before Saturday, the last home match had come on May 13 against the Vancouver Whitecaps, a 3-2 loss. Dallas went 6-3-3 over the 12 matches that followed, across all competitions. The club logged more than 15,000 miles in three countries during that stretch. Six of the road wins came in MLS play, tied with the San Jose Earthquakes for the second most in the league behind Inter Miami‘s eight.
Saturday was also the first crowd inside the renovated east side of Toyota Stadium, part of a project the club has valued at more than $200 million. Renovation work has held home capacity near 11,000 for the season. Frisco was at 93 degrees at kickoff.
Quill is in his second season in charge. He made 57 appearances for the Kansas City Wizards across 2002 and 2003, and he is a Missouri City, Texas, native.
Dallas sits fourth in the Western Conference at 10-6-7 and 37 points through 23 matches. Los Angeles FC holds third on goal difference with the same point total and one match more played. The Houston Dynamo are second at 40 points.
Dallas plays at Minnesota United on Wednesday at Allianz Field. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. CT, and the match streams on Apple TV.
