Petar Musa’s brace Saturday night, including a tiebreaker in the 74th minute, lifted FC Dallas to a 3-2 win over visiting Toronto FC in each team’s MLS opener in Frisco, Texas.
The match-winner came moments after Toronto was unable to clear the ball out of danger. Logan Farrington got possession on the left wing and struck a nice crossing pass to Musa, who promptly headed it between goalie Luka Gavran and the left post.
Farrington tallied the other goal for Dallas, which matched Toronto’s 13 shots and made the most of the only three shots it put on frame. Djordje Mihailovic and Derrick Etienne Jr. scored for Toronto, which got seven shots between the posts.
Farrington provided Dallas with a 2-1 halftime lead in the 38th minute via a great individual effort. He won a ball in the air against two defenders, dribbled to get himself space in the middle and then slotted the ball into the right corner.
That lead lasted until the 67th minute, when Etienne equalized after he pounced on the rebound of a shot that Michael Collodi saved and flicked it over the diving goalie into the middle of the net. But Musa, who tallied a team-high 18 goals last year, found the back of the net to give Dallas the result.
Coming off a playoff season, Dallas mostly kept its roster intact, aside from Collodi, who won the starting job in net after Maarten Paes opted to play back home in The Netherlands. Toronto, which won only six of its 34 matches last year, made a big move by acquiring star defender Walker Zimmerman from Nashville.
But Musa needed only nine minutes to score the season’s first goal, accepting Osaze Urhoghide’s pass and beating Gavran. However, Toronto tied it in the 15th minute when Mihailovic took Jonathan Osorio’s pass, dribbled the ball to his right foot and flicked a shot in the right corner.
Collodi finished with five saves for Dallas.
–Field Level Media
