The FC Dallas Vs Austin MLS match has made the headlines for a crazy 10-minute pomp of drama. While football is generally known for its high-pitched and charged moments, the FC Dallas Vs Austin match took the tempo to a whole new level at the Toyota Stadium on Thursday, July 18, 2024.
From the start, Austin aced the game perfectly with good control of proceedings. The visitors looked set to ease to a comfortable win at the Toyota Stadium but were dealt a blow just ten minutes into proceedings.
29-year-old American winger, Paul Joseph Arriola, fired the hosts into the lead against the run of play, no thanks to Austin’s schoolboy defending.
Arriola’s goal turned the game harder on the hosts as Austin made concerted efforts to level terms. Six minutes after trailing, 32-year-old American forward, Gyasi Zardes, scored the equalising goal for the away side. At the break, it ended 1-1.
The second half kicked off with the visitors continuing on a similar dominant sail, going forward. With over 55% of ball possession and countless attempts, it was fair to say Austin were close to the winning goal.
However, an unprecedented 10 minutes of drama, which has now gone viral, altered the trajectory of the game and dealt a blow to the visitors.
FC Dallas Vs Austin crazy 10-minute drama: what happened?
Early in the second half, Austin conceded a cheap penalty after one of their players handled the ball inside the box. The referee pointed to the spot.
Croatian prolific forward, Petar Musa, stepped up to take the spot-kick. It was a golden chance for FC Dallas to take the lead again and put the game beyond more impressive opponents, who were pushing hard for a winner.
Standing over the spot-kick and ready to deliver the killer strike, 30-year Costa Rican and Austin defender, Julio Cascante, moved close and tried to distract Musa before the spot-kick. And it appears Cascante’s antics worked.
Musa missed the spot-kick as his strike hit the woodwork and bounced back to be saved by Austin’s goalkeeper. For Austin players and fans, it was a huge relief, leaving the game open for a win.
However, there was an issue for the visitors. Their goalkeeper seemed to have stepped out of the goal line before Musa took the penalty. The incident called for a VAR review. After the review, the penalty was re-awarded to FC Dallas.
Cascante protested the referee’s decision to re-award the spot-kick and was slammed with a yellow card.
It was Peta Musa again taking the spot-kick. This time, he made no mistake, converting it perfectly with a thunderbolt into the roof of the net.
After scoring, he celebrated provocatively in front of Cascante and was also issued a yellow card. Meanwhile, the provocative celebration sparked a brawl between the two sides.
Cascante was slammed with another yellow card after he was misconstrued to have exacerbated the clash. This would have led to his sending off from the match, having received his first yellow card but he was saved after a VAR review showed he played no role in the clash.
The second yellow card was rescinded but the plank fell on his teammate, a 28-year-old Argentine midfielder, Sebastian Driussi, who was shown a straight red card for his role in the fight. All these happened in a space of 10 minutes, changing the course of the game.
After the drama, Austin were effectively clobbered by the hosts, playing 10 men with 30 minutes left in the game.
In the 74th minute, Farfan would score again for FC Dallas to seal the win and secure victory for the Texas-based outfit. It was a night of drama, but one which saw the hosts come out top to move within a point close to Austin on 10th place in the MLS Western Conference table.
