Jesus Ferreira scored his eighth and ninth goals of the season to take a two-goal lead in the race for the 2022 MLS Golden Boot presented by Audi and lift FC Dallas to a comfortable 3-1 victory over the LA Galaxy on Saturday night at Dignity Health Sports Park.
Paul Arriola added his third goal of the season as Dallas secured a first away victory for first-year coach Nico Estevez in their ninth consecutive match without defeat, the longest active streak in MLS.
All three Dallas goals came in a 12-minute stretch of the first half from a high-tempo counterattack style that gave the hosts fits.
Douglas Costa scored his second goal for LA on a well-worked indirect free kick. He becomes the Galaxy's second multi-goal scorer behind Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez's team-leading five-goal total.
But that strike midway through the second half came too late to turn around what finished as LA's second home defeat in the 2022 campaign.
Goals
Three Things
- THE BIG PICTURE: With only 12 goals through 11 games overall, the Galaxy’s more protracted offensive struggles have come at home, where they only have five in five. Meanwhile, Dallas finally proved they could handle prosperity on the road after twice giving back leads away to Sporting Kansas City. Dallas led their league fixture 2-1 before settling for a 2-2 draw last month, and on Tuesday in the US Open Cup fourth round led 2-0 before falling 4-2 in extra time.
- MOMENT OF THE MATCH: Jesus Ferreira’s second of the night was a combination of opportunism on his part and a collision of mistakes on the Galaxy’s, providing a fitting summary of the opening 45 minutes.
- MAN OF THE MATCH: Jesus Ferreira. The focus will rightly be on his skyrocketing goals total. But even though he was sitting on a hat trick after the 23rd minute, what may have been most impressive was his ability to keep making the correct decisions on the ball rather than make the selfish choice. With some more cut-throat finishing from his teammates, he could've had an assist or two. Here's his opener:
Next up
- LA: Wednesday, May 18 at Minnesota United FC | 8 pm ET (MLS LIVE on ESPN+)
- DAL: Wednesday, May 18 at Vancouver Whitecaps FC | 10 pm ET (MLS LIVE on ESPN+)
