FC Dallas 3, Tauro FC 2 | CCL Round of 16 Recap

FC Dallas won their first competitive game of the season on Wednesday, a 3-2 victory over Tauro FC in the 2018 CONCACAF Champions League at Toyota Stadium, but they ultimately fell in the second leg of the aggregate series, 3-3, with the Panamanian side holding the edge in the away goals tiebreaker. The result knocks Dallas out of the CCL for the year.

Dallas struggled to find a rhythm early, and were punished in the 16th minute, as Edwin Aguilar scored his second goal of the series after Jesse Gonzalez came rushing out to stop Jesus Gonzalez in the box, who coolly passed to his teammate for the one-time chip.

Dallas clawed their way back into the game about a third of the way into the game, as Maxi Urruti hit a volley off an errant Tauro touch in the box, blasting his shot past Tauro GK Oscar McFarlane to even the score. But Gonzalez put Tauro ahead once more just before halftime.

Shortly after the break, Santiago Mosquera drew a penalty, which was converted by Mauro Diaz to tie the game up once again, and Cristian Colman came off the bench to score a late winner, but it was not enough for Dallas to progress in the competition.

Goals

16' - TAU - Edwin Aguilar
32' - DAL - Maxi Urruti
44' - TAU - Jesus Gonzalez
50' - DAL - Mauro Diaz (PK)
92' - DAL - Cristian Colman

Three Things

The Big Picture: The result was better than last week's first leg, to be sure, but this performance was quite lackluster for FC Dallas. While the attack woke up in fits and starts, conceding two goals in the way they did has to be demoralizing. Now that the CCL is done, FC Dallas need to turn their attention to the MLS regular season, which kicks off at home on Saturday.

Moment of the Match
: At the time it looked like Tauro were going on to dominate the game, but Gonzalez's goal was the difference in the series overall, and his skills at converting a jailbreak will give Dallas plenty to work on in training.

.@RocketLeague Goal of the Game: Edwin Aguilar finds Jesus Gonzalez in space who dribbles @fcdallas' Jesse Gonzalez to net the goal that gave @TauroFC the ticket to the next round! #SCCL2018 pic.twitter.com/W3pRQa1d5V
— Scotiabank Concacaf Champions League (@TheChampions) March 1, 2018

Man of the Match: Urruti tried to take the mantle with his golazo, but Tauro's Jesus Gonzalez was more decisive, scoring a goal and assist for the visitors to complete the upset and advance.