FC Dallas celebrates the go-ahead goal in Wednesday’s US Open Cup semifinal against the LA Galaxy at the StubHub Center.
By Debby von Winckelmann
The LA Galaxy were stunned by FC Dallas in their 2016 U.S. Open Cup semifinal on Wednesday when Dallas midfielder Victor Ulloa headed in the game winner in stoppage time of the extra time period, giving Dallas the 2-1 win.
The Galaxy were up 1-0 until the 116th minute when Dallas defender Matt Hedges headed in the equalizer on a corner kick delivered by Mauro Diaz.
Just as it seemed certain that the game would go to penalty kicks, Diaz again served in a corner kick and Ulloa connected to advance Dallas to the U.S. Open Cup final with the New England Revolution.
“All the hard work that this team has done throughout the season, I think we deserved it,” Ulloa said. “We went down, we had the character to fight through and come back. Thank God I had that chance and scored that goal.”
Galaxy coach Bruce Arena had opted to play the game with several reserves, giving his starters a rest in this three-game week.
Although Raul Mendiola and Emmanuel Boateng helped to create some chances for the Galaxy, their 74th minute substitutions for Gyasi Zardes and Giovani dos Santos sparked some stronger offense. Zardes threaded a pass to dos Santos in the penalty area, where Dallas goalkeeper Chris Seitz took down dos Santos for a penalty.
Galaxy captain Mike Magee stepped up to the spot and converted the penalty kick in the 101st minute to give the Galaxy the 1-0 lead.
LA was ultimately unable to hold onto that lead, as Dallas rallied and caught the Galaxy defense off-guard.
The loss was understandably hard to swallow for LA, with Baggio Husidic calling it “the lowest point in the season” and Arena obviously unhappy with the result.
“Well it’s certainly frustrating,” Arena said. “We did a terrible job obviously in the last five minutes of the game and lost the game after working our asses off for 115 minutes. Really a naïve performance at the end of the game.”
The Galaxy will have to move past the stunning loss quickly, as LA hosts the Colorado Rapids on Saturday.
