Luciano Acosta scored the match’s lone goal deep into first-half stoppage time to lift FC Dallas to a 1-0 win over Real Salt Lake on Saturday in a Western Conference match in Sandy, Utah.
Dallas’ homegrown goalkeeper, Michael Collodi, made his first career start and stopped the two shots he faced to earn the clean sheet.
FC Dallas (2-2-1, seven points) earned points for the third time this season on the road. They are 2-0-1 on the road and have dropped both of their home matches.
Real Salt Lake (2-3-0, six points) was forced to play the final 67 minutes a man down after Ariath Piol was assessed a red card in the 23rd minute for a dangerous play in the midfield.
The Toros went right to the attack soon after with Patrickson Delgado clanging a shot off the left post in the 26th minute, and Sebastian Lletget forcing Salt Lake goalkeeper Rafael Cabral into a save four minutes later that kept the match scoreless.
Cabral came up huge again in the 34th minute as he dove to his left to stop a penalty kick from Acosta after a foul in the box by Brayan Vera.
Dallas found the net in the seventh minute of first-half stoppage time when Acosta headed home a deflected crossing pass at the far post from Shaq Moore. Moore directed the header down and to Cabral’s right into the short side of the goal while outworking RSL defender Philip Quinton to allow the visitors a 1-0 lead at the break.
RSL’s Lachlan Brook made a bid to tie the match when he uncorked a shot in the 72nd minute, but it sailed just over the crossbar.
Dallas kept charging in the second half, but could not increase its lead. Marco Farfan hit the crossbar with a spot in the 73rd minute, and Lletget and Tsiki Ntsabeleng tested Cabral in the 78th and 80th minutes but were turned away.
RSL’s Braian Ojeda had low-percentage shots on goal in the 86th and 89th minutes that required saves from Collodi.
–Field Level Media
