Recap | Minnesota United - 0, FC Dallas - 3

If anybody in attendance Saturday afternoon had any questions about what this game meant to both Minnesota United and FC Dallas, it only took about four minutes to figure it out. FC Dallas star Paul Arriola’s foul on Brett Kallman wasn’t exactly “clean,” and as he’s been known to do, Michael Boxall expressed his displeasure with a shove and face-to-face exchange of pleasantries. Needless to say, Boxy coming to his teammate’s defense set the tone for what shaped up to be a great battle between two talented teams vying for leverage over the other in the Western Conference standings.

For the next ninety minutes, both sides would play the pitch at a feverish pace. For the Loons and their attack, there was no question the home side looked the part of a Western Conference contender throughout the first forty-five minutes. While the Dallas defense were no slouches in defending their box, Minnesota United were prone to making one too many touches to get the ball into the net. The same story could be told of the visitors while on the attack in the first half, as they made their way up and down the pitch. The Loons defense, like their counterparts, hung tough in the face of Dallas’ best efforts to find the net. Going into half even at 0-0 felt right for such a tightly-contested match to that point.

Alas, here is where we begin the tale of two drastically different halves. Unfortunately, for the boys in black and blue, the story of the second half would be a short story, and it would be filed under the “Horror” genre. Words probably wouldn’t do justice to how quickly things at Allianz Field escalated for the Loons, so here’s a quick visual to give you a synopsis: