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Castillo, Akindele propel FC Dallas in rout of Earthquakes

FCDallasTrounceSanJose (USA Today Sports)

Photo by USA Today Sports Images

You couldn’t have blamed FC Dallas one bit if, after traveling from Texas to California following a grueling U.S. Open Cup semifinal loss to the Philadelphia Union, Oscar Pareja’s would have shown up at Buck Shaw Stadium tired and lethargic.

Instead of a tired FC Dallas, the San Jose Earthquakes ran into an inspired FC Dallas, which delivered their best performance of the season in a 5-0 blowout win on Saturday night.

Rookie forward Tesho Akindele continued his outstanding season, netting a hat-trick to lead the romp, while speedy Colombian Fabian Castillo continued his excellent form by contributing two goals and an assist.

The victory extended FC Dallas’ unbeaten streak to nine matches, and pulled them within two points of Seattle for second place in the West.

Castillo opened the scoring in the 30th minute after racing onto a loose ball and out-muscling San Jose’s Jason Hernandez before chipping Jon Busch to make the score 1-0.

Akindele made it 2-0 in the 43rd minute when he collected a ball 25 yards from goal, shook off a challenge from Victor Bernardez, and slipped a left-footed shot just inside the far post.

The Earthquakes looked poised to pull one back after Matias Perez Garcia drew a penalty just before halftime, but Chris Wondolowski blasted the penalty kick just over the crossbar.

Castillo helped make it 3-0 when he ran at the Earthquakes defense and sent a shot at Busch that the San Jose goalkeeper couldn’t keep his hands on. Akindele followed up the play and converted the loose ball.

Castillo made it 4-0 after racing onto a pass from Blas Perez and beating the San Jose defense yet again, slipping a low right-footed shot past Busch.

Akindele completed his hat-trick in the 86th minute be converting a saved Blas Perez header with a close-range blast.

The victory helped FC Dallas push their lead on the Los Angeles Galaxy for third place in the Western Conference to five points.

Comments

  1. If we can make a deep run into the playoffs, it might be on the backs of Blas, Fabian, Tesho and Michel. The defense has done a commendable job this season, but it’s the attack that’s really stood out as the driving force of the squad.

    Plain as day on the first goal, Fabian is probably the fastest and/or quickest guy in the league. He always has been, but all credit to the guy and the coaching staff for working with him so much on his finishing. I’ve seen probably a handful of goals that he’s put in this season that he would have missed the past two seasons.

    That PK was a whole bunch of BS though, he’s backed into the defender and that wasn’t called, and as soon as he feels a hand on his shoulder he drops like a bag of hammers…when a player is pulling your shoulder back, there’s generally a bit of motion or movement involved, particularly in the shoulder being pulled back. Instead, he falls like he’s pulled by a noose in the hands of Satan – straight down. Say what you want about Blas and his propensity to find the floor easily, at least he’s convincing.

    With all that said this was a good game. Our defense was solid and Fernandez looked like he was on his toes, and the attack is currently firing on all cylinders (even without Diaz)…as long as we can keep up the momentum, we’re a lock for the playoffs and a dark horse for the Supporters’ Shield.

    And a well-written article to boot, Ives!

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  2. I don’t get a chance to watch a lot of MLS outside of my team, and this is one of the few times I have had a chance to see Castillo… Is he that good, or is the Quakes defense just that bad? Because that was scary!

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