All the scoring came from first-half goals by both teams as visiting FC Dallas and the San Jose Earthquakes settled for a 1-1 draw on Saturday in a late-season Western Conference match.
Dallas (13-8-11, 50 points) remains in third place in the West standings, five points behind second-place Austin FC and three points up on surging Nashville SC with two matches to play.
Dallas was forced to play the final seven minutes and five minutes of added time in the second half down a man when Paul Arriola was shown the red card for a foul in the 83rd minute.
San Jose (7-14-10, 31 points) has just three points in its past four matches and has won just twice since Aug. 20. The Earthquakes are at the bottom of the West standings and have already been eliminated from playoff contention with three matches left in the regular season.
Dallas began the scoring when Jader Obrian was in the right place at the right time to redirect a pass deflected by Arriola with a right-footed shot into the center of the goal in the 16th minute. The play began with a pass into the area by Sebastian Lletget, with Arriola lunging for the ball but only able to deflect it to Obrian.
The Earthquakes pulled even in the 24th minute as Jeremy Ebobisse converted a penalty kick after a handball in the box by Dallas’ Marco Farfan.
San Jose then had an excellent chance to grab the lead in the 41st minute but Paul Marie clanged his right-footed shot off the left post.
Dallas had the best opportunity to snap the tie in the second half. After an extended possession in the San Jose zone, Tsiki Ntsabeleng had a point-blank shot at the goal when the Earthquakes’ keeper, JT Marcinkowski, came well off his line.
But San Jose defenders Nathan Cardoso and Tanner Beason combined to keep the ball out of the goal.
— Field Level Media
