Taxi Fountas scored his fifth goal of the season after halftime to lift visiting D.C. United to a 1-0 victory over FC Dallas on Tuesday night in a meeting of teams missing their leading scorers.
Mateusz Klich provided his team-leading eighth assist on Fountas’ goal to earn D.C. (8-9-5, 29 points) its fourth away win of the season.
The Black-and-Red played for just the second time without team-leading scorer Christian Benteke, who served a one-match suspension for yellow-card accumulation.
Meanwhile, Dallas (8-8-5, 29 points) struggled to show attacking menace as they continued without their scoring leader Jesus Ferreira, who is away with the U.S. national team at the CONCACAF Gold Cup.
The hosts outshot D.C. 11-8, but only put one of those efforts on target as they lost at home for the third time.
Dallas also saw striker Bernard Kamungo exit in the 64th minute with a possible head injury after a collision with D.C. defender Derrick Williams.
After a relatively uneventful first half, Fountas gave D.C. the lead somewhat against the second-half run of play in the 73rd minute.
The substitute Klich helped create the goal when he feigned a long-range shot, then slotted a pass to Fountas just inside the penalty area.
Fountas’ first shot appeared to strike the arm of sliding defender Sebastien Ibeagha. But referee Mark Allatin played the advantage as the rebound fell to Fountas, who curled in a gorgeous, right-footed finish that bent around the dive of Dallas goalkeeper Maarten Paes and off the inside of the far-right post.
Before and after that, FC Dallas had the better of the game’s sporadic chances, though they rarely made Bono work.
Kamungo probably had the best chance in the 16th minute when he ran onto a throughball over the top but was denied by Alex Bono with D.C.’s Williams pressuring.
Jader Obrian also missed the target on a couple of promising chances, including firing narrowly high from about 15 yards in the 89th minute after an excellent Dallas attack down the right.
Then deep in second-half stoppage time, Tsiki Ntsabeleng struck the crossbar with another promising effort from about 15 yards as D.C. held on.
–Field Level Media
