Jackson Goncalves and Ruben Luna scored to lead FC Dallas to a 2-1 exhibition win over Mexico club Tigres on Saturday night, then went on to claim the Rio Grande Plate 6-5 on penalty kicks.
After the first ten players in the penalty round scored to set up a 5-5 tie, Tigres' Francisco Acuna bounced the ball off the crossbar to give FC Dallas a chance for the win. Jeremy Hall fired the ball into the upper left corner for the winner.
"Before that, coach asked us who wanted to take PKs, and like seven or eight guys raised their hands," said Hall, who joined Dallas in a trade with Kansas City on Aug. 19. "Everybody hit the target really well, I was just the last one. I was fortunate somebody missed before my shot, so I'm the hero, I guess, but everybody had great PKs."
Tigres beat FC Dallas 2-1 in Monterrey on March 23, so the MLS club's victory set up an aggregate draw and forced the penalty round.
This was the fourth time the two clubs contested a home-and-home series since 2006, with each team now having won twice.
Dallas, utilizing primarily reserve players, snapped a 1-1 tie just moments into the second half on a goal by Goncalves, who had just entered as a substitute. He outraced two defenders down the middle and drilled a 15-yard shot just inside the left goalpost for his fourth goal in non-MLS competition this season.
"We wanted to continue to play our younger players, who I thought did a very good job for us tonight," said FC Dallas coach Schellas Hyndman. "This was a big game for them, playing against a team like Tigres, who is world-known and playing in front of a good fan base. I was very pleased."
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FC Dallas goalkeeper Chris Seitz, seeing his first action of the year after backing up starter Kevin Hartman, made a spectacular foot save in the 71st minute on a point-blank one-timer from Alan Pulido to maintain Dallas' 2-1 advantage.
"It's one of those things where you drag your foot in case he tries to go in that direction and he hit a good area for me to get there," said Seitz, who joined Dallas last winter after starting 22 games for Philadelphia in 2010.
Tigres jumped ahead 1-0 in the 37th minute on a goal by Lucas Lobos. After receiving a nice lofted pass from Danilo Veron, Lobos sliced his way between two defenders into the penalty area and slotted a low right-footed shot past Seitz and just inside the left post.
Luna tied it for Dallas 7 minutes later, chasing down a lead ball from Bryan Leyva deep on the left flank, turning and softly chipping a shot over Tigres goalkeeper Aaron Fernandez, who was several yards off the goal line.
The goal was the first for Luna in 18 career games for Dallas.
