What to Know
- Bernard Kamungo registered his first brace in MLS play to bring his tally to six goals on the season.
- Defender Ema Twumasi netted his first career goal in his sixth season with FC Dallas.
- FC Dallas has earned a spot in the Audi 2023 MLS Cup Playoffs.
Bernard Kamungo scored twice in the first half, Ema Twumasi scored the first goal of his career and FC Dallas earned a spot in the postseason with a 4-1 victory over the Los Angeles Galaxy on Saturday night.
“It’s massive to get a goal, and at a great time. We knew what was at steak tonight, we wanted to get into the playoffs," said Defender Ema Twumasi.
Dallas (11-10-13) is unbeaten at 2-0-7 in its last nine matches and snaps a streak of playing to five straight draws.
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Kamungo scored in the 4th minute off an assist from Nkosi Tafari to give Dallas an early lead.
Twumasi, a defender, found the net for the first time, scoring unassisted in the 13th minute for a 2-0 advantage. It was his 84th appearance and 64th start for Dallas. He made just one of the starts and seven appearances with the club from 2018-2020.
Raheem Edwards cut the deficit in half for the Galaxy (8-14-12) when he used assists from Tyler Boyd and Diego Fagundez in the 24th minute to score for a second time this season.
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Kamungo scored again in the 30th minute to put Dallas up 3-1. Jesús Ferreira and Paxton Pomykal notched assists on Kamungo's sixth goal this season. Jáder Obrian notched his sixth goal, with an assist from Paul Arriola, in the second minute of stoppage time for a 4-1 lead at the half.
Maarten Paes totaled four saves for Dallas. Novak Micovic saved two shots for the Galaxy in the second start of his career.
"“It was now or never. We’d created a lot of opportunities in front of goal the past few games but didn’t put away our chances early," said Midfielder Paxton Pomykal. "I thought that we did really well off the ball today, we were hungry and the result reflected that.”
Dallas has won four in a row against LA and improves to 11-2-2 in the last 15 matchups.
The Galaxy concluded the season by allowing multiple goals in nine straight matches. That ties a league record held by four teams with FC Cincinnati the most recent in 2019.
Four clubs played to five ties in a row this season, but none of them reached six. The 2014 Chicago Fire were the last club to finish tied in six straight matches.
CALM, COOL, COLLECTED AND QUICK
U.S international Bernard Kamungo scored FC Dallas’ fastest goal of the season, three minutes into the match, overtaking Paul Arriola’s goal scored 3:28 into the match against Atlanta United on September 2.
BRACE YOURSELF FOR BERNARD
FC Dallas’ Bernard Kamungo scored his first career brace in MLS action tonight. Kamungo scored two braces while playing for MLS Next Pro side North Texas SC against Kansas City II on August 1, 2022 and against St. Louis 2 on September 11, 2022. Kamungo now has six goals in 2023, tying Jáder Obrian (6) for second in goals scored this season for FC Dallas. Jesús Ferreira led Dallas with 12 regular season goals in 2023.
EL PARCERO GOLDEADOR
Jáder Obrian scored his sixth goal of the regular season four minutes after entering the match for the injured Bernard Kamungo in the 42nd minute of the first half. Six regular season goals are the most Obrian has scored since he netted nine in his first season in MLS in 2021.
FOUR THE FIRST TIME IN LEAGUE ACTION
For the first time this season, FC Dallas scored four goals in one game during MLS action. Dallas' highest-scoring game would also come on the road against Real Salt Lake defeating RSL 3-1 on September 20. Dallas also scored three goals against the Galaxy on March 4, 2023. Dallas scored four goals in Leagues Cup action against Inter Miami CF in the Round of 16 on August 6.
THE DEFENSE TO OFFENSE CONNECTION
MLS Defender of the Year nominee Nkosi Tafari registered his third assist of the season on Kamungo’s first goal. Notably, two of Tafari’s assists have led to two goals from Bernard Kamungo.
SAVING THE BEST FOR LAST
Defender Ema Twumasi scored his first career FC Dallas goal in the 13th minute of the match during his 84th MLS game. Twumasi was drafted 11th overall in the 2018 MLS SuperDraft by FC Dallas from Wake Forest.
REMEMBER WHEN…
Against LA, FC Dallas scored four goals in the first half for the first time since August 29, 2021 when Dallas beat Austin FC 5-3. Homegrown Jesús Ferreira and Ricardo Pepi scored the first-half goals for Dallas in that match. FCD is also the fifth team in MLS history to score at least four goals in the first half of its final game of the regular season.
UP NEXT: POSTSEASON PLAY VS SEATTLE
FC Dallas faces the Seattle Sounders in a Round One Best-of-3 series in the Audi 2023 MLS Cup Playoffs. Dallas faced the Sounders twice in 2023 and played to a 1-1 draw in both matches: at Lumen Field on Saturday, July 15 and at Toyota Stadium in Frisco, Texas on Saturday, September 16.
"One of the important things about finishing seventh and playing against Seattle is to play at home in front of our fans," said Head Coach Nico Estévez. "It is great to have a playoff game in front of our fans. They deserve it. We want a full packed stadium cheering for us. And we're gonna return that with an amazing performance and amazing effort."
