Dallas holds off aggressive Austin offense to secure draw

The in-state Copa Tejas rivalry matchup between Austin FC and FC Dallas Saturday night in Austin lived up to the rivalry with the physical matchup ending in a 1-1 draw where the Dallas defense survived a late barrage of offense from the home side.

With 10 minutes remaining, the FC Dallas (7-11-8, 29 points) backline held back an aggressive Austin (9-8-8, 35 points) offense that outshot their opponents 11-7 and had 1.4 expected goals compared to the more defensive Dallas side whose fewer chances ended with a 0.4 expected goals tally.

Austin tied the match in the 51st minute when Osman Bukari saved the ball from going out near corner flag on the right wing. Bukari found Mikkel Desler who sent in a cross into the six-yard box that Owen Wolff leapt towards to head the ball off the bottom half of the crossbar and in for the goal. It is the midfielders third goal on the season; all three goals have come in the last four matches.

In the 37th minute, Dallas got on the board first when Shaq Moore scored his third goal of the MLS regular season. It began with when Lalas Abubakar slid in for a tackle to stop Austin from clearing the ball and after Abubakar kept possession in the Dallas offensive third, Petar Musa sent the loose ball to Moore who sent a low shot from the right side of the 18-yard box across the face of goal and into the bottom left corner.

At the end of halftime, head coach Eric Quill substituted Musa for Anderson Julio due to hamstring tightness for the Dallas forward, according to the club's team reporter Garrett Melcer.

The two sides played a physical match in the first half with two yellow cards handed out in the 23rd minute when Diego Rubio pushed Christian Cappis over after the Dallas midfielder stood over the ball on an attempted free kick. However, Dallas picked up the brunt of the fouls in the matchup, outfouling the home side 14-3.

It will not be long before the two sides meet again when Austin travels to Dallas on September 13.