Ángel’s stoppage-time winner completes road comeback for San Diego FC, defeating FC Dallas 3-2

The scorching Saturday night showdown at Toyota Stadium finished with San Diego FC finding two late goals to take home the three points and the 3-2 road victory over FC Dallas. 

San Diego FC came into their away matchup against FC Dallas sitting at the top of the Western Conference, as their midweek battle for first place against the Vancouver Whitecaps was capped off with a 5-3 San Diego victory at BC Place off the back of Milan Iloski's historic four-goal outing. 

FC Dallas saw a Wednesday night home loss in their midweek fixture, as they were defeated in a 4-2 goal fest at Toyota Stadium against the San Jose Earthquakes. 

A chance for redemption for the team from Dallas, as they not only looked to improve their one win, five loss and two draw home record, but also looked to avenge their 5-0 road loss handed to them by San Diego FC back on May 3 at Snapdragon Stadium.

San Diego FC opened up the scoring in Frisco, Texas, from the penalty spot at the 26-minute mark with All-Star forward Anders Dreyer stepping up and sending FC Dallas goalkeeper Maarten Paes guessing wrong and diving to his right as Dreyer rolled his shot into the center of the goal for the 1-0 lead. 

The lead-up play comes off a San Diego throw-in for midfielder and captain Jeppe Tverskov, having a laid-off flick pass for midfielder Onni Valakari running into the penalty box. 

Onni Valakari would be taken down inside the penalty box from behind by Dallas midfielder Patrickson Delgado as the referee, Guido Gonzales Jr., pointed to the spot immediately in the 25-minute.  

Anders Dreyer continues his impressive MLS debut season, as he lifted his goal tally in the league campaign to nine goals and sits with Milan Iloski as the club's top scorers this season.  

FC Dallas midfielder and captain Luciano Acosta looked to have found the equalizing goal in the 35-minute with a mis-hit cross that snuck into the top right corner of the goal as San Diego FC goalkeeper CJ dos Santos misjudged the flight of the ball.

After a VAR check on the build-up of the FC Dallas goal, the equalizer would be disallowed, with Luciano Acosta deemed to be in an offside position when played the pass leading to his shot. The match remained 1-0 for San Diego.

In the closing minutes of the first half, the inexperienced midfielder, Manu Duah, made a possession error with a blind long-range backpass intended for a teammate, but found Dallas forward Petar Musa inside the penalty box with only one defender in sight. 

After gaining possession in a favorable area, Petar Musa dribbled around San Diego defender Ian Pilcher and onto his preferred right foot, where he curved his shot around CJ dos Santos and into the right side netting for the 1-1 equalizer in the 44-minute. 

On form forward Milan Iloski looked to have regained the lead for San Diego FC right before the halftime whistle, but his breakaway counterattack strike was immediately called offside by the linesman, keeping the match 1-1 going into the locker rooms. 

FC Dallas would have another potential go-ahead goal deemed offside in the 54-minute, with the final touch coming off forward Bernard Kamungo in an offside position. This time, the goal was not given on the field rather than it being disallowed after a VAR check.

Dallas wouldn’t be denied the go-ahead goal in the 56-minute with a counterattack seeing defender Shaq Moore centering a low-driven cross for a Petar Musa shot, with CJ dos Santos making the initial save.

The ball wasn’t fully dealt with as Dallas midfielder Sebastian Lletget met the loose ball in front of goal and tapped it into the empty net for the 2-1 lead. 

Being down a goal with 19 of the 90 minutes remaining in the match, San Diego FC's head coach, Mikey Varas, would call on Mexican International and Designated Player Chucky Lozano off the bench in search of a result in Texas. 

Although missing the last two matches and without gametime since May 31 due to injury, Lozano made an instant impact with an equalizing goal within six minutes on the pitch. 

Off a San Diego counterattack, Milan Iloski found himself at the top of the penalty area as he fired a low-driven cross in front of goal with Lozano stabbing the ball into the goal with a sliding touch to level the game at 2-2 in the 77-minute. 

Lozano recorded his sixth goal of the MLS season on his return from injury with the club’s joint top scorer, Milan Iloski, adding his first assist of the year.  

Varas’s offensive halftime changes and 70-minute substitutes gave his squad a new dynamic going forward, but left them more open in their defensive half, leading to multiple potential game-sealing chances for FC Dallas.

One of these chances happened in the 90-minute with Dallas midfielder Katlego "Tsiki" Ntsabeleng making a run on goal, going around one San Diego defender as Jeppe Tverskov was forced to make the goal-saving recovery tackle, avoiding the one-on-one opportunity against CJ dos Santos. 

Playing with fire paid off for San Diego FC as forward Tomás Ángel fired a strike into the roof of the net for the late 90+6-minute stoppage-time winner. 

Coming off another counterattack, Anders Dreyer found Tomás Ángel unmarked in the box, as Ángel took a touch and put his shot in an unsaveable placement to take the 3-2 road victory and all three points against FC Dallas. 

Scoring in back-to-back matches for Tomás Ángel, he added his third goal of the season, with Anders Dreyer growing his lead as the MLS top assister in 2025. 

"I think it's thanks to the staff that have pushed me day in, day out,” Tomás Ángel said on his recent success and form. “The effort that I put in, and this is a reward that I was waiting for, and hopefully there’s a lot more to come, and just keep on helping the team, that's the most important.”

“Super happy for Tommy (Tomás Ángel) because now he's finding the goal,” San Diego FC head coach Mikey Varas said on Ángel's impact on the squad. “He started the season with us playing, and then he had a dip in minutes, and now he's starting to make that impact. So it's always fantastic to add players who can help make an impact for you.”

San Diego FC’s 3-2 victory over FC Dallas on Saturday night keeps them at the top of the MLS Western Conference standings, as they complete their three-match road trip collecting three wins and scoring a total of 12 goals. 

San Diego FC's head coach, Mikey Varas, spoke at the post-match press conference on the importance of the victory over FC Dallas on Saturday and his squad’s mentality when facing adversity.

“It's such an important win because we didn't have our best day, not even close. It wasn't a day that any of us feel like we played the football at the level that we know we can play at, but we found a way to win. And these guys didn't give up, and they kept going.”

“This is a valuable win because it shows we got heart, we got courage. And even when we're not playing our best, we can still find ways to win, and that's valuable.”

“It's massive. I mean, when you collect points to the first team level, you've got to celebrate that, because it's not easy what these guys are doing."

“I think it's also a credit to the group that we have. We have a big squad, and we're facing adversity, but time and time again, these guys step up because they’ve got that winner mentality.” 

The three points moved the club to 39 points in the MLS, as their record now reads at twelve wins, five losses and three draws as they also earned their sixth road victory of the year. 

For their next MLS fixture, San Diego FC returns home to Snapdragon Stadium next Saturday to face off against Houston Dynamo FC on July 5, that's slated for a 7:30 p.m. kickoff.