SANDY, Utah – Maxi Urruti’s hot start may be a sign that FC Dallas have actually improved a side that were last year’s Supporter Shield and Open Cup winners.
Urruti scored his fifth and sixth goals of the season in Dallas' 3-0 victory against Real Salt Lake in Rio Tinto Stadium on Saturday. He scored in his second consecutive game and his brace was his second of the year.
“With Maxi, it’s about the confidence that he’s getting in himself and understanding that he’s a guy that’s creating a lot of chances,” FC Dallas head coach Oscar Pareja said. “We’re working during the week with him, making him understand that he can score every game if he has that confidence.”
His first goal came on a penalty kick in the third minute and he finished off the scoring with his goal in the first minute of stoppage time.
“The penalty helped with my confidence and that helped score the second goal,” Urruti said.
It’s not often you score 87 minutes apart in a game, but Urruti put in a full performance on both sides of the ball for FC Dallas. He kept pressure on RSL’s backline and pushed on the counter to create chances even when Dallas was putting nine and 10 men behind the ball.
“He creates a lot of options. The team creates options for him also. Seeing Maxi in that mode is great,” Pareja said. “He’s a complete player.”
Dallas remain the only unbeaten team left in MLS. After giving up two goals for the first time all season last week in a 2-2 draw with Portland, Saturday’s clean sheet was a good sign.
“One of the priorities we have this year is to defensively be stronger. Offensively, we are being aggressive, this team naturally scores goals. We want to be strong defensively,” Pareja said.
The clean sheet is a reversal of last year when FC Dallas twice visited RSL and didn’t find a goal either time. This season it’s a different story, even missing star playmaker Mauro Diaz, who is still on the road to recovery from an Achilles tear.
“We always hope the team evolved. We always hope that we can add things,” Pareja said. “The team is obviously being better, more mature. The anxiousness that was part of our year last, we’re overcoming that.”
Against RSL, it was finally getting a second goal that helped FC Dallas’ maturity show through.
“We needed to get that second one, it was a little bit later than we hoped,” Dallas center back Matt Hedges said. “We could sit back a little more and counter. We had a few chances after that and I think it helped us a lot.”
The performance checked all of Pareja’s boxes, he really couldn’t find a bad thing to say about his team’s play.
“When you go on the road, score three goals and don’t concede. There’s nothing else you can ask for,” Pareja said.
