Dallas bounce back with 3-1 MLS win over Fire

Los Angeles (AFP) – Maximiliano Urruti and Mauro Diaz scored in the first half as FC Dallas bounced back from a mid-week defeat with a 3-1 Major League Soccer victory over the Chicago Fire.

Saturday’s home win in suburban Frisco, Texas, was the fourth in five matches for FC Dallas, who head the Western Conference table and with 12 wins lead the race for the Supporters’ Shield as the top team overall.

It helped erase the taste of a 5-0 loss to the Seattle Sounders on Wednesday.

After struggling with possession through the first few minutes of the match, FC Dallas dominated the remainder of the first half, opening the scoring in the 23rd minute.

FC Dallas’ Fabian Castillo outworked Chicago defenders Rodrigo Ramos and Michael Stephens to the left of the penalty area before getting free long enough to send a scissor-kick pass across the goal mouth and toward Urruti, who pushed a header beyond the reach of Fire goalkeeper Matt Lampson.

Diaz added to the lead in the 41st minute when he took a feed from Kellyn Acosta and belted a shot past off the left post and into Lampson’s net.

Chicago, last in the Eastern Conference and tied with Columbus for fewest points in the league, got on the scoreboard in the first minute of injury time on a 25-yard free-kick goal by Arturo Alvarez.

But Mauro Rosales answered with a goal for Dallas a minute later.

The Colorado Rapids, second in the West, notched a 1-0 victory over Sporting Kansas City on Saturday thanks to Marlon Hairston’s 78th-minute strike.

Eastern Conference leaders New York City FC were slated for action on Sunday, taking on the Montreal Impact.