Nelson Palacio scored his first career goal in the eighth and final minute of second-half stoppage time and Real Salt Lake rallied from three goals down in the second half to a 3-3 draw with FC Dallas on Saturday night, extending the club's unbeaten run to 11.
Real Salt Lake (9-2-4) is off to the best start in franchise history, using a 7-0-4 run to climb to the top of the Western Conference. The last time Real Salt Lake had the lead in the West by itself was in August of 2013. The club shared first place on April 30, 2016.
Neither team scored until Asier Illarramendi used an assist from Patrickson Delgado in the fourth minute of stoppage time to score his second goal of the season and give Dallas (3-6-4) the lead at halftime.
Dallas took a 3-0 lead when Delgado and Paul Arriola scored two minutes apart early in the second half. Delgado's goal was the first of his career. The 20-year-old midfielder scored unassisted in the 57th minute. Arriola followed with his first netter of the campaign, getting an assist from Illarramendi.
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Yes I think there was some lack in concentration, we relaxed and we were overconfident. What caused us to be up 3-0 is what our coach has asked us to do, it’s what worked. We stopped doing that, and that’s what cost us.
FC Dallas Defender Marco Farfan
Diego Luna started the RSL comeback two minutes after Arriola's netter when he took passes from Andrés Gómez and 30-year-old rookie Matt Crooks to score for a third time this season. The assist was the fourth of the season for Crooks, making his 11th start and 13th appearance.
Maikel Chang set up Anderson Julio's third goal of the season, pulling Real Salt Lake within a goal in the 73rd minute and setting the stage for Palacio, who found the net with an assist from Julio.
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Zac MacMath finished with six saves for Real Salt Lake. Maarten Paes saved five shots for Dallas.
RSL's unbeaten streak matches its record for a single campaign set last season. The club had an 18-match unbeaten run spanning 2010-11 and a 16-match one spanning 2013-14.
Real Salt Lake earned the point despite Dallas holding red-hot Chicho Arango without a goal contribution. Arango began the day with a league-leading 13 goals to go along with eight assists.
Real Salt Lake played the first of three straight matches on the road after posting home wins of 2-0 over the Seattle Sounders and 5-3 over the Colorado Rapids. RSL rallied from a 2-0 deficit to beat the Rapids, earning three points after trailing by two goals for just the fourth time in the 628-match history of the club. Arango and Andrés Gómez both had two goals and an assist in the comeback victory.
Dallas is 14-2-7 all time in the series at home with a 42-22 edge in goals scored. Dallas has a 23-14-12 advantage in the series overall.
Real Salt Lake stays on the road to play the Seattle Sounders on Wednesday. Dallas travels to play the Los Angeles Galaxy on Wednesday.
