FRISCO, Texas (AP) - Second-half substitute Blas Perez scored in the 88th minute to lift FC Dallas a 2-1 victory over Toronto FC on Saturday night.
Perez entered in the 70th minute for David Texeira and scored his third goal of the season when the ball fell to his feet 3 yards from the goal line following a long ball in from Michel and deflections from Matt Hedges and Stephen Keel.
The Panamanian rifled the shot off Toronto goalkeeper Julio Cesar’s right foot and into the net to give Dallas (5-1-1) an MLS-best 16 points.
“I’m very happy to go back to the pitch after the injury,” said Perez, who sat out Dallas’ 3-2 loss April 12 to Seattle because of a nagging hamstring injury. “I’m happy that the team won and I’m even happier I was able to score the winning goal. But I’m here to help the team and glad I was able to score the goal tonight.”
Dallas set a franchise record with 16 corners in the game, scoring its first goal from one of the set pieces in the 36th minute when Matt Hedges headed in a Michel corner.
Dallas outshot Toronto 16-11 and controlled most of the second half’s possession.
“Unfortunately the repetition and law of averages says that if you keep allowing them opportunities to get the ball in, chances are they’re going to get a goal,” Toronto defender Steven Caldwell said.
Dallas was the aggressor in the second half while Toronto (3-3-0) counterattacked and passed through the middle.
Toronto coach Ryan Nelsen believed his side should have had an opportunity to take the lead in the 75th minute when Dallas defender Kellyn Acosta appeared to shove Toronto striker Gilberto from behind inside the penalty box. There was no whistle, however, and the attack fizzled.
“Oh, it’s just a blatant penalty,” Nelsen said. “I mean he’s got the inside line on him. The guy’s out of position, he just pushed him in the back.”
Toronto opened the scoring in the 21st minute when Issey Nakajima-Farran one-timed a second-chance effort past Dallas goalkeeper Chris Seitz, with the ball glancing slightly off Dallas midfielder Je-Vaughn Watson on the way.
Four minutes after Hedges tied it, Dallas almost went on top off another corner when Texeira’s point-blank header was knocked over the crossbar by Julio Cesar.
The Brazilian goalkeeper, vying for inclusion in his third World Cup this summer, kept his team in it as he withstood a swarm of crosses and corner kicks from MLS’ top-scoring team.
Michel and Hedges nearly hooked up again in the 84th minute on Dallas’ 16th corner, but the defender’s shot missed the near post.
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