{"id":175067,"date":"2026-02-22T04:19:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-22T04:19:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/175067\/"},"modified":"2026-02-22T04:19:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-22T04:19:09","slug":"petar-musa-stars-as-fc-dallas-sets-dominant-tone-vs-toronto-fc-to-open-2026-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/175067\/","title":{"rendered":"Petar Musa stars as FC Dallas sets dominant tone vs. Toronto FC to open 2026 season"},"content":{"rendered":"

FRISCO \u2014 FC Dallas <\/a>entered its home opener with one mission: exorcise the ghosts of last season. On Saturday night at Toyota Stadium, the club took an important first step.<\/p>\n

FCD secured a 3-2 victory over Toronto FC on the same Frisco pitch where it managed just six wins in 17 attempts a year ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe understood we failed here last year in our stadium, and that is the number one change we want to make this season,\u201d head coach Eric Quill<\/a> said. \u201cEverybody in the locker room knows that what happened last year is not acceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The message clearly landed. From the opening match, Dallas showed it intends to turn its home field into the launching pad for a season in which it aims to become a dominant force in the Western Conference.<\/p>\n

\u201cWinning at home is vital for us,\u201d goalkeeper Michael Collodi said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou want to bring home wins to the fans. That was something we were disappointed with last year. This season we\u2019re focused on winning as many games as we can at home, every one of them if possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

The key factor in FC Dallas\u2019 victory was Petar Musa\u2019s<\/a> two goals.<\/p>\n

Early in the match, Dallas opened the scoring when Musa, assisted inside the box by Osaze Urhoghide, beat Toronto goalkeeper Luka Gavran with a left\u2011footed strike.<\/p>\n

The Croatian forward has been Frisco\u2019s top scorer over the past two seasons and is positioning himself as a candidate to lead his national team at the World Cup.<\/a><\/p>\n

Musa\u2019s goal was celebrated by the 11,004 fans in attendance at Toyota Stadium, which is currently undergoing extensive renovations<\/a> that have left half of the stands inaccessible.<\/p>\n

Despite the reduced capacity, FC Dallas midfielder Ramiro said the team cannot allow that to affect its performance.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s true the stadium is only at about half capacity and you feel like we\u2019re missing a more involved crowd,\u201d Ramiro said. \u201cBut I think the energy has to come from what we do on the field. We have to transmit that energy to the fans.\u201d<\/p>\n

Toronto put FCD under pressure in the 14th minute when Djordje Mihailovic scored the equalizer with a right\u2011footed shot from the center of the box into the bottom\u2011right corner.<\/p>\n

In the 38th minute, Dallas struck again when Logan Farrington sent a left\u2011footed shot from the center of the box into the bottom\u2011right corner.<\/p>\n

Just as FCD seemed to have the match under control, Toronto responded with a counterattack that ended in a goal from Derrick Etienne Jr.<\/p>\n

Still, frustration never overtook the home side. Dallas continued pushing relentlessly in search of the win.<\/p>\n

Then, in the 74th minute, Musa appeared once more, heading the ball from the center of the box into the bottom\u2011left corner thanks to an assist from Farrington.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s great to start the season with a win and score two goals,\u201d Musa said after the match. \u201cWe came out from the first minute wanting to show our fans what we want to be this season.\u201d<\/p>\n

Saturday night\u2019s victory has FC Dallas players believing this could be one of the most exciting seasons in the club\u2019s 31\u2011year history.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur expectations are as high as they can be,\u201d Collodi said. \u201cWe are playing to win. We\u2019re not playing for second place or anything less.\u201d<\/p>\n

Find more FC Dallas coverage from The Dallas Morning News here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FRISCO \u2014 FC Dallas entered its home opener with one mission: exorcise the ghosts of last season. On…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":175068,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[102,104,103,2124,240,2257],"class_list":["post-175067","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dallas","tag-dallas","tag-dallas-headlines","tag-dallas-news","tag-fc-dallas","tag-frisco","tag-toyota-stadium"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175067","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=175067"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175067\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/175068"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=175067"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=175067"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=175067"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}