Dallas won the match at Pizza Hut Park, 1-0, which left the teams tied on aggregate, 4-4. CAP converted all five of its penalty kicks in the tiebreaker, and emerged victorious via the one Dallas miss -- by former CAP player Andre Rocha.
Coach Schellas Hyndman sent out a forward duo of Kenny Cooper and Cunningham, and a midfield of Dave van den Bergh on the left, former CAP player David Ferreira in the attacking role, Pablo Ricchetti holding, and Dax McCarty manning the right flank. In the back, Blake Wagner lined up at left back, Danny Torres and Steve Purdy occupied the middle, and Drew Moor played right back. Ferreira, on loan from CAP, played just second match for FCD; the first was CAP's 4-3 win in the first leg in Brazil.
Cunningham scored just 52 seconds into the match when CAP defender Antonio Carlos played an attempted clearance right to him. The Dallas forward responded with a lob over the head of goalie Vinicius for his sixth goal of preseason and a shock early lead.
He nearly scored again a few minutes later when he got a shot past the keeper that defender Luis Rhodolfo blocked on the goal line. Vinicius stopped three shots in the early going from Cooper, who had missed two training sessions this week yet recovered sufficiently to earn the start. Van den Bergh and Cooper linked up on several occasions, and in the 37th minute van den Bergh crossed from the right and Cooper's header went right to the goalie.
Rocha replaced McCarty in the 69th minute as CAP's attacks increased. An apparent goal by Lima in the 71st minute was disallowed, and 10 minutes later FCD went down to 10 men. Goalie Dario Sala came out to challenge Lima and stopped the shot with his hand outside the penalty area. Lima put the rebound into the net, but the referee had already blown the whistle and reached for his red card.
Ray Burse replaced Cunningham and took over in the nets. Seconds later, Julio Dos Santos whipped the ensuing free kick on goal and Burse saved spectacularly at the near post. He responded again the final minutes to deny two sharp shots from Jorge.
CAP goalkeeper Galatto, who replaced Vinicius at halftime, saved from Rocha on FCD's fourth shot as his teammates held serve to prevail, 5-4.
March 14 in Frisco, Texas
FC Dallas 1, Clube Atletico Paranaense 0. Goal: Cunningham 1.
FC Dallas - Sala, Wagner (Pitchkolan 91+), Torres, Purdy, Moor, van den Bergh, Ricchetti, Ferreira, McCarty (Rocha 69), Cunningham (Burse 82), Cooper.
Clube Atletico Paranaense - Vinicius (Galatto 46), Ze Antonio (Marcio Azevedo 46), Luiz Rhodolfo, Santos, Antonio Carlos (Gustavo 46), Netinho (Sandro 63), Julio Cesar (Jorge 59), Chico, Moura (Lima 59), Marcinho (Gabriel 81), Renan (dos Santos 64).
Red card: FC Dallas -- Salas 81.
(Aggregate: 4-4; Clube Atletico Paranaense wins on penalties, 5-4.)
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