Charlotte FC erases two-goal deficit, beats FC Dallas 3-2 on Toklomati's stoppage-time brace

Charlotte FC was down 2-0 with a little more than half an hour to go, and ended up winning it in stoppage time. Charlotte came back against FC Dallas with a goal from Idan Toklomati in the 91st minute to take the match 3-2 at Bank of America Stadium in MLS play, on an afternoon when it came close to walking away empty-handed.

Dallas got on the board early and managed the result well for much of the first half. In the 21st minute, Logan Farrington tapped in a cross from Herman Johansson from close range to make it 0-1, and that scoreline held until halftime despite Charlotte creating several chances of its own, including a shot from Idan Toklomati that was stopped right under the crossbar before the visitors' goal.

The story didn't change at the start of the second half. With Petar Musa and Santiago Moreno already on the field after Dallas's substitutions, Musa himself doubled the lead in the 63rd minute with a shot that found the left post, set up once again by a Moreno cross. The 0-2 scoreline seemed to be putting the result firmly in the visitors' hands.

The home side's response

That's when the comeback began. Just six minutes after Dallas's second goal, Toklomati pulled one back in the 69th minute with a low shot off an assist from Allan Saint-Maximin. The equalizer came in a flash: in the 73rd minute, Harry Toffolo headed home a Toklomati cross from a corner kick to make it 2-2, capping a four-minute stretch that completely flipped the match.

With the score level, Charlotte kept pushing, piling up corner kicks and creating chances all the way to the final whistle. The winner came in stoppage time: in the 91st minute, Toklomati scored his second goal of the night with a shot into the middle of the goal, assisted by Pep Biel, sealing the final 3-2.

What the numbers say

Charlotte's dominance showed up in the match stats, especially in set pieces and in the offensive volume generated over the 90 minutes.

That superiority also showed up in the xG calculated after the fact from the match's shots: 3.33 for Charlotte against 2.41 for Dallas, a figure that backs up the idea of a home team that created more and better chances despite trailing for much of the match.

Before the match, our projection gave Charlotte a 46% chance of winning, compared to 28% for Dallas and 26% for a draw, with expected goals of 1.78 for the home side and 1.34 for the visitors. The final result, with five goals on the board and a comeback in the closing minutes, clearly surpassed that forecast of a tight match.

Where it leaves the standings

In the Eastern Conference, Charlotte FC came into this match in fifth place with 46 points from 28 games played (13 wins, 7 draws and 8 losses), just behind New England Revolution. With this win, Eric Quill's side on the opposing bench leaves empty-handed on a night when it dominated much of the match before falling apart in the final stretch.

Charlotte leaves this match as an example of character: down 2-0 past the hour mark, the team found in Toklomati, author of two of the three goals, and in Toffolo the pieces it needed to turn around a result that had seemed all but settled.