Petar Musa's Brace Not Enough as Joseph Paintsil Sparks LA Galaxy Comeback in 2-2 Draw at FC Dallas

Petar Musa did everything a striker can do in 38 minutes. He scored early, he scored again, and he had FC Dallas cruising toward a comfortable Saturday night at Toyota Stadium. Then the LA Galaxy, a team that has spent most of this season looking for reasons to believe, found two of them before halftime.

FC Dallas and the LA Galaxy drew 2-2, with Musa's brace erased by Lucas Sanabria in the 43rd minute and Joseph Paintsil in first-half stoppage time. Neither side found a winner across a scoreless second half, but only one team left Frisco feeling better about itself.

Musa Strikes Twice

Dallas came out hungry. Musa fired over from distance in the 6th minute, and a minute later he made no mistake. Breaking quickly, he hit a right-footed shot from outside the box into the center of the goal for a 1-0 lead. The Galaxy said Musa latched onto a giveaway in their half, and Galaxy defender John Nelson owned it afterward. "Maybe we made a mistake in the first half that caused the first goal, but credit to the guys," he said.

The second goal came in the 38th minute. Dallas worked the ball down the left, and, per the Galaxy, Christian Cappis squared a low cross that Musa slid in to finish from very close range. Per FC Dallas, those were Musa's league-leading eighth and ninth goals of the year, and MLS said the brace put him two clear of Lionel Messi and Sam Surridge in the Golden Boot race.

At that point, the Galaxy looked like a team headed for a long night.

Two Goals Before the Break

Galaxy head coach Greg Vanney said he made an adjustment, and Nelson credited a single tweak in shape. "We made one switch in formation that I think helped a lot," Nelson said.

Whatever it was, it worked fast. In the 43rd minute, Paintsil fed Sanabria, who took a touch and drilled a right-footed shot from outside the box into the bottom left corner. Then, in the third minute of stoppage time, Gabriel Pec slipped a through ball into the box and Paintsil smashed it home from the right side with his first touch, per the Galaxy. Two goals in roughly five minutes, and suddenly it was a brand-new game.

"I needed to adjust to provide them with a little bit of a solution, and they were able to take the solution and solve the problems in the game and score the goals," Vanney said.

A Second Half With No Finish

The second half was a grind. João Klauss went off injured in the 54th minute, replaced by Marco Reus, and Paintsil followed him off with an injury in the 73rd. Maya Yoshida forced Michael Collodi into a save in the 59th minute, and Sanabria sent one just past the top left corner in the 65th.

Dallas had the better of the closing stretch. JT Marcinkowski stopped a Sebastien Ibeagha header in the 69th minute, and in the 75th minute Osaze Urhoghide and Kaick both had shots blocked. Musa had two late looks for a hat trick, dragging a shot wide in the fourth minute of stoppage time and heading wide in the eighth. Eight added minutes, zero goals.

Musa's Night, Paintsil's Return

Musa was the best player on the field, with two goals on five shots, though he was also flagged offside three times. FC Dallas said he now has 43 career goals for the club, three shy of tying Kenny Cooper for third place on the club's all-time scoring list.

Paintsil was the Galaxy's spark. He scored and assisted in his return to the starting lineup, his first start since an injury against Colorado on March 7, according to the club. "But being on the score sheet today, it has really made me feel really good," Paintsil said.

Sanabria scored his goal on two shots and drew praise from Vanney for his bite in midfield. "We need somebody who can help be an enforcer in the midfield," Vanney said. Pec added the assist on the equalizer, which the club said gave him a team-leading nine goal contributions in all competitions.

For Dallas, captain Shaq Moore made his 100th MLS regular-season start, and 2026 third overall pick Nick Simmonds made his MLS debut in stoppage time, both per FC Dallas.

Numbers From Frisco

• Shots: Dallas 13, Galaxy 9. Shots on target: Dallas 5, Galaxy 4.
• Possession: Galaxy 53 percent, Dallas 47 percent.
• Fouls: Dallas 21, Galaxy 11.
• Crosses: Dallas completed 7 of 21; the Galaxy completed none of their 12.
• Offsides: Dallas 6, Galaxy 0.

Unbeaten Runs on Both Sides

Dallas moves to 3-4-1 with 13 points and remains unbeaten in four. MLS said the result stretched Dallas' regular-season unbeaten run at Toyota Stadium to 11 matches and kept the club seventh in the Western Conference. It was also a second straight draw, after a 1-1 with St. Louis CITY SC, and the club said the crowd of 11,004 extended its regular-season sellout streak to 40 consecutive matches. Minnesota United visits on Wednesday.

The Galaxy are 2-3-3 with 9 points and unbeaten in two after a win at Austin. The club said its scoring streak reached 17 consecutive matches, the longest active run in MLS. The road trip continues Wednesday at Columbus.

"This team is good and this team believes in each other," Vanney said. Nelson framed it as a test passed. "We came back; it was for sure growth from last year," he said.

Still in the House

Musa has the Golden Boot lead and the highlights. The Galaxy have something that might matter more over a long season: proof that a 2-0 hole on the road does not have to be the end of the story. Dallas will look at eight minutes of stoppage time and two missed Musa chances and wonder how this got away. Think of a reality-show contestant who looks doomed at the commercial break and is somehow still in the house when the credits roll.

Stats from ESPN's match data. Postgame quotes as reported by the LA Galaxy (lagalaxy.com); additional match notes from FC Dallas (fcdallas.com) and MLS (mlssoccer.com).