Quill lauds Dallas 'championship mentality' after Houston stoppage-time equalizer

Quill hails fightback as Dallas chase home playoff advantage

FC Dallas head coach Eric Quill has lauded his side's "championship mentality" after a dramatic late equalizer against the Houston Dynamo kept their pursuit of home-field advantage in the MLS playoffs firmly on track.

Dallas, already guaranteed a postseason berth, sit third in the Western Conference — just four points behind leaders Vancouver Whitecaps — and have lost only one of their last nine league games (W5 D3). They head into Saturday's meeting with the San Jose Earthquakes on the back of a 2-2 draw with Houston in which they equalized in the 11th minute of second-half stoppage time.

The point proved vital in the race for a top-four finish, which would secure home advantage in the playoffs, and Quill was thrilled with the fight his players showed.

"I'm proud of my guys for fighting back. I thought we were the brighter team and created the bigger chances," Quill said after the draw with Houston. "We kept scrapping and fighting to get the goal, even with four minutes left in stoppage time, when it could have been deflating.

"We don't lose our fight. That's our mentality. We have a championship mentality, and we're going to keep fighting."

Musa makes history with 20th goal

The comeback was spearheaded by Petar Musa, whose strike against Houston made him the first Dallas player to reach 20 goals in a single regular season. Dallas became the 21st different MLS team to boast a 20-goal scorer, while Musa is the 32nd player in league history to record at least one campaign with 20 or more regular-season goals.

San Jose book playoff spot

San Jose, meanwhile, secured their own playoff berth last time out with a 1-1 draw against MLS pacesetters Nashville SC. The Earthquakes are unbeaten in their last nine matches — drawing each of the last three — and sit one place and three points below Dallas in the Western Conference.

"We're guaranteed at least ninth place, so hopefully we can do well over the next four games and position ourselves to have a couple of games at home," San Jose's coach said after securing their playoff spot. "We're tired, but we can rebound [from the draw with Nashville], and we're ready to play Dallas."

San Jose's Preston Judd has been in fine form in 2026, notching 16 goals to become the fourth Earthquakes player — after Chris Wondolowski (five times), Jeremy Ebobisse and Ronald Cerritos — to reach at least 15 goals in a single regular season. Only Wondolowski (27 in 2012 and 18 in 2010) and Ebobisse (17 in 2022) have posted more in a regular season than Judd.

Opta edge Dallas

Dallas have scored multiple goals in five straight meetings with San Jose, including a 3-2 road win in May, and Opta gives the hosts a 51.4% win probability, with a draw at 24.7% and a San Jose victory at 23.9%.

San Jose, however, have already recorded seven road wins in the 2026 regular season — surpassing their six away wins from 2025 and marking their most in a campaign since nine in 2012 — while Dallas have not conceded in any of their last three home matches, albeit scoring just two goals (W2 D1) across that run. Their longest run of home regular-season shutouts is four straight matches, achieved twice in the 2011 season.