Article by Mihai Șovei – Published Tuesday, October 28, 2025, 10:19 / Updated Tuesday, October 28, 2025 10:19
The Romanian midfielder played 10 minutes in the first match of the MLS play-offs, where his team lost 0-3 to the Vancouver Whitecaps.
Enes Sali, MLS debut
photo: Enes Sali debut for FC Dallas in MLS / photo X @fcdallas
The young striker who left in January 2024 from Farul Constanța to FC Dallas played his first official match in MLS.
Qualified for the MLS play-off phase, Dallas played the first decisive game on the way to the title at the ground of the Vancouver Whitecaps. The guests lost 0-3, but Sali made his debut on the first stage of football in the United States of America. He entered the 80th minute of the game, with the score 0-2, and was warned with a yellow card.
Although he lost the first match in the play-off, the Romanian team hopes that it can qualify further. The second match of the Round of 16 takes place on November 2nd at Dallas.
The system in MLS assumes that the best of three games will be played in the play-off phase.
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The matches will be hosted in the home-away-home format:
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Match 1: the home team is the higher ranked team in the main stage
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Match 2: the home team is the lower ranked team in the main stage
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Match 3: home team is the higher ranked team in the main stage (if necessary)
If a match is tied at the end of regular time, no extra time will be played. Teams will play penalty kicks to determine the winner. The first team to win two matches will advance in the competition.
If it gets past Vancouver, FC Dallas will play the winner of Los Angeles FC and Austin FC in the quarterfinals.
In the main stage, FC Dallas finished 7th in the Western Conference.
Since coming to the United States, Enes Sali has played for Dallas' North Texas SC youth team. This team has the role of preparing young players for the big step towards MLS. The Romanian scored 9 goals and provided 5 assists in the 30 games played for North Texas SC.
Enes Sali is the youngest debutant in the Romanian national team, at 15 years and 264 days. At the time of the transfer, he became the fourth youngest international in history.
