Lionel Messi scored twice, including a superb late equalizer, as Inter Miami moved to the League Cup quarter-finals on penalties following a thrilling 4-4 draw.
Messi's characteristic curling free-kick in the 85th minute, his eighth goal in four games for Miami, forced a shootout after the Argentines trailed 4-2 with 10 minutes remaining.
In Messi's first game away from home, Dallas exposed Miami's defensive flaws and kept Spanish midfielder Sergio Busquets relatively quiet for lengthy stretches. However, the World Cup winner was still the difference.
"It's obvious that a free-kick around that area for him is like a penalty kick for another player," Dallas' Spanish coach Nico Estevez remarked of Messi's spectacular strike.
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Dallas started well, but Messi put Miami up in the sixth minute with a brilliant side-foot finish from Jordi Alba, the former Barcelona full-back making his first appearance for the team.
It was first ruled out for offside, but the judgment was restored after the referee reviewed the play and determined that Miami striker Josef Martinez had not blocked the goalkeeper's view.
In the 37th minute, Argentine Facundo Quignon punched a cross from overlapping full-back Marco Farfan to tie the game.
They took the lead on the stroke of halftime when Bernard Kamungo beat Miami goalkeeper Drake Callender.
Alan Velasco, another Argentine, made it 3-1 in the 63rd minute with a free-kick from the left that went unmarked into the far corner.
It just took a minute for teen substitute Benjamin Cremaschi to cut the deficit in half, but an own goal from Robert Taylor restored Dallas' two-goal lead at 4-2.
Messi then chipped a free-kick into the box, and Farfan bizarrely headed into his goal to keep Miami in the game.
Five minutes from the end, Messi walked up and stroked home a 20-yard free-kick to send the game to penalties.
The Leagues Cup, a competition for clubs from Major League Soccer and Mexico's Liga MX, does not have extra time; withdrawn games proceed straight to penalties.
Messi converted the first penalty in the shootout, Dallas' Paxton Pomykal missed, and Cremaschi, 18, secured Miami's place in the last eight with the final spot-kick.
"It's amazing what (Messi) can do," said Cremaschi, who was born in Miami and had Argentine parents.
"He's scored twice in almost every game, and it's just impressive."
Miami had not won in 11 games in Major League Soccer before Messi's debut but had won every game since he and Busquets joined the squad.
"You can see our mentality, how things have changed in this club, how we were willing to fight until the very last second, especially with the quality players that we have," Cremaschi explained.
"We know that we could be down by a bunch of goals and still come back in a matter of seconds." According to Miami's Argentine coach Gerardo Martino, Messi's brilliance and the result should be clear to his team's weaknesses.
"Obviously, coming back from 4-2 down in the 80th minute and coming back like that, we are very happy with the result," he stated.
"However, the experience should not cause us to lose sight of the areas in which we need to improve."
