To call it a missed opportunity would be putting it kindly for the Los Angeles Galaxy.

A chance to leap into the top of Major League Soccer and further solidify its playoff positioning went down in spectacular fashion on Saturday night, as FC Dallas lit up the second half with four goals, turning a 2-2 halftime draw into a 6-3 rout at the Home Depot Center.

“A great job by FC Dallas tonight,” head coach Schellas Hyndman said. “We had to play this well to beat a team like the Galaxy.”

FC Dallas was boosted by the play of forward Jeff Cunningham. Cunningham scored two goals, assisted two other scores and was a threat to the Galaxy defense on numerous occasions. Hyndman praised Cunningham for emerging as a leader for FC Dallas in the wake of the departure of Kenny Cooper.

“He’s been huge for us,” Hyndman said of Cunningham.

With the Houston Dynamo idle for the week and the Colorado Rapids losing to Toronto FC 3-2 at BMO Field earlier in the day, the Galaxy had a chance to seize first place in the Western Conference. Instead, aside from the Dynamo and Rapids breathing a sigh of relief, the only change in the West standings was Seattle Sounders FC taking sole possession of third place in the conference courtesy of a 2-1 win over DC United.

Tied at two at halftime, both teams appeared to have played to a stalemate until Dax McCarty scored the go-head goal off a short pass from Cunningham in the 72nd minute. However, it wasn’t until the match reached the 80th minute that the floodgates opened for Dallas. It started in the 82nd minute when McCarty sent a ball forward to a sprinting Atiba Harris, and the former Chivas USA player proceeded to beat Ricketts to the far post for a 4-2 lead.

A two-goal lead would be more than enough for most teams, but not for FC Dallas, not on this night. A minute after Harris’ goal, Cunningham fed a ball to David Ferreira for a goal and Cunningham himself capped off the scoring spree with a shot powerful enough to wedge the ball into the left corner.

“A poor performance and an embarrassing performance, but a fair result,” Galaxy head coach Bruce Arena said. “We were awful from opening kickoff and deserved everything we got.”

Trouble started for the Galaxy three minutes into the opening kick. FC Dallas’ Jeff Cunningham received a perfect through-ball, raced into the penalty area and had Ricketts beat, but his shot hit the wrong side of the net.

Cunningham was just getting warmed up though. He drew a foul on Stefani Miglioranzi just outside the box to set up the free kick. The kick, taken by Dave Van Den Bergh, went off the wall, but apparently went off the hands of a Galaxy player, setting up another free kick, and this time, Van Den Bergh went below the Galaxy wall and guessed right, sending his set piece past Galaxy keeper Donovan Ricketts to the back net.

Cunningham was at it again in the 25th minute when he received a cross from Harris, made his way to the box and evaded both Ricketts and Omar Gonzalez on his way to firing the ball successfully into the back net.

The Galaxy immediately, and got a break a minute later when a shot by Galaxy defender AJ DeLaGarza was stopped by FC Dallas keeper Dario Sala. The ball however deflected off Jair Benitez and crossed the goal line to the left net. DeLaGarza got an official goal in the 42nd minute, ironically in a similar sequence. Forward Jovan Kirovski shot from the right side and was denied by Sala, but DeLaGarza was in the right place at the right time. He received the ball and beat Sala to the left side for the equalizer. DeLaGarza paid a price however, as he suffered a knee sprain during his first shot attempt and was subbed out for Tony Sanneh during the halftime break.