“The secret of getting ahead is getting started.” —Mark Twain
And so another season begins, the 30th for FC Dallas and the 28th for us here at 3rd Degree. Come along for the ride, won’t you?
FC Dallas travels to take on the Houston Dynamo in the first game of the season under new coach Eric Quill at 7:30 pm CT in Shell Energy Stadium in Houston.
Broadcast Info
TV: MLS Season Pass on Apple TV
– Apple TV English: Mark Followill, Warren Barton
– Apple TV Spanish: Francisco X. Rivera, Nacho Garcia
– Local Audio: Ryan Figert and Steve Davis.
MLS Injury/Player Availability Report
FC Dallas
Out: Paxton Pomykal – knee
Out: Show Cafumana – illness
Out: Geovane Jesus – knee
Houston Dynamo
Out: Lawrence Ennali – Knee
Out: Nelson Quinones – Knee
Questionable: Franco Escobar – Lower Body
FCD Lineup Prediction
Osaze Urhoghide has his visa and I explained why on the podcast I think he starts alongside Sebastien Ibeagha in the middle of the back line. The only question is which side each will be on.
With Ramiro and Lucho Acosta going 30 minutes in the final tuneup against Atlanta United I have both of them in with a target to get past halftime. Maybe 60 minutes each? Sebastian Lletget will the third man in the midfield.
Maarten Paes, Marco Farfan, and Shaq Moore are obvious in defense. Anderson Julio and Peter Musa are also given at this point for me and I predict Bernie Kamungo will have the third spot until he loses it.
Bench Prediction
Michael Collodi
Lalas Abubakar
Enzo Newman
Logan Farrington
Tsiki Ntsabeleng
Nolan Norris
Patrickson Delgado
Leo Chu
Pedrinho
MLS Kit Assignments
Officials
REF: Armando Villarreal
AR1: Micheal Barwegen
AR2: Diego Blas
4TH: Elvis Osmanovic
VAR: Jose Carlos Rivero
AVAR: Fabio Tovar
More Game Info
- FCD vs. HOU all-time: 15-13-20 (74 goals scored, 65 goals conceded)
- FCD vs. HOU away: 4-10-11 (34 goals scored, 40 goals conceded)
Jimmy Maurer signed with Houston in the 2025 offseason after spending several seasons with FC Dallas.
Petar Musa finished 23rd across MLS in xG (11.23) in 2024 and the highest on FC Dallas.
Petar Musa finished 5th across MLS in shot efficiency (4.76) in 2024 and the highest on FC Dallas.
Logan Farrington and Sebastian Lletget ranked first in assists for FC Dallas in 2024 with eight.
Maarten Paes finished fifth overall in MLS in saves made with 118 in 2024. In 2024, He also ranked No. 14 in MLS in balls won (53) and set a personal new season-high total of saves (118).
Petar Musa’s team-high 16th goal of the 2024 MLS season makes him the most prolific FC Dallas debutante in a season in FC Dallas history breaking the 13-goal record set by Jason Kreis (1996) and Damian Alvarez (1998).
In 2024, Logan Farrington became one of six players in MLS history to record multiple games with a goal and an assist off the bench in a single season.
FC Dallas recorded back-to-back wins only one time in 2024.
FC Dallas finished the 2024 season with 127 corner kicks, the second lowest in MLS.
In 2024, FC Dallas Homegrowns (Nolan Norris, Dante Sealy, Paxton Pomykal, Jesús Ferreira, Tarik Scott) played a total of 2,438 minutes and made 41 appearances.
As of noon on Saturday, Houston has yet to post their game notes so there’s not much on them in this space.
Houston did just sell defender Micael dos Santos Silva to SE Palmeiras in Brazil’s Séria A for a Dynamo club record amount. They sold Coco Carasquilla earlier this offseason and didn’t break back Hector Herrera. They also moved on from keeper Steve Clark in favor of Andrew Tarbell.
They also signed Nico Lideiro who is *checks notes* 35 and added Philadelphia’s Jack McGlynn via trade and brought in Júnior Urso (Orlando and Charlotte).