You stay classy, San Diego.
Ron Burgundy
5th in the West FC Dallas (26 points, 7-4-5) stays on the coast, heading down the other end to face 13th in the West San Diego FC (17 points, 4-7-5). The West Coasters are just 3-3-3 at Snapdragon Stadium, where kickoff is set for 8:30 CT.
Before you shrug off San Diego’s 17 points, that’s how many Portland had before facing FCD. Everyone in MLS got a chance to have a new preseason. In their 2nd half kickoff game, SDFC fell 1-0 at Colorado in the 96th minute and will be looking to rebound at home.
San Diego is coached by former FC Dallas assistant coach Mikey Varas, who worked under and is pals with Luchi Gonzalez. So SD, unsurprisingly, plays a Luchi-Ball style, averaging 57% possession and boats loads of passes. Going up against FCD, who want nothing to do with possession at 43%, The Flow (don’t ask me, I didn’t nickname them) will likely try to pass Los Toros to death.
Broadcast Info
TV: Apple TV, FS1, FOX Deportes
– Apple TV English: Mark Rogondino, Heath Pearce
– Apple TV Spanish: Jorge Perez-Navarro, Marcelo Balboa
– Dallas Audio: Ryan Figer, Steve Davis, and Sam Hale
– FOX English: Josh Eastern, Lloyd Sam
– FOX Deportes: Unknown
MLS Injury/Player Availability Report
FC Dallas
Ramiro – Lower Body (Out)
Josh Torquato – US U20s (Out)
Suspended after one yellow: Sam Sarver, Daniel, Osaze Urhoghide, and Nolan Norris
San Diego FC
Luca Bombino – Suspended (Out) Red Card
Amahl Pellegrino- Lower Body (Out)
Pablo Sisniega – Lower Back (Out)
Jacob Jackson – (Loan out)
Anisse Saidi – (Loan out)
FC Dallas Lineup Prediction
So we saw that Coach Eric Quill is indeed continuing with the back 4, although it was a less flex version at Portland than prior to the break. Petar Musa came off the bench last game; I’ve shifted him into the starting XI for this one.
Ramiro remains out, and all four of the starting mids deserve to keep their spots from last game. Santi Moreno remains a DP, so he’ll keep the off striker spot for me.
The only rotation I’ve got is resting Herman Johansson, who looked a bit gassed coming off the World Cup travel load. I’ve shifted Shaq Moore wide with Sbeastien Ibeagha at center back.
Bench Prediction
Jonathan Sirois
Anderson Julio
Logan Farrington
Herman Johansson
Ran Binyamin
Caleb Swann
Lalas Abubakar
Bernie Kamungo
Sam Sarver
MLS Kit Assignments
That’s awful.
Officials
Referee: Victor Rivas
Assistant Referees: Jeffrey Greeson, Rhett Hammil
4th Official: Malik Badawi
VAR: Kevin Stott
Assistant VAR: Jeff Muschik
More Game Info
- FCD vs. SD all-time: 0-2-1 (5 goals scored, 11 goals conceded)
- FCD vs. SD away: 0-1-0 (0 goals scored, 5 goals conceded)
Dallas is 4-0-1 when leading at halftime and 7-1-3 when scoring first. On the other hand, they are 0-3-1 when conceding first.
FCD is sixth in most goals scored in MLS with 32.
Petar Musa leads MLS in goals scored with 13. He is fourth in MLS in xG with 10.20.
Sebastien Ibeagha recorded the 28th fastest speed in MLS this season at 35.42 kph (22.01 mph).
Osaze Urhoghide ranks fourth in MLS in aerial challenges with 44 and tied for 16th in clearances with 24.
San Diego FC midfielder Onni Valakari is the son of former FC Dallas captain Simo Valakari.
San Diego FC have acquired forward Elias Achouri from Danish Superliga powerhouse FC Copenhagen, the club announced Friday. Probably not available for this one.
Mikey Varas holds a 23-16-11 (W-L-T) regular season record (80 pts.) through 50 games played. He holds an overall 29-21-12 record through 62 matches in all competitions.
Marcus Ingvartsen (11 goals, 4 assists) and Anders Dreyer (6 goals, 9 assists) became the fourth duo to record at least 15 goal contributions (combined goals +assists) within the club’s first 15 games of a season in MLS history.
All-Time FC Dallas Goals Tracker
| Player | Goals |
|---|---|
| Jason Kreis | 91 |
| Jesus Ferreira | 48 |
| Petar Musa | 47 |
| Kenny Cooper | 46 |