After the mid-week rainout, 9th in the West FC Dallas (10-10-11, 41 points) hosts 8th in the West San Jose Earthquakes (10-10-12, 42 points) at Toyota Stadium at 7:30 pm CT. Former Coach Luchi Gonzalez comes to town with his new club one point ahead of his old club.
Because of the rain-out, this game will be FC Dallas’ 300th MLS regular season match at Toyota Stadium. Perhaps fitting then that it’s Coach Gonzalez.
Broadcast Info
TV: MLS Season Pass on Apple TV.
English: Tyler Terens and Devon Kerr
Spanish: Francisco X. Rivera and Martín Zúñiga
English Radio: 97.1 The Freak and the FC Dallas App. Owen Newkirk, Mark Dodd, and Steve Davis are on the call.
Spanish Radio: Zona MX 99.1 with Carlos Alvarado and Rafa Calderon.
FCD Lineup Prediction
It feels like this might finally be the game we see the 4-3-3 again (don’t discard the 4-4-2 on paper from Wednesday, there’s certainly a chance we see it again.) There should be very little rotation, if any, at this point.
Coach Nico Estevez seems to have moved away from Alan Velasco in the middle. We haven’t seen that in the XI since the Atlanta game back on September 2nd. Instead, Velasco has been false-winging it or playing up top in a 4-4-2.
On Wednesday the announced lineup had a double-8 in the middle and no 6. Yet, I can’t bring myself to predict that and will stick with Facundo Quignon in this space.
The rest falls into place after we place La Joya and Facu. Feel free to rotate the midfield into a double pivot if you prefer.
Bench Prediction
Jimmy Maurer
Sam Junqua
Dante Sealy
Bernard Kamungo
Jader Obrian
Jesus Jimenez
Eugene Ansah
Jose Martinez
Liam Fraser
MLS Injury/Player Availability Report
FC Dallas
OUT: Tarik Scott (season-ending injury)
OUT: Geovane Jesus (right knee season-ending)
OUT: Sebastian Lletget (hamstring)
SUSPENSION AFTER NEXT YELLOW: Jáder Obrian, Parul Arriola
San Jose Earthquakes
OUT: Nathan (ACL)
SUSPENSION AFTER NEXT YELLOW: Carlos Gruezo, Rodrigues.
MLS Kit Assignments
FC Dallas is wearing red/blue forcing San Jose into the (terrible) road grays.
Officials
Other Game Info
HEAD-TO-HEAD RECORDS
- FCD record: 10-10-11 (41 points – 9th in West)
- SJ record: 10-10-12 (42 points – 8th in West)
- FCD vs. SJ all-time: 21-29-21 (86 goals scored, 108 goals conceded)
- FCD vs. SJ home: 13-12-9 (44 goals scored, 46 goals conceded)
Dallas has only lost 1 in their last 13 in all comps (4-1-8)… that’s a lot of ties.
Christian Espinoza has 12 goals and 12 assists this season for San Jose.
FC Dallas is 7-3-5 at home this season and is unbeaten in 5 straight in Dallas against SJ.
The Earthquakes hold a 29-21-21 record against FC Dallas, including a 12-13-9 record away.
FC Dallas has allowed the third-fewest goals in MLS this season (34) and ranks No. 3 in GAA (1.09)
In their last 12 MLS regular season matches against Dallas, the Quakes have only lost once (4-1-7).
San Jose has lost just 3 of its last 9 regular season road matches.
FCD has lost only three times in the last 22 games at Toyota Stadium (11-4-7) including playoffs.
When scoring first FC Dallas is 8-2-4 and 8-2-0 when scoring twice.
FC Dallas has scored their most goals (11) during the 76-90 minute interval of the match, third most in MLS.
FC Dallas has won 17 points from losing positions in the MLS this season, more than any other team.
25 of FC Dallas’ 35 goals have been scored in the second half.
Dallas has allowed the most goals (10) during the 31-45 minute interval of the match.
Dallas has won the last 16 home matches in which Jesus Ferreira has scored dating back to August 2019. He has scored 7 goals in FC Dallas’ five home wins this season.
Jesus Ferreira’s nine multi-goal games in MLS is second in FC Dallas history behind Jason Kreis (10).
Jesus Ferreira has scored four goals in the 80’ or later this season, with three of those being match-winners. No other player has more than one match-winning goal at 80’ or later this season.
Maarten Paes ranks No. 1 in MLS for save percentage (76.4%) and No. 7 in goals against average (0.99). He now has 7 shutouts on the season.
GAME-WINNING GOALS – SINGLE SEASON
Jeff Cunningham (2009) 7
Eddie Johnson (2004) 7
Jesús Ferreira (2023) 7
Can FC Dallas clinch a playoff spot?
Yes.