Sixth-place FC Dallas (5-4-6, 21 points) hosts third-place Sporting Kansas City (9-5-2, 29 points) tonight at 7:30PM CT. Dallas has earned one win and won tie against SKC so far this year—both at Children’s Mercy Park.
Game Info
Gameday Social: #FCDvSKC
TV: 7PM on FOX Sports Southwest, FCDTV Network
Streaming: 7PM CT on FOX Sports Go App, FOXSportsGo.com, FCDallas.com/Stream, ESPN+ (outside of the DFW market)
Radio: 7PM CT on FCDallas.com/Radio (English) and1270AM (Spanish), 7:30PM CT on SiriusXM FC
Fox Sports Southwest Channels
Spectrum Dallas: 320
Spectrum Fort Worth: 32 & 776 (HD)
DirecTV: 676 (Sometimes 676-1 or 676-2)
AT&T U-Verse: 757 & 1757 (HD)
FC Dallas Lineup Prediction
Matt Hedges, Santiago Mosquera, and Paxton Pomykal are all missing for this one. Although Mosquera is back rehabbing pretty aggressively he’s till not in full team training.
With the Sunday game canceled, FCD had some unexpected time off but they still have a heavy schedule ahead. That means Coach Luchi Gonzalez can go with this “best” XI.
But Thiago Santos looked terrible last game. While I hope that was just fatigue I’m going to make a somewhat risky prediction that Tanner Tessmann starts today in Santos’ spot.
On this week’s conference call, when I asked about playing who could play as a 6, Coach G mentioned the obvious names like Edwin Cerrillo and Bryan Acosta, but he also mentioned Tessman by name. So that’s what I’m going with. A double-6 type look with Tessmann/Acosta, 4-2-3-1.
Bressan will obviously replace Hedges.
With Hedges hurt, Bressan starting, Nkosi Burgess with North Texas, and Callum Montgomery in quarantine after his recall from San Antonio FC, there will be no true center back on the bench.
Ryan Hollingshead, Johnny Nelson, and Bryan Reynolds have all played some center back at one point or another.
Eddie Munjoma is also not available as he’s with North Texas. Ema Twumasi and Francis Atuahene are also in the quarantine process after the USL season ended.
Bench Prediction:
Phelipe
Johnny Nelson
Brandon Servania
Thiago Santos
Thomas Roberts
Sante Sealy
Jesus Ferreira
Ricardo Pepi
Edwin Cerrillo
On with the show…
More Game Info, Stats, and Bits
This season, Dallas has earned one tie and one win against Sporting–both away at Children’s Mercy Park. In the most recent meeting on Sept. 19, Dallas earned a contentious 3-2 victory that saw a total of eight yellow cards handed out by the referee.
Dallas’ weekend game with Minnesota United was postponed (COVID-19). With the condensed regular-season schedule, this is just the third time since the restart that FCD will have a full seven days between games. SKC played Nashville SC on Sunday, so Dallas could have a slight advantage with the extra days of recuperation over its opponent.
FC Dallas’ all-time regular-season record against Kansas City is 26-25-13 (104 goals for, 94 against). When playing in Dallas, FCD has registered a 15-10-5 (60 GF, 34 GA) all-time home record. Dallas has earned one tie (on Sept. 2) and one win (on Sept. 19) against Sporting so far this season.
Sporting KC is currently in third place in the Western Conference with 29 points from 16 games. Peter Vermes’ team started the season well with five wins from its opening six games but followed it up with just one win from its next seven. Since then, however, SKC has registered a three-game win streak and will look to make it four on Wednesday evening.
FC Dallas
- Injury Report:
- OUT: Paxton Pomykal (M) – hip injury
- OUT: Santiago Mosquera (M) – thigh
- OUT: Matt Hedges (D) – hamstring
- Suspended: None
- Suspended after next caution: Michael Barrios (M)
- SUSPENDED AFTER TWO YELLOW CARDS: Bressan, Thiago Santos
- International duty: None
Sporting Kansas City
- Injury Report:
- OUT: Felipe Gutierrez (M) – knee injury
- OUT: Graham Zusi (D) – undisclosed injury
- Suspended: None
- Suspended after next caution: Ilie Sanchez (M)
SUSPENDED AFTER TWO YELLOW CARDS: Alan Pulido - International duty: Alan Pulido (F)
Series Matchup at FC Dallas
- FC Dallas: 15 wins, 60 goals
- Sporting KC: 10 wins, 34 goals
- 5 draws
Officials
- Referee: Armando Villarreal
- Assistant Referees: Corey Rockwell, Chris Elliott
- 4th Official: Michael Radchuk
- VAR: Malik Badawi
Team Leaders
FC DALLAS
G: 5 Jara
A: 3 Barrios
SHT: 25 Barrios
SOG: 13 Jara
FC: 32 Thiago Santos
FS: 37 Thiago Santos
OF: 6 Jara
C: 6 Thiago Santos
E: 1 Acosta
SPORTING
G: 6 Russell
A: 4 Pulido
SHT: 44 Russell
SOG: 15 Russell
FC: 23 Puncec
FS: 23 Pulido
OF: 8 Shelton
C: 5 Busio/Kinda
E: 1 Kinda/Melia
CURRENT FC DALLAS GOALS
VS. SPORTING KC
Michael Barrios – 5
Franco Jara – 3
Jesus Ferreira – 2
Matt Hedges – 2
Ryan Hollingshead – 1
Santiago Mosquera – 1
CURRENT SPORTING KC GOALS
VS. FC DALLAS
Graham Zusi – 3
Johnny Russell – 3
Gerso Fernandes – 2
Roger Espinoza – 2
Daniel Salloi – 2
Khiry Shelton – 2
Erik Hurtado – 1
Season Goal Leaders
| FC Dallas | Sporting KC | ||
| Franco Jara | 5 | Johnny Russell | 5 |
| Santiago Mosquera | 4 | Alan Pulido | 4 |
| Ricardo Pepi | 2 | Gadi Kinda | 4 |
| Zdenek Ondrasek | 2 | Erik Hurtado | 3 |
| Reto Ziegler | 2 |
Season Stats
| FC Dallas | Sporting KC | |
| 15 | Games Played | 16 |
| 5 | Wins | 9 |
| 4 | Losses | 5 |
| 6 | Draws | 2 |
| 21 | Goals | 29 |
| 17 | Goals Conceded | 22 |
| 140 | Shots | 164 |
| 68 | Shots on Target | 73 |
| 187 | Fouls committed | 204 |
| 187 | Fouls suffered | 177 |
| 18 | Offside | 24 |
| 80 | Corners | 100 |
This season, FC Dallas is tied for 17th in the league with 21 goals in 15
matches while Sporting Kansas City ranks fifth with 29 goals in 16
matches, including 11 goals on the road.
Michael Barrios is tied for third in FCD history with five goals scored and four assists recorded against SKC.
FC Dallas is tied for eighth in the league and first in the Western Conference, with 17 goals conceded (1.13 GAA) in 2020, while SKC rank 14th with 22 goals allowed in 16 matches.
Thiago Santos leads MLS in duels won (134), ranks fourth in fouls committed (32) and ranks sixth in fouls suffered (37).
FC Dallas (5-4-6) has a .857 winning percentage (5-0-2 record) when scoring the first goal of the match and a 0-4-1 record (.100 winning percentage) when conceding the first goal in 2020. FC Dallas has yet to earn its first win of the season after conceding first.
Since 2015, FCD is 69-5-17 when scoring first.
Since 2015, FC Dallas has a 0.895 winning percentage and 71-3-12 when scoring at least two goals.
FC Dallas is 5-0-2 this season when scoring the first goal and 0-4-1 when conceding the first goal. Similarly, they are 3-0-1 when leading at halftime and 0-2-0 when trailing at halftime.
Dallas rank second in MLS with 11.5 tackles won per match.
Dallas have outscored opponents 7-3 after the 75th minute this season.
FCD’s Jimmy Maurer is seventh in the league with a 0.95 goals against average (GAA), while Sporting Kansas City’s Tim Melia ranks 16th in the league with a 1.21 GAA.
Maurer is also third among goalkeepers with more than 10 appearances with a 79.5 saves percentage, saving 35 out of 44 shots faced.
According to Opta, FC Dallas has lost only one of their last 20 home MLS
matches (11-0-8) dating back to May 2019.
Since 1996, FC Dallas has an overall record of 23-23-16 in the month of October with a 0.500 winning percentage. In matches played at home in October, FC Dallas has a 17-5-9 record and 0.694 winning percentage.
Last season, FC Dallas fielded 27 different lineups. This season, Luchi Gonzalez has played 12 different lineups in 15 matches only using the same lineup in the first two matches and back-to-back on Sept. 12 and 16 and Oct. 3 and 7.
When Michael Barrios scores or assists, FC Dallas is 37-9-10 in regular-season league games. FC Dallas is 19-3-4 when Barrios scores.
Ryan Hollingshead is the 17th FC Dallas player to hit 10,000 regular-season minutes in franchise history (currently ranks 16th with 10,132 minutes).
50 FC DALLAS REGULAR SEASON APPEARANCES
Jesús Ferreira (47)
Paxton Pomykal (38)
PENALTY-KICK GOALS
Mauro Diaz — 10
Kenny Cooper — 9
Reto Ziegler — 8
Jorge Rodriguez — 7
Sporting are the only team yet to be shut out this season and have scored in
16 straight regular-season matches since the start of the year, tied for the third-longest run in club history.
Sporting is threatening one of the more remarkable feats in MLS history: scoring in every match of a regular season. It’s only been done once before, all the way back in 1998 when D.C. United scored in all 32 games amidst a 52-game scoring streak that spanned from August 1997 through June 1999.
Sporting boasts a 3-1-1 road record this season.
Sporting have outscored opponents 13-7 after the 60th minute this season.
Sporting are tied for the MLS lead with two wins when trailing at halftime this season (2-3-0 record).
Sporting rank second in MLS in shots per game (15.0) and also lead the league in fewest shots faced per game (9.2).
Forward Erik Hurtado leads MLS with 1.76 goals per 90 minutes, having scored three in 153 minutes this season.
Forward Johnny Russell has four goals and two assists in his last six appearances.
Sporting are 4-1-1 this season when defender Winston Reid starts.
Goalkeeper Tim Melia has saved 11 of the 25 penalty kicks he has faced in his MLS regular-season career, including four of the last five. His 0.56 goals conceded percentage on penalties is the lowest in MLS history among keepers who have faced at least 10 penalty kicks.