Both aiming to bounce back from defeats last weekend, Dallas and FC Cincinnati will square off at the Toyota Stadium on Saturday.
The visitors have the chance to move to the top of the Major League Soccer Eastern Conference standings with a return to winning ways at the weekend, while their hosts trail the playoff wildcard spots by five points and the top seven by seven points in the Western Conference.
Match preview
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Dallas return to the Toyota Stadium on Sunday with the aim of narrowing their gap up to the playoff places in the Major League Soccer Western Conference, as their search for a new permanent manager continues.
In their search for a third consecutive top-seven finish in the division, the Texan outfit endured a tough start to the 2024 campaign, heading into an early-June trip to Minnesota United on 13 points from 15 outings, and a 1-1 draw spelled the end of Nico Estevez's tenure in the hot seat.
Interim boss Peter Luccin has been able to inspire an improvement since, though, overseeing consecutive three-point hauls in his first two matches in charge as they beat St Louis City 2-0 and Minnesota United 5-3, with Petar Musa netting a hat-trick alongside goals from Jesus Ferreira and Logan Farrington in the latter.
That saw the Toros head into Sunday's trip to Seattle Sounders with renewed confidence, and they took a 2-0 lead into the final 20 minutes thanks to goals from Patrickson Delgado and Musa, only to leave empty-handed in agonising fashion as Raul Ruidiaz pulled one back for the hosts before Jordan Morris netted a brace in the dying embers to turn the game on its head and seal a 3-2 home win.
Although they will certainly be left disheartened by the manner of that loss last time out, Dallas do have encouragement to take from their run under Luccin's temporary stewardship, and now trailing the playoff wildcard spots by five points, they will bid to move further into the mix with a third win in a four-match span on Saturday.
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They face a tough test, though, as the visitors travel to Dallas with their sights set on top spot in the Eastern Conference following a strong start to the season, despite suffering a defeat last time out.
After topping the division and winning the Supporters' Shield in 2023, eventually dropping out in the Conference finals, the Orange and Blue have picked up where they left off in the first half of the 2024 term, currently sitting second having amassed 39 points from their 19 outings thus far.
Across those games, Pat Noonan's side have managed 12 victories including seven straight three-point hauls between mid-April and late May, before bouncing back from a setback at the hands of Nashville SC with another pair of wins this month, beating San Jose Earthquakes and Philadelphia Union 4-2 and 4-3 respectively, with Yuya Kubo turning the former round with a late hat-trick and Luciano Acosta netting a 100th-minute winner against the latter.
The Ohio outfit then welcomed New England Revolution to the TQL Stadium on Saturday and failed to make it three triumphs on the bounce, instead coming away empty-handed from a 2-1 defeat having been unable to find a leveller after Yamil Asad halved the deficit in the 65th minute.
Nonetheless, FC Cincinnati remain just two points behind Eastern Conference leaders Inter Miami with a game in hand and 15 clear of the wildcard places, and they will bid to further strengthen their position in the leading pack with a swift return to winning ways on Saturday.
Team News
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Dallas continue to deal with several injury issues heading into the weekend, with Geovane Jesus, Paxton Pomykal and Alan Velasco remaining confined to the treatment room, while Amet Korca also missed their meeting with Seattle Sounders last time out.
Petar Musa is bound to lead their line with confidence, having scored four goals across the last two games to take his tally to nine for the season since his arrival from Benfica, while Patrickson Delgado and Jesus Ferreira are also danger men going forward.
Key midfielder Asier Illarramendi will likely return from the outset after serving a yellow card suspension last weekend and should join Liam Fraser, while Sebastien Ibeagha and Nkosi Tafari may again partner up at the heart of a new-look back four.
FC Cincinnati have several enforced absences of their own, with Miles Robinson away on international duty with the USA at the Copa America and defender Matt Miazga and attacker Corey Baird ruled out through injuries.
Luca Orellano and Obinna Nwobodo miss out due to suspensions, with the former having accumulated five yellow cards and the latter sent off in last week's defeat to New England Revolution, meaning Yuya Kubo may come into the midfield from the outset, while DeAndre Yedlin may shift out to a right wing-back role in Orellano's absence.
That will leave room for Nick Hagglund or Bret Halsey to come into the defence, while Luciano Acosta will continue to play a key role in support of the front two of Kevin Kelsy and Gerardo Valenzuela having notched up a team-high tally of 10 goals so far this term.
Dallas possible starting lineup:
Paes; Arriola, Ibeagha, Tafari, Farfan; Ntsabeleng, Fraser, Illarramendi, Delgado; Musa, Ferreira
FC Cincinnati possible starting lineup:
Celentano; Powell, Hagglund, Murphy; Yedlin, Bucha, Kubo, Asad; Acosta; Valenzuela, Kelsy
We say: Dallas 1-1 FC Cincinnati
Sunday's game promises to be an intriguing one, and while FC Cincinnati have enjoyed the far stronger season thus far, their hosts are gaining confidence and improving under new management.
The hosts' encouraging run, combined with a growing list of absentees for the Orange and Blue, could result in a share of the spoils in Texas.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Sam Varley
