Minnesota United can stretch their home unbeaten run in MLS to five matches when they host Dallas on Saturday at Allianz Field.
Thanks to a 3-1 victory over Sporting Kansas City, the Loons are third in the Western Conference with 28 points, 15 above Dallas, who are 12th following a 1-0 loss to Los Angeles FC.
Match preview
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A new face on the sidelines has unlocked the potential of these Minnesota players, who are thriving under first-time manager Eric Ramsay.
Since the 32-year-old took charge, this team have points in nine of their last 12 domestic affairs and are two points behind LAFC for second.
After 15 regular season encounters, the Loons have nine more points than they had at this stage last year while scoring 27 goals, a feat which took them 23 matches to reach and surpass in 2023.
The most remarkable part is that they have achieved all of that without the focal point of their attack over the past few seasons, Emanuel Reynoso.
His absence and recent departure for Tijuana in Liga MX has forced others on the team to step up, and the rest of the squad have done exactly that, with 10 different players scoring at least one goal in this competition.
Since their heartbreaking defeat to Dallas on penalties in the 2022 playoffs, the Loons have not lost to the Toros, failing to concede a goal in their two previous meetings.
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Nearing the midway point of their 2024 domestic campaign, Dallas are still struggling to find much consistency, going winless in four successive league fixtures.
Through 15 league encounters this year, the Toros have averaged just 0.87 points per game and are seven points below the post-season line in the Western Conference.
Nico Estevez has seen his side concede 24 times already this year, 10 more than they allowed at this stage of the previous campaign and only 13 fewer than they allowed during the 2023 regular season, with 19 contests still to go.
Dallas are still without an MLS away victory this season and have eight domestic defeats as the visitors in 2024, one more than they suffered in this competition last year.
Slow starts have plagued the Toros throughout the current league campaign, netting only twice in MLS in the opening half since the beginning of April.
They have not come away with three points at Allianz Field since matchday 18 of the 2018 regular season, when they claimed a 1-0 victory.
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Team News
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Minnesota were without Franco Fragapane last weekend because of a leg issue, and Hugo Bacharach continues to recover from a knee injury.
Numerous Loon players are on international duty at the moment, including Dayne St. Clair (Canada), Tani Oluwaseyi (Canada), Zarek Valentin (Puerto Rico), Joseph Rosales (Honduras), and Kervin Arriaga (Honduras).
Teemu Pukki and Robin Lod, meanwhile, are with the Finish national team, Carlos Harvey has joined Panama for their World Cup qualifiers and Alejandro Bran is on duty with Costa Rica.
The Toros will not have Paxton Pomykal available for the rest of the season after he had surgery on his left knee, Alan Velasco is recovering from a torn MCL and ACL, while Geovane Jesus is also on the mend after tearing his ACL.
Nkosi Tafari is eligible to return after serving his one-match suspension following a second caution in their 3-1 defeat to the Los Angeles Galaxy.
Goalkeeper Maarten Paes made a career-high nine stops in their narrow defeat to LAFC, his fourth straight match in MLS this year with at least five saves.
Minnesota United possible starting lineup:
Irwin; Eriksson, Boxall, Tapias; Taylor, Trapp, Dotson, Padelford; Hlongwane, Adebayo-Smith, Sang-bin
Dallas possible starting lineup:
Paes; Ibeagha, Tafari, Junqua; Twumasi, Lletget, Illarramendi, Farfan; Arriola, Ferreira; Musa
We say: Minnesota United 1-0 Dallas
Despite being severely short-handed for this encounter, Ramsay has proven to be a strong tactician, and we believe he has enough resources to defeat a Dallas side who are low on confidence and struggling to find solutions in the attacking third.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Joel Lefevre
