With a two week break behind them, FC Dallas will look to get its first win of the 2018 Major League Soccer Season when the club hosts the Seattle Sounders at 5 p.m. EST Saturday.
Dallas had an intrasquad scrimmage last weekend to simulate a match day and keep players fit, but the team is raring to get back to league play.
“My teammates told me that the games [against Seattle] have always been intense,” right back Reggie Cannon said. “It’s going to be a great battle and I can’t wait for it.”
The Huntsmen studied Seattle in its CONCACAF Champions League match. The Sounders fell to Guadalajara 3-0, losing the tie 3-1 on aggregate in a display where Chivas dominated from the beginning.
“It was a good game,” Cannon said. “Chivas was outworking them. When you watch the game, you see the forwards tracking back and the defenders overlapping and working really hard. In the second half, [Chivas] finally turned it on and put the ball in the back of the net. But, it’s going to be a different story here.”
Dallas coach Óscar Pareja echoed that thought, emphasizing that Seattle’s midweek defeat will not be a factor in Sunday’s match.
“Every game is a different story and different drama to be writing,” Pareja said. “We want to make sure that we prepare ourselves for that one game and make sure that the outcome is positive.”
Seattle comes into the matchup banged up. Jordan Morris, Osvaldo Alonso, and Nicolas Lodeiro are ruled out due to injury. Victor Rodriguez, Will Bruin, and Chad Marshall are questionable. Those injuries, plus the midweek CCL match and travel, may lead to a weakened starting XI put out by head coach Brian Schemtzer for the visitors.
However, a “weakened” XI full of academy and New York Red Bulls II players defeated Portland 4-0 last week. So even with the potential lineup changes, Dallas has not changed its approach to the match.
“We really don’t look at their personnel too much in film,” Cannon said. “[We] just look at their concepts, what they’re going to do as a team. Players do have different characteristics but in the end, Seattle has a model and they play like that and they’re going to come out like that against us.”
The focus for Cannon has been more on the defensive end. Cannon pushed up high and completed more passes farther up the pitch against Real Salt Lake than in the defensive third.
“Óscar’s been telling me that I am an attacking fullback,” Cannon said. “But he said your first job is to defend. It’s a possibility going forward. It’s your responsibility is to be able to defend first. It’s kinda helped me through this past week to be more defensive before I attack and help out the offense.”
What Seattle brings to Frisco may be a mystery, but Pareja is more focused on his team and how prepared they are as they eye three points against the MLS Cup runner-ups.
“As much as we can make predictions and base it on those predictions, at the end of the day, you have no control over that,” Pareja said. “The least you can do is to prepare yourself the best way possible and in the game day just score one more goal than them. We have that in our minds.”
Other FC Dallas News and Notes:
- Homegrown midfielder Brandon Servania underwent surgery to correct Compartment Syndrome, which occurs when pressure within muscles builds to dangerous levels. The timetable for his return is unknown.
- Homegrown centerback Jordan Cano has been sent to the Oklahoma City Energy of the United Soccer League on loan. OKC is FC Dallas’ USL affiliate, meaning that the players loaned out to the Energy may be recalled at any time. Cano was the 2017 American Athletic Conference Defender of the Year for Southern Methodist University.
- Paxton Pomykal and Tesho Akindele have been called up to their respective national teams. Pomykal will play with the United States U-20’s as they play France and Athletico Madrid in Spain. Akindele will be with Canada’s senior side when they play New Zealand in Spain on March 24.
Match Information:
When: March 18, 4:00 PM CST
Where: Toyota Stadium (Frisco, Texas)
Broadcast: TV– TXA 21 (on Tape Delay, game will be on at 6PM CST); Radio– FCDallas.com/Radio (English), 1270AM (Spanish)
Live Stream: FCDallas.com/Live, MLS Live