FC Dallas looks to pick up their first road win of the 2023 season on Saturday evening as they travel to South Florida to battle Inter Miami.

This will be just the third meeting between the two squads since Inter Miami joined MLS at the start of the 2020 season. It will also be the first meeting between them in Florida. Dallas avoided defeat in each of the first two meetings, both in Texas, winning 2-1 in October 2020 and drawing 1-1 in July 2022.

After starting the 2023 season with two straight wins, The Herons have gone on to lose four straight. Part of that is due to injuries, and the other may come down to bad luck or a roster that is still dealing with the effects of an MLS rules sanction.

Key Player: Josef Martinez

Given the injuries across this team right now, Martinez is still a dangerous threat for FC Dallas to deal with. Martínez has scored four goals in three career matches against FC Dallas, scoring at least once in each game.

Key Matchup: Martinez vs Nkosi Tafari

This could be a fun litmus test for Tafari in this young season. So far, he’s shown well in five starts for the club, but he hasn’t had to deal with a striker like Martinez just yet this season.

Quick Notes:

Josef gone cold - Martínez has not scored in his first five matches with Inter Miami, all starts, marking the first time in his career he's gone five straight MLS starts without a goal.

Hot then cold - Inter Miami is the third team in MLS history to lose four straight games after collecting six points from its first two matches of a season. Only the Chicago Fire in 1998 recorded five consecutive defeats (incl. one breakaway shootout loss) after opening the season with two straight wins.

One familiar face - Inter Miami’s midfielder Victor Ulloa faces off against his former team FC Dallas. Ulloa was signed by FC Dallas as a Homegrown player in July 2010 and was with the club for eight seasons, where he recorded a total of five
goals and six assists in 143 games played.

Availability Report:

Out: Noah Allen (knee), Ian Fray (knee), Gregore (Lisfranc)

Questionable: Leonardo Campana (calf), Robbie Robinson (calf), Shanyder Borgelin (ankle), Edison Azcona (hamstring)

SUSPENSION: None

Potential Lineup:

Phil Neville has gone with a 4-2-3-1 type formation this season, including last week’s loss to Cincinnati.

Callendar; Yedlin, Krvvstov, McVev, Neari; Ulloa, Mota; Tavlor, Pizarro, Stefanelli; Martinez

Keys To Three Points over Miami

  1. Be aggressive - With Gregore out, Miami lacks a like-for-like replacement for him in the middle of the park. This is a perfect time to be aggressive in the middle third of the field and push Miami more into their defensive end, where they are known to leak easy goals.
  2. Hold the line - Winning on the road in this league is never easy, and Miami is a tricky place to pick up points in too. The FC Dallas defense will need to be on top of their game in this one and find ways to keep Martinez and Rodolfo Pizarro from linking up in this one. Martinez is averaging just 0.21 xG per 90 minutes, according to FBref. If FC Dallas wants points, it will be finding ways to keep Martinez off the ball and out of dangerous scoring chances.
  3. Push it on set pieces - Dallas is finding ways to get plenty of corner kicks and set pieces this season, but they haven’t cashed all of them in yet as Nico Estevez would like. He mentioned in his weekly press conference this week that they’ve been close several times already this season on set pieces, and it is starting to feel as if they are able to get one away from home; the floodgates could open up even more for them.