FC Dallas looks for their first win at LAFC this weekend as they take on the defending MLS Cup and Supporters’ Shield winners.
LAFC is already off to a fast start after the first month of play in 2023. They’re currently one of the five unbeaten teams remaining in the league and just sit five points off the Western Conference leaders, St. Louis CITY SC (though they do have a game in hand thanks to that Matchday 1 game cancelation against the LA Galaxy).
Let’s dive into LAFC, what they’ve been able to do this season and how FC Dallas can find a way to pick up some points this weekend.
Key Player: Carlos Vela
While the veteran attacker may have slowed down a bit from his blistering pace from a few seasons ago, he’s still one of the most dangerous players on the field for LAFC. Against FCD, he’s registered four goals and five assists.
Key Matchup: Kellyn Acosta vs Paxton Pomykal
While this matchup may not happen if Pomykal doesn’t start on Saturday due to his lingering hamstring issue from last Saturday, it is fun to think of the two FCD Homegrown players squaring off in the middle of the park like this.
Quick Notes:
Unbeaten at home against FCD: Los Angeles FC is unbeaten in four home matches against FC Dallas (W3 D1), including winning each of the last three meetings at BMO Stadium. Carlos Vela has scored (2) or assisted (5) on seven of the eight goals LAFC has scored against Dallas at home.
They don’t lose back-to-back at home: LAFC lost its last home match, a 2-1 defeat to Costa Rican side Alajuelense in the second leg of the Concacaf Champions League Round of 16 (won, 4—2, on aggregate). LAFC has never lost consecutive home matches in all competitions in the club's history.
They can be held scoreless: LAFC's perfect start to the regular season ended with a scoreless draw in Seattle on Saturday. It was LAFC's first scoreless draw since a 0-0 against the Fire in May 2019, ending a run of 115 straight regular season matches for LAFC without playing a scoreless draw, the longest streak in MLS history.
Stout defense: Through four games, LAFC has allowed the second-fewest goals in MLS, with two. They’ve also allowed the fewest shots (25) and the fourth-fewest passes (381) to enter the final 1/3 of the field.
Key international absences: LAFC will see four players out for the international window, the biggest being forward Dénis Bouanga (Gabon). He scored a hat trick in LAFC’s road win in the Concacaf Champions League a couple of weeks ago. LAFC will also be without defenders Denil Maldonado (Honduras) and Diego Palacios (Ecuador), as well as midfielder José Cifuentes (Ecuador)
Potential Lineup:
Given the players missing, Steve Cherundolo’s options for his 4-3-3 formation are still pretty dang good for this one:
McCarthy; Hollingshead, Long, Murillo, Palencia; Acosta, Sanchez, Cifuentes; Opuko, Buik, Vela
Keys To Three Points over LAFC
- Play the passing lanes - If you watched LAFC at Seattle last weekend, the times that the Sounders nearly found a breakthrough were when they controlled the width of the field and played quick one-two passes into the middle. Dallas will want to find ways to replicate that movement, similar to what we saw in the second half against Sporting KC when they played the ball wide to Alan Velasco or later on to Geovane Jesus.
Find Ferreira early and often - Similar to the draw in Seattle for LAFC, when the Sounders had success on the offensive end against LAFC, it was because they found ways to involve Raúl Ruidíaz. I felt the Sounders didn’t play to Ruidiaz enough in that match when they were in LAFC defensive third. Part of that was Aaron Long clogging up space, but the other part may have been due to Ruidiaz not coming back to the ball enough.
Ferreira needs to look at that film and continue to find ways to disrupt the LAFC defense. When he gets on the ball in the attacking third, good things tend to happen.
- Don’t just play for a tie - It is far too easy to go on the road in MLS and just hope for a tie. Teams do this all the time where they sit back and let the home side attack as much as they’d like with hopes of catching them on a counterattack. While FCD is good at this kind of thing, I don’t think it is wise to just defend for 90 minutes with the hope of leaving with a single point. FCD needs to be aggressive but pick their moments in this one. LAFC is a dangerous team from top to bottom, but as we saw last season, they can be broken down when you pick your moments right. FCD was able to do that in their home win last year over LAFC, with Ferreira leading the way.
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