FC Dallas welcomes Western Conference rivals Real Salt Lake this Saturday to Toyota Stadium for their first meeting of the 2023 season.
In RSL’s last trip to Toyota Stadium, the teams drew 1-1. Alan Velasco scored an early goal for FCD, but it was Anderson Julio’s 69th-minute equalizer that salvaged points for a visiting Utah side.
RSL is coming off a big win last weekend over Charlotte FC. The win ended a four-game losing streak for RSL and helped boost them back up the Western Conference standings.
Key Player: Jefferson Savarino
Savarino had a goal and an assist in Real Salt Lake's win over Charlotte last weekend. Since returning to the club last May, Savarino leads RSL in both goals (8) and assists (8), while his 16 goal contributions are twice as many as any other player in that time (Sergio Córdova, Andrew Brody – 8 each).
Key Matchup: Justen Glad vs Jesus Ferreira
The two young veteran players square off this weekend in what should be a fascinating matchup. Ferreira has shown well to get behind defenders this season and create chances, but Glad is arguably one of the more underrated defenders in this league. He kept Ferreira in check last season and will be called to do the same this year.
Quick Notes:
Recent success in Dallas - Real Salt Lake is unbeaten in its last five visits to Dallas (W1 D4) after avoiding defeat just three times in its first 18 visits in all competitions (W1 D2 L15). The only team to go unbeaten in more than five straight MLS matches in Dallas was San Jose from 2003 to 2009 (8 straight – W4 D4).
Not over until it is over - Real Salt Lake came from behind to defeat Charlotte FC, 3-1, on Saturday, ending a four-match losing streak. Both of RSL's wins this season have been in come-from-behind efforts, as they've conceded the opening goal in all six of their matches in 2023.
Avoided history - Last week’s result enabled RSL to avoid a five-game losing streak, something which has happened just twice in Claret-and-Cobalt history, both during RSL’s expansion 2005 season.
Homegrown factory-ish - RSL’s roster boasts a league-high 14 homegrowns on its roster. Despite that record number, only three have started more than 10 MLS games, with five players failing to see any minutes so far into their MLS careers. So in a way, it looks like RSL goes for quantity over quality in the HGP department.
Tap-ins - RSL has scored six goals so far in 2023, with four of those goals coming from within the six-yard box. Only one goal has been scored outside of the penalty area this season.
Availability Report:
Out: Zack Farnsworth (thigh), Axel Kei (ankle)
Questionable: Erik Holt (Achilles), Damir Kreilach (thight)
Probably: Andrew Brody (ankle)
On Loan: Jaziel Orozco (Santos Laguna), Joni Menendez (Newell's Old
Boys), Julio Benitez (Forward Madison)
Potential Lineup:
Pablo Mastroeni has deployed a 4-4-2 look in most of his games this season. Expect them to look something like this on Saturday:
Zac MacMath; Andrew Brody, Justen Glad, Marcelo Silva, Brayan Vera; Jasper Löffelsend, Pablo Ruiz, Andres Gomez, Jefferson Savarino; Rubio Rubin, Anderson Julio
Keys To Three Points over RSL
Play the wings - RSL loves to do overlapping runs from their full-backs into the attack but FCD can also play to this advantage. As RSL pushes numbers forward, FCD can counter on the wings with speed to set up their own chances on goal. We saw last weekend in Miami that when FCD got wide with the ball and send in crosses to Ferreira or Jesus Jimenez, good chances were made.
Withstand the pressure - RSL will press up the field a bit to catch turnovers in the opponent’s defensive end. While I wouldn’t expect them to do this a ton on the road, you can expect them to try to find cheap turnovers in the Dallas defensive third of the field, similar to what Portland did a couple of weeks ago at Toyota Stadium. FCD has to be smart with their passing through their defensive third of the field on Saturday, not to allow cheap turnovers that get turned into chances.
Finish them off early - This one is really simple, but FCD has to find the back of the net more than once in this one and really finish a team off before halftime. We’ve seen too many times already this season that the chances are there, but the finishing or final ball is not. Last week was a great boost for the defense in finally recording a shutout, but this weekend needs to be about continuing that momentum with more goals in the attack.
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