It is Rivalry Week again in Major League Soccer. FC Dallas is getting set to host their top rivals, the Houston Dynamo this weekend.
The Dynamo are coming off a midweek win on Wednesday night, where they shocked Minnesota United 2-0.
Let's dive into what Houston brings to Saturday's game and how FC Dallas can secure El Capitan in 2025.
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Key Player: Jack McGlynn
McGlynn has really been the only consistent player in the Dynamo attack this season, with one goal and four assists.
Key Matchup: Ondřej Lingr vs Ramiro
This could be a fun matchup of newcomers to MLS this season. The DP number 9 for Houston up against the Dallas number 6, who will be fresh off a suspension.
Availability Report1:
Suspended: none
Out: Lawrence Ennali (knee), Nelson Quinones (knee), Andrew Tarbell (knee)
Questionable: Duane Holmes (lower leg), Daniel Steres (lower body), Erik Sviatchenko (Lower body)
On Loan: Kieran Sargeant (Lexington)
International duty: none
Quick Notes:
All-time in Frisco: The Dynamo are 3-11-9 in all-time regular season meetings at Toyota Stadium. Their last win in Frisco came in the 2011 season.
Recent run against FCD: The Dynamo haven’t beat FC Dallas since the 2021 season, when they downed FC Dallas 3-2 in Houston.
Recent form: Going into Wednesday, the Dynamo had only one win in their last five games.
Comparing the two clubs: I’m going to try and put these types of charts into these pieces moving forward. McLachBot has been a pretty handy tool, the only issue is they’re missing one game from this season. Still, from this we can tell the Dynamo love to have the ball and work for set pieces.
Potential Lineup:
Ben Olsen had to do some rotation in the midweek against Minnesota thanks to a red card to Femi Awodesu. He should be back for this one on Saturday in Frisco.
Bond; Dorsey, Awodesu, Bartlow, Steres; Artur, Raines, McGlynn; Bassi, Kowalczyk, Lingr
Keys To Three Points over Houston
- Make the most of the counter: As you can see from the graphic above, Houston loves to possess the ball. Thankfully this season they struggle to do a lot of good with the ball. Dallas will need to be sound defensively in this one as they look to pick off turnovers and quickly transition the ball into the attacking third with the speed of guys like Anderson Julio or Shaq Moore.
- Pressure the backline: Remember the season opening win in Houston? Yeah, that does feel like a lifetime ago now but the way Dallas was able to complete that comeback was by pressuring the Houston backline into mistakes. Ethan Bartlow had a terrible pass that led to a Dallas goal. The FCD attack hasn't pressed up the field nearly as much in recent weeks as they should, but with Petar Musa getting more minutes after his injury in this one, there will be ample opportunity to force mistakes. Dallas just needs to convert them.
- Start quick: We saw it in the US Open Cup game against AV Alta FC, FC Dallas came out and found a real nice and rather easy goal in the opening three minutes of the match. So, we know they can start fast and pressure teams properly. In a rivalry game like this, Dallas has to be the aggressor up front and find ways to put Houston out of this one early.
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1 Note: MLS has a injury report deadline that doesn’t hit until the day before each game. Our scouting reports will include last week's report and will be fully updated the day before with our injury report for FC Dallas.
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