Behind Enemy Lines: Scouting Minnesota United 🔎

While the home games in 2025 haven't exactly gone as planned for Eric Quill and FC Dallas, the play on the road has been much better this season. FC Dallas begins a three-game road trip this weekend when they travel north to battle Minnesota United.

FC Dallas takes its four-game unbeaten run on the road against the Loons, who are unbeaten in their last seven games.

Let's dive into what Minnesota brings to Saturday's game and how FC Dallas can rebound from a disappointing outing last weekend.

Key Player: Joaquin Pereyra

For the last month, Pereyra has added a ton of life to the Loons' attack. He currently ranks in the 99th percentile among in non-penalty xG + xAG per 90 minutes.

Key Matchup: Tani Oluwaseyi vs Osaze Urhoghide

The Nigerian currently leads Minnesota's attack with five goals this season and two assists. Slowing him and Kelvin Yeboah down will be tough, but we've seen already what Urhoghide can do defensively this season. If Urhoghide can limit Oluwaseyi's touches inside the penalty area, FCD will stand a good chance of leaving Minnesota with some points.

Availability Report1:

Suspended: none
Out: Hassani Dotson (knee), Owen Gene (ankle), Kipp Keller (leg)
Questionable: none
On Loan: none
International duty: none

Quick Notes:

Last season against FCD: The two sides met last spring in Minnesota, which turned out to be Nico Estevez's last game in charge of FC Dallas. That draw was then followed up by a big 5-3 win by FC Dallas in Frisco a couple of weeks later, where Petar Musa scored his first hat trick with the club.

Recent form: The Loons have been on a bit of a hot streak since the opening week of the season. After losing to LAFC in the season opener, they've gone unbeaten in seven games. Last weekend, they picked up a scoreless draw against Toronto FC.

Potential Lineup:

Eric Ramsey has been going with a 5-3-2 a good bit this season, they should go out similar to this on Saturday.

St. Clair, Hlongwane, Boxall, Romero, Diaz, Rosales; Pereyra, Trapp, Lod; Yeboah, Oluwaseyi

Keys To Three Points over Minnesota

1. Don't over commit: Minnesota is one of the best counter attacking teams in MLS right now. The Loons defend well in the midfield, which has helped cause them to find more chances in their attack. FC Dallas will need to be better at not turning the ball over in the midfield and will need to make sure that guys like Shaq Moore don't over commit in their runs up the field.
2. When in doubt find Lucho: If Petar Musa is going to be out (we're still waiting word on the status of his ankle), the Dallas attack has to flow through Lucho Acosta even more this weekend. This also means the combination play in the midfield to get the ball to Acosta has to be better to allow him to find the right pockets of space in the Minnesota defense to expose up the field.
3. Figure out Plan B: If the "Find Lucho" concept isn't working in this one, it has to be time for Quill and his staff to sort out another option in the attack for this club. Either be through the wings with Bernard Kamungo and Anderson Julio or finding a way to get Logan Farrington (assuming Musa isn't available) involved in the penalty area.

1 Note: MLS has a new injury report deadline that doesn’t hit until the day before each game. I will put last week’s report in these scouting reports and update where I can ahead of the weekly release from the league.