Behind Enemy Lines: Scouting Real Salt Lake 🔎

Following FC Dallas' win in the US Open Cup on Wednesday night, the club remains at home this weekend as they host rivals Real Salt Lake.

The two sides met earlier this season in Utah, with FC Dallas coming away with a 1-0 victory.

Let's dive into what RSL brings to Saturday's game and how FC Dallas can rebound after a disastrous match in San Diego last weekend..

Key Player: Diego Luna

FC Dallas didn’t have to deal with Luna the last time these two squads met during the March international window. Luna was off with the US National team and his club suffered as a result.

Key Matchup: Luna vs Show

FC Dallas will be without Ramiro for this one (yellow card accumulation), so either Kaick or Show will likely be tasked with the #6 role. This could be a chance for Quill to see what Kaick can do in these kinds of moments, but I think Show will likely be the guy to do it, since he has a little more MLS experience at this point to handle players like Luna.

Availability Report1:

Suspended: none
Out: Matthew Bell (quad), Javain Brown (knee), Kobi Henry (hamstring), Zac MacMath (shoulder)
Questionable: Brayan Vera (head), Justen Glad  (adductor)
On Loan: none
International duty: none

Quick Notes:

All-time in Frisco: RSL has a 2-14-7 record in all-time meetings in Frisco, with their last win coming in the 2021 season. They have gotten draws in two of their last three matches in Frisco, as well.

How RSL scores their goals: With Luna scoring half of their goals, if you take him out of the picture enough in a match, they struggle to create chances on goal a lot of the time.

Recent run against FCD: Since 2020, the last 11 meetings between the two clubs have been fairly split, as RSL holds a 3-4-4 record.

Recent form: RSL is one of those clubs right now that is either winning or losing, nothing in between. They’re 2-3-0 in their last five games with wins at San Diego and at home against LAFC.

Potential Lineup:

Pablo Mastroeni will look to get some of his new faces involved in this one, as former SKC forwards Willy Agada and Johnny Russell were added to the squad a couple of weeks ago.

Cabral, Junqua, Vera, Glad, Quinton; Eneli, Ojeda; Wolff, Goncavles, Luna, Agada

Keys To Three Points over RSL

1. Make it simple again: I said this before the last RSL game that FCD needed to make things simple or return to basics after a disappointing match before this one. After the loss in San Diego, Eric Quill has to go back to the drawing board again with his lineup selection and formations. He seems to be tossing things at the wall and hoping for something to stick. I think the 4-3-3 he used earlier this season did work most of the time. It may be worth re-exploring with some faces like Petar Musa returning to full health.
2. Find the width: While other teams have found space along the wings to attack at FC Dallas in recent weeks, the attack from wide spots for FCD has also dried up. We need to see guys like Shaq Moore finding space on overlapping runs, or someone like Anderson Julio or Bernard Kamungo getting into wide positions to play the ball into the penalty area. RSL doesn’t defend that well along the wings, so they need to expose that a bit more.
3. Can Acosta step up?: We haven’t seen the real Lucho Acosta in probably a month now. Quill continues to try to figure out how to use his DP star, which is what he should be doing, but the times he’s done well have been when he’s on the ball more than we’ve seen lately. That also means the midfield can’t be bypassed and have to find ways to connect with him in the build up play.

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.