FC Dallas looks to pick up their second straight win tonight as they host Western Conference rivals Real Salt Lake. Nico Estevez has announced his lineup for tonight’s match and it had some intriguing talking points.

Changes from last week

Obviously, the one big loss here is Alan Velasco. We discussed on Thursday that he was listed as out for this one with a knee injury that he picked up during the week. We also discussed this morning on our Notes that it could be an option to see Estevez go with Sebastian Lletget or Paxton Pomykal on the wing, it looks like he opted for Lletget with Paxton in the middle of the park with Facundo Quignon.

The other big thing to note is Nkosi Tafari is on the bench for this one with Sebastian Ibeagha and Jose Martinez starting in the middle of the defense together. We saw this combo back at the start of the season against Minnesota and it didn’t work too well then but I’m willing to give the Martinez-Ibeagha partnership another go now that we’re into our eighth match of the year.

Who we could see in the second half

The one good thing about this formation is the options off the bench. Edwin Cerrillo could be a good option to lock down the middle of the field late in the match. Jader Obrian could easily be a good move off the bench to frustrate RSL late in the match. I would also expect Ema Twumasi and/or Sam Junqua off the bench for Geovane Jesus and Marco Farfan. If there is a lead late, that is probably when we’ll see Tafari.

Here is what RSL is working with

Catch the game on Apple TV. Join us on our Notes to discuss it.