Behind Enemy Lines: Scouting St. Louis CITY SC 🔎
Behind Enemy Lines: Scouting St. Louis CITY SC 🔎
Ending the losing streak is going to be a tall order this weekend.
FC Dallas remains on the road again this weekend as they square off with St. Louis CITY SC for the first time in 2024.
Last weekend, both sides came up on the short end of the stick. FC Dallas lost at Austin after coughing up the lead in the second half, while St. Louis saw Chico Arango score three on them in a 3-1 loss at Real Salt Lake.
Key Player: Joao Klauss
The Brazilian continues to be the focal point of the CITY attack. When you give him enough space in the penalty box, he is arguably one of the most dangerous attackers in MLS.
Key Matchup: Klauss vs Nkosi Tafari
The Dallas leader has had some struggles early on this season with form, but this could be the type of game where he gets through that sort of thing. Given that he caused a red card to Maarten Paes in last year’s trip to St. Louis, he will likely be out for some redemption in this year’s visit.
Availability Report1:
Suspended: none
Out: Eduard Löwen - Hamstring, Joakim Nilsson - Ribs
Questionable: Tim Parker - Back
On Loan: none
International duty: none
Quick Notes:
Last year against FC Dallas: The two sides met twice in St. Louis’ inaugural season last year. The lone Frisco meeting saw a long delay due to weather that forced the final 40-ish minutes to be resumed nearly a month after the game was originally started. FC Dallas scored two late goals to secure a win in that meeting before losing on the road 2-1 thanks to an early red card to Paes.
Sophomore slump: While St. Louis was the expansion darlings in 2023, the sophomore season hasn’t gone anywhere near that hot start that they had this time a year ago. So far in 2024, they’ve given up 11 goals, which is tied for second most in the Western Conference behind San Jose.
Potential Lineup:
Bradley Carnell still runs the high-energy press with a 4-2-3-1 formation.
Burki, Hiebert, Yaro, Parker, Markanich; Durkin, Blom; Vassilev, Ostrak, Pompeu; Klauss
Keys To Three Points over St. Louis
Handle the press: FC Dallas has already faced some Red Bull energy this season when they lost in New York. They’ll get a similar version of that with St. Louis on Saturday. There were moments in New York when the group handled the press very well and actually got chances in transition from turnovers. As long as the defense does not give up bad turnovers in their defensive third, there is a good chance for FC Dallas to find points in this one.
Find the width: Through the losing streak, FC Dallas has struggled to find the width of the field to stretch teams. When they were successful in games, including the season opener that they won against San Jose, they stretched their opponents along the wings. Given how St. Louis will press in this game, finding the ball out wide in transition will be a way to expose a St. Louis defense that has been leaky so far this season.
Play with passion: Something we really didn’t see in Austin until the dying moments of the game was some passion from this group. As the game ended in Austin, the team showed they cared a bit more with the visible frustration late in the match. We need that passion for a full 90 this weekend. Show up. Hustle for 90 minutes. Get points.
Note: MLS has a new injury report deadline that doesn’t hit until the Friday before each game. I will put last week’s report in these scouting reports and update where I can ahead of Friday's release from the league.