FC Dallas heads to Seattle with little relief on the injury front

It may be a few more weeks until we see the FC Dallas roster fully healthy in a league game.

Photo via FC Dallas

The injury situation for FC Dallas in 2023 has been documented up and down in this space. It is part of the reason why the club has struggled so much over the last ten games (just two wins, or one if you don’t count the St. Louis restart in that stretch).

FC Dallas won’t get much relief in terms of injured players coming back this weekend when they head to Seattle. Head coach Nico Estevez discussed on Wednesday’s weekly media call that Ema Twumasi, Jesus Jimenez, Paxton Pomykal and Paul Arriola are going to remain out for this weekend’s game in Seattle.

Estevez did state that Arriola, Jose Martinez, and Geovane Jesus have been training with the first team this week in Frisco, but Arriola would likely need a little more time before he is back on the game-day roster.

“With Paul, we want to be cautious and go slow,” explained Estevez. “He’s showing that he is recovering well, and he’s training with his teammates.”

A big part of this is also due to the field surface at Lumen Field. The Sounders play on a turf field, similar to what you see in Portland and Vancouver, and that also plays a factor in how quickly some players are coming back to the team.

“It is surface that doesn’t help for those players that are coming from an injury,” said Estevez. “It is not only that, but it is the last game that we have until the break from MLS (for the Leagues Cup). We just want to arrive in the best position when MLS starts again.”

FC Dallas is hoping to secure just their second regular season win at Lumen Field since the Sounders joined Major League Soccer in 2009.