Behind Enemy Lines: Scouting Seattle Sounders 🔎
FC Dallas is still searching for their first road win of the season as they head to Seattle.
FC Dallas hits the road for the final time in June as they continue to search for their first victory away from home in the 2024 regular season. To do so, they’ll have to figure out how to beat a team that they rarely have had success against in their own building, the Seattle Sounders.
Seattle picked up a draw in the midweek in Houston after going down two goals early in the match; the Sounders scored twice in the second half to secure the valuable road point.
Key Player: Jordan Morris
Morris has been on a bit of a hot streak lately, scoring four goals in his last six matches. He may not be the main threat in the Seattle attack, but he continues to find ways to make his mark on matches.
Key Matchup: Petar Musa vs Yeimar
Given that Musa is coming off a hat trick, this matchup only got more interesting. The two squared off earlier this season in Dallas, and the Seattle defense got the best of Musa that night. But the Croatian has done well against teams the second time around this season (i.e., Houston, Minnesota, and St. Louis).
Availability Report1:
Suspended: none
Out: Alex Roldan (head)
Questionable: Pedro de la Vega (hamstring)
On Loan: none
International duty: none
Quick Notes:
Previous meeting: The two sides met earlier this season at Toyota Stadium in a 0-0 draw. Neither side had many chances to change the outcome of that match in April.
Recent form: The Sounders are just two points ahead of FC Dallas in the Western Conference standings. They have gone 2-1-2 in their last five games.
Potential Lineup:
Like FC Dallas, Seattle has also had a busy couple of weeks with games and will likely rotate their 4-2-3-1 lineup from what we saw on Wednesday night in Houston.
Frei, Bell, Yeimar, Ragen, Nouhou; Vargas, Atencio; C. Roldan, Rusnak, Rothrock; Morris
Keys To Three Points over Seattle
Be more aggressive: They may be a bit gassed for this third game in seven days, but so far, we’ve seen much more passion and aggression under Peter Luccin in the two home wins. Dallas still needs to find that same level of energy on the road this season. If they can do it in Seattle, we may start to see a team that is truly turning their season around in a good way.
Find the width: Seattle is still a squad that you can beat by using counterattacks and the width of the field. As we saw on Wednesday night against Minnesota, when Dallas gets the ball into the wide positions, the chances begin to trickle in for the attack.
Continue to feed Musa: If Wednesday proved anything, it is that if you find ways to get Petar Musa into space around the penalty area, he will do big things. Dallas needs him to find his footing on the road in a game like this one. We know Seattle will be tough in their defense, but playing Musa into space is the way to go on Saturday.
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.