FC Dallas embarks on a unique proposition over the coming days: being on the road against Sporting Kansas City twice at the same venue within four days. The two sides will play at Children’s Mercy Park in MLS regular-season play on Sunday night before a rematch in the U.S. Open Cup Quarterfinals on Wednesday.

Key Player: Daniel Salloi

Salloi has been dealing with injuries, but he’s always been a terror for FC Dallas to contain. Over the years, he’s accounted for eight goals and two assists against FC Dallas, including SKC’s first goal in 2023 in their 2-1 loss at Toyota Stadium.

Key Matchup: Erik Thommy vs Sam Junqua/Marco Farfan

The DP for Sporting has four goals and three assists on the season. He and Johnny Russell will likely rotate along the wings a bit, but either way, you can expect their attack to largely run through Thommy.

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Availability Report1:

Suspended: none
Out: Logan Ndenbe (knee)
Questionable: Robert Castellanos (ankle), Daniel Salloi (ankle), Remi Walter (knee)
On Loan: none
International duty: Felipe Hernández

Quick Notes:

Last year against SKC: The clubs split their season series last year with both teams winning their home games. FCD came from behind to beat SKC 2-1 in the first meeting at Toyota Stadium before SKC picked up a 2-1 win over FCD in the lone meeting at Children’s Mercy Park.

At home against FCD: After struggling at the SKC venue for several years, Dallas has finally found some positive results in the last few seasons there. Sporting has won just one of their last seven vs. FCD at Children’s Mercy Park.

Recent form: The struggles have been real for SKC in 2024, in their last ten games they’ve gone 2-8-0 (2-3-0 in their last five).

Potential Lineup:

Peter Vermes has stuck with his 4-3-3 formation for another season.

Melia, Pierre, Rosero, Voloder, Leibold; Rodriguez, Radoja, Thommy; Russell, Agada, Salloi

Keys To Three Points (and advance in the USOC) over SKC

  1. Stay aggressive: It will be hard not to overplay their hands in the first game before the important USOC game on Wednesday, but when we’ve seen FCD at their best this season, it has been due to a higher press and aggressive play from the attack. On Thursday night against Portland, the times when FC Dallas was most dangerous were their forced turnovers in the Timbers’ defensive end. SKC is leaky in the back and could give up easy attempts if FC Dallas puts on the pressure.
  2. Keep feeding Musa in the box: I probably sound like a broken record at this point on this item, but it really is that simple. Musa has ten goals on the season, and lately a lot of that has to do with finding him in space, with the ball at his feet in the penalty area. The Croatian knows how to handle the rest from there.
  3. Limit stupid mistakes in the back: Sporting is going to still press a bit, that has always been a trait of a Vermes’ team. Dallas will want to limit their errors in the back and avoid their slow build up play that we’ve seen them struggle through at times this season.

  1. Note: MLS has a new injury report deadline that doesn’t hit until the day before each game. I will put last week’s report in these scouting reports and update where I can ahead of the weekly release from the league. ↩