Behind Enemy Lines: Scouting St. Louis CITY SC 🔎

After being on the road for the last three games, FC Dallas returns home with a new manager (Peter Luccin) and hopes to end a five-game winless streak as they host St. Louis CITY SC on Saturday night.

St. Louis is also looking to end a five-game winless streak of their own as they come off a 0-0 draw with the Portland Timbers last weekend. They hold a record of 3-4-9 in league play this season, which puts them just above what FC Dallas has done in the Western Conference standings.

Key Player: Joao Klauss

The Brazilian hasn’t been as good in their last 30 or so matches as he was in the club’s first 20 last year. But he is still their main threat in front of the goal, and we saw in St. Louis that if he gets an open look at the goal, he will take it no matter how good of a look it actually is.

Key Matchup: Tim Parker vs Petar Musa

This will be a fun matchup to watch again, as both guys battled well in their first meeting in St. Louis. Parker probably got the best of Musa on that night, as he limited the Croatian to three shots.

Availability Report1:

Suspended: Chris Durkin
Out: Rasmus Alm (knee), Kyle Hiebert (not due to injury), Tomáš Ostrák (ankle)
Questionable: none
On Loan: none
International duty: none

Quick Notes:

Last time against FC Dallas: The two sides met earlier this year in St. Louis, where both keepers Maarten Paes and Roman Burki put on a goalkeeping clinic in a scoreless draw.

Sophomore slump: Their goal-scoring clip from 2023 was probably unsustainable for a second straight season. They are on 23 goals from 22.6 xG; last year, they had 62 goals on 42.6 xG.

Potential Lineup:

Bradley Carnell still runs the high-energy press with a 4-2-3-1 formation.

Burki, Totland, Nilsson, Parker, Markanich; Adeniran, Lowen; Vassilev, Kikima, Pompeu; Klauss

Keys To Three Points over St. Louis

1. Handle the press: We saw it in the spring in St. Louis, and we’ll definitely see it again on Saturday night. St. Louis loves to use a high press with their attack to force the other team into uncomfortable situations on the ball. Dallas showed well against teams that press high this season but can’t be too careless with the ball when building out of the back (we saw how dangerous that can be last week in Minnesota).
2. New coach bump: From time to time, in MLS, when a coach is let go, the new interim boss tends to get a nice bump in play out of the squad as they transition into the new era. Ideally, FC Dallas has that situation at home this weekend as they see what Luccin rolls out for his first match.
3. Play with passion: I discussed this item in yesterday's “What Peter Luccin can fix” post, but it is simple. Take advantage of the passion and energy surrounding the club's current situation. FC Dallas has played too timidly this season in most games, and with every home game now being a must-win to reach the playoffs, they need to find that passion again and use it in front of a home crowd.