FC DALLAS v. SEATTLE SOUNDERS FC

Greetings to my brothers and sisters in Green. Sounders FC touch down on Planet Texas to face FC Dallas at the Hunt Way ground. How does the saying go? Everything’s more difficult in Texas? It’s something like that. Also: That dog won’t hunt, I’ll tell you whut, and other similar pearls of “wisdom” from the “real” ‘Murica. And now a word from our sponsor. I’m just kidding, we at West Sound of Mind don’t get on our knees for massive amounts of Corpo cash like that.

What: MLS league match, FC Dallas v. Seattle Sounders FC.

Where: Hunt Way, Frisco, Texas.

When: 5:30 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time, Saturday 13 April 2024 CE.

At Stake: Sounders FC currently sit 24th place in the league table on five points, nine points adrift of leaders, energy drink advertisers, and sport club pirates New York Red Donkeys. A victory could move us up to as high as 22nd, provided Montreal is defeated by visitors FC Cincinnati. Nashville who is also just above us in the table will not play in the league until 20 April. Should we be defeated we could drop as low as 27th Should NYCFC (v.NE) win, and Orlando wins (@DC), provided I’ve done the maths correctly.

Where to Watch: MLS Season Pass via Apple TV.

Where to Listen: 93.3 KJR FM and El Rey 1360 AM.

With our first victory safely under our belts, or somewhere in the belt-esque region, it’s time for a road trip to Texas, who have consistently and persistently gone about fucking up the Union in a remarkable variety of ways since before statehood. Not that I’m sore about it.

The key thing is support. Heartland Horde will have some representation for that game so we’ll be listening to see if they make enough racket to even be heard over sound engineers desperately trying to squelch them. Back here in The Evergreen, the duty is clear. Round up all your mates, and it’s pubs and dwellings for stories and tellings, houses and flats for pints and cats, and sometimes even boats and ships for pie and chips. I’d been wanting to write that for awhile, but didna have the heart. But with a 5:0 demolition of Montreal, I am a man restored.

It’s Saturday night football under the lights at Hunt Way in the near shadow of the MetroPlex. C’MON YOU SOUNDERS!!! GET IN!!!

Before kick-off, please join me in the auld toast: “TO THE SEATTLE SOUNDERS FOOTBALL CLUB…AND VICTORY!!!”

We can replicate this…right?

The Good News

VICTORY! At last! Hitting five past Montreal last Sat felt absolutely magical. This is proof positive that we have it in us to get a decent result, and we’ve got the monkey off our backs. At least for now.

Morris has got his first goal and gotten the monkey off his back. Alex and Teves also scored goals, which is a very good sign. If we can have secondary scoring contribute on the regular, we will be exceptionally difficult to defend. Raul hit a brace, and has finally scored goals from the run of play, and is starting to look like his old self again. Everything came together last Sat, and we topped it off with a clean sheet. Well done, lads!

The Dallas are struggling. They won their first match of the year and are 0-1-4 since then with only one point from their last league fixtures. In all six matches this season, Dallas have only scored more than one goal once, in Dallas’ victory over San Jose on 24 February. Dallas are averaging only one goal per match.

Dallas are the statistically more likely club to concede two goals, and are not playing well at home (1-0-2).

With Leo Chu’s return to fitness, only Baker-Whiting, de la Vega, and Rodrigues remain out. That is a lot of quality to select from.

Dallas have Velasco, Pomykal, Illarramendi, and Ferreira out due to injury. They are thus missing a fairly hefty chunk of their quality.

We did better than Dallas against both Austin and Montreal.

The Bad News

de la Vega’s hamstring issue is seriously fucking up my chi. We need his quality and youth in the team, and also to generate competition for selection in training. Baker-Whiting and Rodrigues, also suffering from hamstring problems, are going to be vital, when fixture clutter begins to strike later this month, when we will have three league matches in eight days between 27 April and 5 May.

We haven’t won any matches on the road yet this season. Or even earned a point. Our record away from Seattle is 0-0-3.

Dallas has added some new firepower in Croatian striker Petar Musa, who they purchased from Benfica for €9M. Another new addition, Enes Sali, a Romanian midfielder set the Dallas back nearly €3M. Add to that the usual danger men for Dallas, Arriola, Lletget, and Kamungo, and you’ve got enough quality facing you to engender some legitimate worry.

Dallas beat San Jose, who we couldn’t manage to put away ourselves. After a hammer and tongs effort by the Sounders to equalise the match at Coleman Avenue on 81 minutes, Ebobisse hit the winner less than a minute later in swift rebuttal.

The Side I Would Select

I wouldn’t change a thing from the team that beat Montreal 5:0. I have my disagreements with the Gaffer over substitutions, player rotation, attitude towards US Open Cup, sure, but you don’t fuck about with a winning lineup unless you have to due to fatigue or injury.

GK     Frei

LB     Nouhou

LCH    Ragen

RCH    Gomez Andrade

RB     Alex

LDM   Atencio

RDM   Vargas

LF     Morris

CAM   Rusnak

RF     Cristian

CF     Ruidiaz

The Side I Think The Gaffer Will Select

I think that it’s very likely the Manager and I agree on the selection for Saturday night. I would be shocked if he changed a winning lineup. With Leo Chu fit from injury, you’d expect the usual and that he’ll come on as a substitute. At least for this match.

GK     Frei

LB     Nouhou

LCH    Ragen

RCH    Gomez Andrade

RB     Alex

LDM   Atencio

RDM   Vargas

LF     Morris

CAM   Rusnak

RF     Cristian

CF     Ruidiaz

Intangibles

Alexis Da Silva will be the referee for Saturday night’s match at Dallas. This will be the first time Da Silva has officiated a match involving Seattle or Dallas. Da Silva has only been referee for three MLS league matches though he has slightly more experience officiating USL matches. With a relatively inexperienced ref on the pitch, anything could happen, and probably not in a good way.

General notes on personnel

Dallas transfers IN:

Sali (Farul) €2.78M

Urzua - reserves

Pondeca - reserves

Henry-Scott - draft

Farrington - draft

Gonzalez (New England Revolution) free

Maurer - re-signed

Korca - re-signed

Delgado (Independiente del Valle) loan

Musa (Benfica) €9M

Sainte - reserves

Dallas transfers OUT:
Martinez (Cordoba) free

Quignon (Belgrano) free

Smith (New England Revolution Reserves) free

Obrian (Austin FC) undisclosed fee

Jimenez (OFI Crete FC) free

Carrera (North Carolina FC) loan

Mulato (San Antonio FC) loan

Comparison against common opponents

DAL 2:1 SJ

SJ 3:2 SEA

(against SJ: DAL 1-0-0 +1, SEA 0-0-1 -1) edge DAL

DAL 1:2 MTL

SEA 5:0 MTL

(against MTL: DAL 0-0-1 -1, SEA 1-0-0 +5) edge SEA

ATX 2:1 DAL

SEA 0:0 ATX

(against ATX: DAL 0-0-1 -1, SEA 0-1-0 0) edge SEA

Know Thine Enemy

The Dallas as they lined up in their 0:0 draw against St. Louis at Citypark on 6 April.

GOALKEEPER

Maarten Paes, 25

Netherlands

Notable Clubs: FC Utrecht (44/0), FC Dallas (68/0)

Estimated Transfer Value: €1.2M

Notes: Developed by VV Union and NEC Nijmegen.

DEFENCE

Sam Junqua, 27

United States

Notable Clubs: Houston Dynamo (46/1), FC Dallas (28/2)

Estimated Transfer Value: €500,000

Notes: Developed by De Anza Force. Played his university football for California (68/0).

Omar Gonzalez, 35

United States (52/3)

Notable Clubs: Los Angeles Galaxy (180/12), Pachuca (59/1), Atlas (28/2), Toronto FC (64/4), New England Revolution (32/1), FC Dallas (2/0)

Estimated Transfer Value: €125,000

Notes: Developed by Dallas Texans and IMG Academy. Played his university football at Maryland (69/7). Won two MLS league titles and three MLS Cups with Los Angeles Galaxy. Won a Liga MX title and a CONCACAF Champions League with Pachuca. Won two CONCACAF Gold Cups with United States. Named MLS Rookie of the Year 2009. Named MLS Defender of the Year 2011. Named four times to MLS Best XI. Named to CONCACAF Gold Cup Best XI 2017.

Sebastien Ibeagha, 32

United States

Notable Clubs: AC Horsens (17/0), Fram Reykjavik (19/1), San Antonio FC (30/0), New York City FC (64/0), Los Angeles FC (30/0), FC Dallas (35/1)

Estimated Transfer Value: €500,000

Notes: Developed by Houston Dynamo. Played his university football for Duke (70/8). Nigerian by birth, Ibeagha was named USL Defender of the Year and to the USL All-League First Team during his time at San Antonio FC. Won MLS Cup and league double with LAFC.

MIDFIELD

Dante Sealy, 20

United States

Notable Clubs: FC Dallas (27/2)

Estimated Transfer Value: €350,000

Notes: Developed by FC Dallas. Played for United States at youth levels (14/4).

Liam Fraser, 26

Canada (19/0)

Notable Clubs: Toronto FC (34/0), Columbus Crew SC (23/0), KMSK Deinze (36/0), FC Dallas (12/0)

Estimated Transfer Value: €700,000

Notes: Developed by Waterloo United, Peace Arch AC, Surrey Guildford, Vancouver Whitecaps FC, and Toronto FC. Won a Campeones Cup with Columbus Crew SC.

Patrickson Delgado, 20

Ecuador

Notable Clubs: Independiente Juniors (41/5), Independiente del Valle (6/0), FC Dallas (5/0)

Estimated Transfer Value: €250,000

Notes: Developed by Independiente del Valle. Has played for Ecuador U20s (9/0).

Paul Arriola, 29

United States (50/10)

Notable Clubs: Tijuana (80/4), DC United (89/20), Swansea City (2/0), FC Dallas (60/12)

Value: €4M

Notes: Produced by IMG Academy, Arsenal FC (California), and LA Galaxy. Won two CONCACAF Gold Cups with the United States.

FORWARD

Eugene Ansah, 29

Ghana (1/0)

Notable Clubs: Lokeren (36/4), Lommel SK (13/2), Ironi Kiryat Shmona (33/10), Hapoel Be’er Sheva (55/7), FC Dallas (14/2)

Estimated Transfer Value: €400,000

Notes: Developed by Lokeren. Won a Belgian Cup with Lokeren. Won a Israel State Cup and Israel Super Cup with Hapoel Be’er Shiva.

Petar Musa, 26

Croatia (6/0)

Notable Clubs: Slavia Prague (30/11), Viktoria Zizkov (34/11), Slovan Liberec (28/7), Union Berlin (14/1), Boavista (27/11), Benfica (44/12), FC Dallas (5/1)

Estimated Transfer Value: €8M

Notes: Developed by Hrvatski Dragovoljac and NK Zagreb. Won two Czech First League titles and a Czech Cup with Slavia Prague. Won a Premeira Liga title and a Supertaca Candido de Oliveira (Portuguese Super Cup) with Benfica. Shared a Czech First League Golden Boot with Libor Kozak seeing each player score 14 goals). Named Czech First League Forward of the Year 2019-20.

Sebastian Lletget, 31

United States (33/8)

Notable Clubs: LA Galaxy (158/23), New England Revolution (19/2), FC Dallas (35/2)

Estimated Transfer Value: €1.5M

Notes: Developed by Sporting Santa Clara and West Ham United. Played for West Ham once in the FA Cup, but never in the league. Won a CONCACAF Gold Cup with United States 2021. Won CONCACAF Nations League with United States 2019-20.

Familiar Faces

None.

Squads

Dallas from:

Paes, Maurer, Gonzalez, Ibeagha, Junqua, Korca, Norris, Tafari, Twumasi, Arriola, Delgado, Fraser, Kamungo, Lletget, Ntsabeleng, Pondeca, Sainte, Ansah, Endeley, Farrington, Musa, Sali, Sealy.

Sounders FC from:

Frei, Thomas, Arreaga, Baker, Bell, Gomez Andrade, Hawkins, Nathan, Nouhou, Ragen, Alex, Atencio, Joao Paulo, Kitahara, Leyva, Rusnak, Vargas, Chu, Morris, Musovski, Cristian, Rothrock, Ruidiaz, Teves.

Injury List

Dallas -

OUT: Jesus (knee), Velasco (knee), Pomykal (knee), Illarramendi (adductor), Ferreira (hamstring), Farfan (head).

MATCHDAY DECISION: none.

Sounders FC -

OUT: Baker-Whiting (hamstring), de la Vega (hamstring), Rodrigues (hamstring).

MATCHDAY DECISION: none.

Discipline

(as listed on mlssoccer.com at press time)

No players from either squad suspended this match.

Fun Fact

Sounders FC Reserves defeated LAFC Reserves 2:0 on 7 April at Starfire. Scoring goals for the Sounders Reserves were Aquino and Tsukanome. Well done, lads!!! Sounders FC Reserves sit 4th place in the MLS Next Pro league table, three points adrift of LA Galaxy Reserves. The Sounders FC Reserves next match is on 14 April when they will face FC Dallas Reserves at Choctaw Stadium. Kick-off is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. PDT.