SEATTLE - The preparation is over and now it’s time to play.
FC Dallas held their final training session of the week Saturday morning at CenturyLink Field ahead of Sunday’s meeting with Seattle Sounders FC in the Pacific Northwest.
“[It’s] good to get a good training in here, get used to the field and get used to the weather,” Ryan Hollingshead said. “We love playing in this stadium. Our record hasn't been that great in the last couple times we've played up here, but we're really confident and feel like we've got a good game plan going into this one and we'll be ready to go.”
“We're just excited and we're ready to go,” said forward Tesho Akindele. “The weather right now is perfect for playing soccer, the field looks great and I think everyone is excited. The pressure is on us, but this is why we play sports, to play for these moments.”
That pressure couldn’t be higher for FCD. Holding a single-point lead on the final playoff spot heading into the final two weeks of the 2017 MLS campaign, Dallas needs every point possible to secure their spot in the second season. After opening the Playoffs in each of the last two seasons at this very field, they know the season could come down to the 90 minutes on Sunday.
“This is playoff time. It starts right now. We have to win this game,” Hollingshead added. “I think you can tell in the way that we practiced today and the way that we're going to come out tomorrow that we're ready to go and ready to get three points.”
“We just need to remember what this is all about,” Akindele said. “Our goal from the beginning of the season was to win MLS Cup and we still have that within our reach, but we need to make the playoffs first. We need to remember that this game is going to go a huge way into getting us towards our goal in the playoffs and eventually MLS Cup.”
