Seattle Sounders FC and FC Dallas meet for a second time this season in a contest that could have a huge impact on the Western Conference playoff scene as the clubs clash Saturday evening at CenturyLink Field. Sounders FC put an end to a short losing slide last time out, claiming a 2-1 home win against Chivas USA on Sunday evening. They sit four
points behind FC Dallas, who saw their winless streak extended to eight matches in their last contest, a scoreless draw at the Montréal Impact.
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REFEREE: Edvin Jurisevic. AR1 (bench): Anthony Vasoli; AR2 (opposite): Eric Boria; 4th: Juan Guzman
MLS Career: 61 games; FC/gm: 22.7; Y/gm: 3.6; R: 6; pens: 8
DISABLED LIST: SEA: Josh Ford, Steve Zakuani … DAL: Peter Luccin; Ugo Ihemelu (season-ending injury)
SUSPENDED: none
WARNINGS:
SUSPENDED NEXT YELLOW CARD: SEA: Jhon Kennedy Hurtado … DAL: Je-Vaughn Watson
SUSPENDED AFTER TWO YELLOW CARDS: SEA: Eddie Johnson, Zach Scott, Djimi Traore
INTERNATIONAL ABSENCES: none
WATCH: MICHEL'S OLIMPICO IN SEATTLE
HEAD-TO-HEAD
ALL-TIME (10 meetings): Sounders FC 5 wins, 17 goals … FC Dallas 1 win, 10 goals … Ties 4
AT SEATTLE (5 meetings): Sounders FC 3 wins, 10 goals … FC Dallas 1 win, 6 goals … Ties 1
FUTURE MATCH: 10/19: FC Dallas vs. Seattle Sounders FC, 2 p.m. CT (NBCSN)
- The teams are meeting for the second time this season. Eddie Johnson scored a pair of goals to send Sounders FC on their way to a 4-2 victory May 18 at CenturyLink Field.
- FC Dallas have won just once in 10 meetings in the all-time series, a 1-0 victory in Seattle on May 25, 2011. Sounders FC have won four of the five league meetings since, with one draw.
- Sounders FC have never lost at FC Dallas Stadium, victorious on trips to Frisco each of the last two seasons.
- Coaches record: Sigi Schmid vs. DAL: P35 W16 L8 D11 … Schellas Hyndman vs. SEA: P10 W1 L5 D4
LAST MEETING (MLS):
5/18: SEA 4, DAL 2 (Johnson 16, 62; Neagle 31; Martins 83 – Cooper 54; Michel 61)
- Sounders FC opened the scoring in the 16th minute. Midfielder Osvaldo Alonso won a header at midfield that sailed back over the Dallas defense and sent it forward where Eddie Johnson outmuscled a defender before hitting a half-volley past FCD 'keeper Raul Fernandez.
- It was 2-0 in the 30th minute. This time Brad Evans played set-up man with a through ball to Lamar Neagle, who timed his run perfectly. He ran in free on goal, rounded Fernandez and slid the ball into an empty net.
- Behind some brilliant set-piece work from Michel, FC Dallas pulled level. In the 54th minute, he served a perfectly placed freekick from the right side that an unmarked Kenny Cooper easily headed home from the heart of the area.
- Seven minutes later, Michel pulled off one of the rarest feats in the game, an "olimpico," whipping a corner kick up and over the outstretched arms of Gspurning and into the far side netting.
- But less than a minute later, Sounders FC re-took the lead. Neagle cut across the top of the Dallas area and slid a clever pass through to Johnson, and he calmly dribbled around Fernandez and struck home for his second goal of the night.
- FC Dallas went a man down when Blas Perez was shown a red card by referee Mark Geiger for a stray elbow in the 72nd minute that opened a gash in defender Leo Gonzalez's face.
- Obafemi Martins then put the game away with a goal in the 83rd minute, tucking home from close range after Fernandez had saved a point-blank header from Johnson.
- SEATTLE SOUNDERS FC (4-4-2): Michael Gspurning - DeAndre Yedlin, Djimi Traore, Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, Leo Gonzalez (Zach Scott 78) - Brad Evans, Servando Carrasco, Osvaldo Alonso (Shalrie Joseph 31), Mario Martinez (Obafemi Martins 63) - Lamar Neagle, Eddie Johnson.
- FC DALLAS (4-2-3-1): Raul Fernandez - Zach Loyd, London Woodberry (Walker Zimmerman 85), Matt Hedges, Jair Benitez - Michel, Je-Vaughn Watson - Jackson, Blas Perez (sent off 73), Kenny Cooper (Fabian Castillo 64) - Eric Hassli
FC DALLAS
FC Dallas saw their winless run extended to eight matches in their last league game, reaching a scoreless draw with the Montréal Impact on July 17 at Stade Saputo. FCD are in a tie for fifth place in the Western Conference with 32 points from 21 matches.
LAST MATCH
- FC Dallas goalkeeper Raul Fernandez made four saves for the match, as both teams saw winless runs extended. Impact goalkeeper Troy Perkins made two saves -- including a key stop late on FCD striker Eric Hassli -- as FC Dallas were held without a goal for a fourth consecutive match.
- FC Dallas head coach Schellas Hyndman made three changes to the team that went down to a 3-0 loss to Real Salt Lake in Frisco. George John came into central defense for Stephen Keel, and David Ferreira and Eric Hassli started in place of Jackson and Fabian Castillo.
- FC DALLAS (4-2-3-1): Raul Fernandez - Zach Loyd, George John, Matt Hedges, Jair Benitez – Andrew Jacobson, Michel (Ramon Nunez 46) - Je-Vaughn Watson (Bradlee Baladez 63), David Ferreira, Kenny Cooper - Eric Hassli (Stephen Keel 90).
TEAM NEWS
- FC Dallas have not gone four consecutive matches without scoring a goal. The 360-minute goalless drought is the third-longest in club history. The Dallas record is 401 minutes without a goal, which occurred the other time they went four complete games without netting a goal, Sept. 10-Oct. 12, 2011.
- “With so many players off today and so many that we left at home, the positive thing is that we’re leaving here with a point. And right now we needed something positive,” said FCD head coach Schellas Hyndman.
- It was the fifth draw over the eight-game winless run for FCD, their second scoreless result in that time.
- “It was a gutsy performance, we had a lot of people that we left at home and we haven’t found ways to score goals and the field was very wide for us,” said Hyndman. “… The general thought for us was; great courage on our part, fought hard on the road and came away with a point.”
- Center back George John returned to the FC Dallas lineup for the first time since June 22, after missing four matches to injury.
- “Obviously coming here we wanted three points,” said John. “We just had a seven-game win streak, so we were coming into this game willing to win but we can take away a little pride knowing that we didn’t lose and got a point on the road.”
- On their weekend off, FC Dallas took on Stoke City FC of the English Premier League – and the goal drought continued, losing 1-0 in the friendly in Frisco.
- Here’s the FCD team: Raul Fernandez (Chris Seitz 46), Michel (Mauro Diaz 31, Jonathan Top 59), Jackson (Zach Loyd 46), Stephen Keel, George John (London Woodberry 63), Kellyn Acosta, Jair Benitez (Danny Garcia 67), Je-Vaughn Watson (Victor Ulloa 70), David Ferreira (Ramon Nunez 46), Fabian Castillo (Bradlee Baladez 65), Kenny Cooper (Eric Hassli 46).
- Mauro Diaz played a half-hour for FCD, but Hyndman indicated the club’s new signing from Argentina might still be some time away from featuring in an MLS contest.
- “The last thing we want to do is get Mauro injured,” Hyndman said. “He’s going to immediately be a marked man because he’s a good player on the ball. I don’t think we want to put ourselves in a situation where we may start him and have him go out there with an intense group of players. He may be a player we bring on as the game starts to slow down a little bit and hopefully he can bring us a little bit of a spark.”
SEATTLE SOUNDERS FC
Seattle Sounders FC put an end to their winless streak after three matches, coming back for a 2-1 victory against Chivas USA on Sunday evening at CenturyLink Field. Sounders FC are in seventh place in the Western Conference with 28 points from 19 matches.
LAST MATCH
- Chivas USA took the lead after just 16 minutes when Carlos Alvarez wound his way through the Sounders FC defense and left the ball for Erick Torres, who coolly finished inside the far post.
- But the home side were level seven minutes later. Obafemi Martins controlled the ball and slipped in Brad Evans, who made a nice run from a deep position before taking one touch and beating Chivas goalkeeper Dan Kennedy to the near post.
- The game-winner came in the 57th minute. Mauro Rosales picked up a loose ball at midfield and put it ahead to Obafemi Martins, who then tapped it back through the penalty area for Lamar Neagle to slip past Kennedy from the spot.
- Sounders FC head coach Sigi Schmid made three changes to the team that came back for a 1-1 draw with the Colorado Rapids at CenturyLink Field. Djimi Traore and Patrick Ianni came into the back four for Zach Scott and Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, and Brad Evans started in midfield in place of Servando Carrasco.
- SEATTLE SOUNDERS FC (4-4-2): Andrew Weber - DeAndre Yedlin, Djimi Traore, Patrick Ianni, Leo Gonzalez - Mauro Rosales (David Estrada 78), Brad Evans, Osvaldo Alonso, Marc Burch (Servando Carrasco 84) - Lamar Neagle, Obafemi Martins (Zach Scott 90)
TEAM NEWS
- While Sounders FC won for the first time in four games, they extended their home undefeated streak to eight matches in league play, since losing the opening home contest of the season.
- “I'm happy with the character we showed going down 1-0 and coming back to win the game. I thought we created more chances again, so it was good. I thought our possession was a little better as well,” said Sounders FC head coach Sigi Schmid. “I thought we knocked the ball around fairly well. … It would have been nice to get the third one. I'm pleased with our performance. I thought it was an upgrade over how we played last week and we have got to continue to concentrate on just playing good soccer.”
- Brad Evans returned to the starting lineup after coming off the substitutes’ bench for the previous match, after being forced off very early the week before. Evans scored his second league goal of the season, his first since March 30.
- “Obviously we had to push [Evans] wide thinking that Shalrie [Joseph] was going to get more minutes there. With his injury taking as long as it is, we need Brad in the middle because Brad and Ozzie's [Osvaldo Alonso] combination, they have got a lot of games together so there's an understanding that's there. It's also there strengths play off of each other a little bit better,” Schmid said.
- Mauro Rosales started a second consecutive match after two matches where he came off the substitutes’ bench, and he contributed his fourth assist of the season, his first since May 11.
- “Obviously he always wants to be involved in goals and assists and it's good for him to get an assist today and get off that mark,” said Schmid. “But I thought he got us into some good positions. He laid some good balls off. He made some final passes for us today, and that was important.”
- Obafemi Martins had the first two-assist game of his MLS career. He has been involved in six of Sounders FC’s last 10 league goals, with three goals and three assists in that span.
- Lamar Neagle started for a third consecutive match in the strike partnership, scoring his first goal since June 8, fifth of the season, matching his single-season career-high set in 2011.
- “We were expecting to see the Lamar Neagle who left here. I think his year in Montreal for him ended up being a little bit of a lost year. He wasn't comfortable, he played a little bit on the wing and so forth,” Schmid said. “His first game here, he seemed off with his touch and everything else. Slowly and gradually his confidence has grown. We always felt that Lamar was the type of player, whether we play him on the wing or up front, that he can be dangerous and he can score.”
- Patrick Ianni made his season league debut, playing the full match in central defense. “I played a few reserve games to prepare me. I got my feet underneath me and my foot's feeling good. I thought all the guys fought really hard tonight and we're happy with the victory,” he said.
