FRISCO - Your weekends are now set through the end of October.
The 2018 MLS schedule was released on Thursday afternoon with 33 additional games on top of the Home Opener details that were released in mid-December. Let’s dive into FC Dallas’ campaign.
Home Sweet Home
With two weekends off in the opening six weekends of the season to accommodate for CONCACAF Champions League play, FCD opens their MLS account with four straight games at Toyota Stadium against Real Salt Lake, Seattle, Portland and Colorado.
There is a possibility one of these could still move should Dallas advance deep in the international tournament, but as it stands now, Frisco will be rockin’ early and often in 2018.
Derby Days
During the heat of the summer, the Battle for El Capitan will be decided in a six-week span from July 21 to Sept. 1. Dallas will face in-state foe Houston Dynamo three times - the only opponent seen thrice in 2018 - with the first two meetings along the Gulf and the potentially cannon-deciding bout at Toyota Stadium to kick off September. The final two meetings are just nine days apart.
California Dreamin’
Similar to a heavy dose of the Dynamo later in the season, Dallas will be nearly all-Cali in May. Beginning with an inaugural meeting with newcomers LAFC on the road on May 5, FCD will play the entirety of their home-and-home series with both LA teams in five weeks. The LA Galaxy visit Frisco the very next week on May 12 before FCD visits Carson on May 30 and LAFC makes their first trip to Toyota Stadium three days later on June 2.
Even Steven
Aside from the four-game stretch to open the season, Dallas equally rotates home and road matches without any prolonged stretches of either. FCD will play two home matches in every month after March with 2-3 road games in each month as well.
There are also just three mid-week matches across the entire schedule, one of which is on July 4th as Atlanta United comes to town. A Thursday match in Houston and a Wednesday match in San Jose in back-to-back weeks in late August are the only other outliers. 31 of the 34 matches fall on either Friday, Saturday or Sunday.
World Cup Break
There will be plenty of free time to watch the 2018 FIFA World Cup Group Stage almost in its entirety as the schedule ceases for the tournament’s opening weekend in mid-June. After a home match against Montreal on June 9, Dallas will not play again until a meeting with the New York Red Bulls on June 23.