FRISCO - FC Dallas faces their second of three straight Eastern Conference foes as the New York Red Bulls visit Frisco for the first time since 2015 on Saturday night. Dallas (9-7-9) continues to look to climb out of a six-game winless stretch having draw 3-3 at home and losing 2-1 on the road last week. New York (12-10-3) has cooled off with a loss and a draw in the last two weeks after winning five of their previous six games.
International Window
Eight combined players will miss Saturday’s affair due to international duty. FC Dallas will be without Kellyn Acosta (USA), Tesho Akindele (Canada), Maynor Figueroa (Honduras), Carlos Gruezo (Ecuador) and Matt Hedges (USA) - all starters in last week’s match in Columbus. The Red Bulls will miss Kemar Lawrence (Jamaica), Michael Amir Murillo (Panama) and Fidel Escobar (Panama), all starters across the back line for the visitors in recent weeks.
Key Match-Ups
Walker Zimmerman vs. Bradley Wright-Phillips - With four defensive-minded players unavailable this week, Zimmerman will anchor a back line looking to correct form after allowing 14 goals in their last six matches. That’s the same total two-time Golden Boot winner BWP has in 2017, including five goals in his last five games.
Maxi Urruti vs. Aaron Long - The lone available player from New York’s three-man back line a week ago, Long will look to hold off a Dallas attack that has struggled to create chances inside the 18 over the last few weeks. Of their four goals last week, just one came from the run of play inside the penalty area.
Last Time Out
(3-4-3): Luis Robles; Kemar Lawrence (out vs. FCD), Aaron Long, Fidel Escobar (out vs. FCD); Felipe, Tyler Adams, Michael Murillo, Sacha Kljestan; Alex Muyl, Bradley Wright-Phillips, Sean Davis.
Keys to Three Points
Different phases of FCD’s game have worked at different times during their current lull, but they’ll have to piece it all together on Saturday night against the Red Bulls - and do so without some of their familiar faces. If the defensive face can maintain the scoring-distributing threat of BWP and Sacha Kljestan (who had a goal and an assist in last year’s meeting), while creating more dangerous looks at goal - and finishing some of said looks - Dallas can find themselves back in the win column at home.
