CARSON - FC Dallas gets set to face the LA Galaxy for the second time in less than three weeks tonight in the final regular season meeting of the year between the Western Conference rivals.
Squad Rotation
Facing the second of three games in a nine-day stretch, Oscar Pareja has opted to rotate his lineup around from recent matches. Four of the club’s top five scorers will start tonight’s match on the bench, with playmaker Mauro Diaz taking up a position on the left wing rather than his traditional No. 10 role. Tonight’s lineup boasts six new starters from the May 12 meeting that Dallas took, 3-2, at home.
For the second straight match, the visitors will line up in a 4-3-3 look, this time with Diaz, Cristian Colman and Carlos Gruezo in place of Santiago Mosquera, Maxi Urruti and Jacori Hayes, respectively.
Back-Line Shuffle
With Anton Nedyalkov injured before Friday’s match in Toronto and Matt Hedges suspended on yellow card accumulation, FCD will start its third different back line in as many matches. Ryan Hollingshead draws his first start of the season and Maynor Figueroa moves into the middle after playing 90 minutes at left back five days ago. Reto Ziegler has shifted from his spot on the left side of the center tandem to the right as well. Jesse Gonzalez gets the nod in goal after a season-high nine-save performance north of the border in his first MLS start of the year.
Deep Bench
Dallas boasts a lot of firepower on the sidelines tonight, as leading scorers Urruti and Roland Lamah sit, as does the hot hand of Mosquera and early-season mainstay in the midfield Hayes. Defensively, Homegrown Jordan Cano will make the first 18-man of his young pro career with FCD’s regular back line taking some personnel hits in recent weeks.
