Tsiki Ntsabeleng should get a shot at a rare start and Edwin Cerrillo seems a likely candidate to start in defensive midfield. Sebastian Lletget seems to clear candidate to start on the bench with a big match away to Austin looming on the weekend. Alan Velasco has not played since his injury a few weeks ago, but he didn’t get any time against St Louis to help work back from his injury, so it is unclear if the FCD staff will want to thrust him back into a starting role. Paul Arriola exited the St Louis game in the first half with an apparent groin injury, so he is almost surely out. Look for Fafa Picault, who seems to have a major grudge against Dallas ever since leaving after the 2020 season, to get a start and have a real drive and energy to his play.įor Dallas, some level of rotation seems clear. Hany Mukhtar also played the full 90, so don’t be shocked if the reigning MLS MVP (who scored a hat trick against Chicago), starts from the bench against FCD. They did play a relatively full strength lineup, minus Walker Zimmerman, who reportedly will not be available for the match against FCD. Crucially for Nashville, they played at home, so they didn’t have to do any kind of traveling.
On the flip side, Nashville are coming off a resounding 3-0 win over Chicago Fire FC that saw Ezra Hendrickson’s run as Fire coach end on the following Monday. This means the entire squad will be fresher than anticipated, with players who would have gone the full 90 only basically playing a half and the entire bench, which included Alan Velasco, getting the weekend off.
Additionally, Dallas are coming into the game not having played a full 90 minutes against St Louis over the weekend, with the game being abandoned after 50 minutes due to rain and lightning that did not let up in time to resume the game on Saturday night. FCD enters in a more unique situation in 2023 as their high finish in the MLS table in 2022 got them automatic entry into the round of 32, bypassing the round in which MLS teams are all matched up against lower league opposition. This was very true in 2022 for FC Dallas as a number of players made their only appearances or starts of the year in FCD’s two Open Cup games against FC Tulsa and Sporting KC. The Open Cup is typically a big opportunity for the lower end of an MLS roster to see some playing time. Let’s look at three things to watch if FCD wants to extend their journey past this week. The 19 US Open Cup champions being their 2023 Open Cup journey in Nashville.
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