The Seattle Sounders will look to build on what they hope will be a momentum-changing victory when they square off against struggling FC Dallas on Saturday in a Western Conference match in Frisco, Texas.
The Sounders (1-3-2, 5 points) head to Texas after a crucial 5-0 home win over CF Montreal that snapped their five-game winless streak to begin the season. Raul Ruidiaz scored two goals and had an assist in the win, with his performance earning him MLS Player of the Matchday for Week 6.
Jordan Morris, Alex Roldan and Dylan Teves also found the net for Seattle.
“We knew where we were and, obviously, it wasn’t acceptable,” Morris said. “We know we’re better than what we’ve been showing. So to have a performance like the win over Montreal, it gives everyone a ton of confidence to keep pushing, keep moving forward. A lot of games left to be played — we take it one game at a time.”
Dallas (1-4-1, 4 points) plays at home for the first time since March 16 and after earning a point on the road in a scoreless draw against St. Louis City on April 6.
The Toros are mired in a five-game winless streak after a season-opening victory against San Jose and have been shackled with injuries to key players, including Jesus Ferreira, Asier Illarramendi, Marco Farfan, Paxton Pomykal, Geovane Jesus and Alan Velasco.
Dallas is hopeful that Illarramendi and Farfan could see the field on Saturday as they work to return to fitness. Coach Nico Estevez said Thursday that he hopes those reinforcements and the home crowd can help turnaround his side’s season.
“We had a really tough result coming at St. Louis,” Estevez said. “We did a lot of things good, but there is other things that we need to improve. We couldn’t find those moments to build pressure and get chances.
“We know how much our fanbase has grown over the last couple of years that we’ve been here, how much they support the team and how we feel every time we play. We want to perform a great game and give them a good win.”
Seattle leads the all-time series 20-11, with 12 draws. The teams drew both matches in the regular season last year before the Sounders beat Dallas 2-1 in the first-round playoff series.
–Field Level Media