Dallas will try to win consecutive matches for the first time this year when they travel to Children's Mercy Park on Saturday afternoon to take on Sporting Kansas City.
Dallas dominated the Los Angeles Galaxy last week, winning 4-0, while KC handed the Seattle Sounders just their second loss of the year, 3-1.
Match preview
© Reuters
Kansas City sent a powerful message to all MLS teams last Sunday that they are a team to be feared, as they were clinical in front of goal against the top side in the conference, scoring with three of their four shots on target.
The job now for Peter Vermes and his team will be to focus on this upcoming match while not resting on their laurels after such an impressive win.
With 30 points through their opening 15 games, it is their second-highest tally ever at this stage of a campaign, as they are currently on pace for a 68-point season, which would eclipse their regular season record of 63, set back in 2012.
They have made the most of home-field advantage this season, going undefeated at Children's Mercy Park so far in 2021 and registering 11 games without a defeat at home, a run that dates back to October of last year, which is currently the third-longest streak in club history.
While it has been a long time since they have lost at home, the Wizards have not always made it easy on themselves and their fans, winning two home games in the final five minutes this year and salvaging two draws at home in the last 20 minutes of a match.
With a busy schedule coming up in August, including a three-game road trip, they will want to keep pace with Seattle atop the table, currently only two points behind them for the Western Conference lead.
© Reuters
Last Saturday, Dallas looked as good as they have all year in their biggest victory of 2021, 4-0 over the LA Galaxy, as they moved up to 10th in the conference.
This is not the first time that they have played well against a top-notch MLS squad as they beat the current Supporters' Shield leaders, the New England Revolution, back in late June, but last week may have been their best performance of the year from start to finish.
Maintaining that high level of play will be the focus this week for Luchi Gonzalez and his side, who have not won consecutive games all season, which is a big reason why they are six points out of a playoff position.
Climbing up the table will not be easy as four of their next five regular-season games are against the top two teams in the west right now, as they face Seattle and KC each twice in that span, so they cannot afford to have a letdown.
Playing outside of Toyota Stadium has been challenging for the Toros, who have lost all seven of their road fixtures this year, more than any team in the league, with the Chicago Fire being the only other team who have not collected a point this year away from home.
Dallas have, however, been one of the few teams who have had success in Kansas City recently, holding a 3-0-1 record on their home field in their last four visits there.
- L
- W
- W
- W
- D
- W
- W
- D
- L
- L
- L
- W
Team News
© Reuters
Due to health and safety protocols, the Wizards will be without Tyler Freeman and Grayson Barber, while Felipe Hernandez is not with the team for personal reasons.
Gianluca Busio is with the USA at the Gold Cup, while their second-leading scorer Alan Pulido has been used exclusively as a substitute for Mexico to this point of that competition.
KC veteran defender Graham Zusi has three goals and seven assists in 18 appearances versus the Toros, defender Andreu Fontas leads the league in passes (1,181) and passes completed (1,060) and the Wizards are 9-1-2 this season when Roger Espinoza is in the starting 11.
Last weekend, Dallas forward Ricardo Pepi became the youngest player (18 years, 196 days) to score a hat trick for the Toros, and he was rewarded with a new five-year contract which he signed with the club on Tuesday.
Andres Ricaurte is out with a yellow card suspension, Kyle Zobeck has a quad injury, Beni Redzic has an ankle sprain, Matt Hedges is nursing a hip injury, Jose Martinez has a thigh problem and Bryan Acosta could be available after Honduras were eliminated in the quarter-finals of the Gold Cup.
Szabolcs Schon made his first career start for the team last weekend, and Jader Obrian scored his third goal of the season.
Sporting Kansas City possible starting lineup:
Melia; Martins, Fontas, Lindsey, Zusi; Kinda, llie, Espinoza; Salloi, Shelton, Russell
Dallas possible starting lineup:
Maurer; Che, Burgess, Bressan, Hollingshead; Ricaurte, Obrian, Pomykal, Vargas; Ferreira, Pepi
We say: Sporting Kansas City 2-0 Dallas
Incredibly, KC seem to have flown under the radar this year, perhaps due to the way Seattle started the season, but after last week KC showed that they are a team to watch out for, and now they will have the motivation of knowing that a win on Saturday could move them into first place in the Western Conference.
Dallas have struggled with consistency all year, and they have not figured out how to handle playing on the road, going scoreless in five of their seven defeats away from home this season while being outscored 15-2.
Top tip
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Sporting Kansas City win with a probability of 64.98%. A draw had a probability of 19.4% and a win for Dallas had a probability of 15.59%.
The most likely scoreline for a Sporting Kansas City win was 2-0 with a probability of 10.21%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (9.88%) and 1-0 (9.38%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (9.07%), while for a Dallas win it was 1-2 (4.38%). The actual scoreline of 1-2 was predicted with a 4.4% likelihood.
