Scouting the Enemy: FC Dallas vs. Sporting KC

Sporting Kansas City are returning home to play five of their next six matches in the comfort of Children’s Mercy Park. Up first is FC Dallas this Saturday night. To help us learn about the opposition, we spoke to Drew Epperly, the Managing Editor of Big D Soccer.

What’s your projected starting lineup (formation):

4-4-2 (diamond shaped): Paes; Moore, Ibeagha, Farfan, Ramiro; Show, Lletget, Delgado, Acosta; Musa, Julio

Are there any injuries we should know about?

FC Dallas manager Eric Quill updated us on Tuesday with where things currently stand. Leo Chu had been out for about two months and will be available for selection this weekend. Paxton Pomykal is going to be listed as questionable with a knee bruise. Lastly, and probably most importantly, Osaze Urhoghide will be out with an upper leg injury.

It should also be noted that both Kaick and Lalas Abubakar will be out this weekend as well while serving a suspension.

Discuss your team’s recent form.

Last month was pretty brutal for FC Dallas in terms of miles traveled (over 10k), matches in all competitions (eight games), and three weeks with multiple games played. They ended the month with a winless streak in league play, going 0-3-3 in six matches. The last two were a bit of a positive, however, with draws against both FC Cincinnati and the Philadelphia Union.

Who are the key players FC Dallas fans should be watching?

FC Dallas fans are still waiting to see the best out of Lucho Acosta this season. He only has three goals to his tally this season after an impressive 2024 campaign in Cincinnati. He needs to be the guy that steps up in this one and guides FC Dallas to another road win.

What is one thing your team does better than anyone else right now?

Even with Urhoghide out, FC Dallas is still one of the best clubs in MLS right now at dealing with crosses and aerial duels. Having multiple six foot or taller players goes a long way in being able to do that.

In addition to Drew answering our questions, I took the time to answer his.

What’s your projected starting lineup (formation):

4-3-3: Pulskamp; Shelton, Miller, Fernandez, Ndenbe; Bartlett, Bassong, Garcia; Suleymanov, Joveljic, Salloi

There are some questions around this lineup for sure. Jake Davis just returned from injury and only played 30 minutes last week, but he could supplant Zorhan Bassong. And right back has been a perpetual rotation between Khiry Shelton and Andrew Brody. Healthy will certainly play a role.

Are there any injuries we should know about?

Last weekend, Sporting KC were missing six players, the most they’ve had out since the beginning of the season. And even players, like the aforementioned Davis, are back but not fully available. The team’s likely third highest paid player Nemanja Radoja hasn’t played a game in a month with a quad injury, and that was only a 12-minute sub appearance. Erik Thommy popped up injured last week with a groin injury and his status is unknown. Dany Rosero returned from injury just to immediately go down again with an ankle injury. And Robert Voloder is definitely out after clavicle surgery.

Discuss your team’s recent form.

The team has been very up and down in recent weeks. They pulled off only their second road win two weeks ago in Houston before heading to Los Angeles and losing 3-1 to LAFC. Before that, it was a run of three straight draws. The preceding seven games were alternating wins and losses. The team that lost 2-1 in Dallas earlier this year has improved greatly after the firing of Peter Vermes and the instillation of Kerry Zavagnin as interim coach.

Who are the key players FC Dallas fans should be watching?

As is the case with most teams in MLS, you need to watch the Designated Players. The team only has two of them in Dejan Joveljic and Manu Garcia. Joveljic is a known quality in MLS and has scored 10 goals in 17 games after arriving as the first cash transfer in MLS from the LA Galaxy.

Feeding much of that success is Spanish #10, Garcia. His numbers don’t leap off the page (two goals, five assists), but he makes the offense hum. If he’s in form, everyone else has a chance of being elevated.

What is one thing your team does better than anyone else right now?

Right now, I’m not sure there is anything Sporting KC does better than anyone else. Instead, I’ll go to something they are second best at, behind only Inter Miami, which should count at first because of Messi.

Sporting KC are 2nd in the league in goals minus expected goals (G-xG) and the non-penalty version of that stat. They are +7.4 and +7.5 respectively. That does mean they are vastly outperforming the number of goals they should have scored. They do have the 2nd lowest xG in the league, so we’ll see if they regress to the mean.