After a week's break from matches, FC Cincinnati will again begin a grueling stretch of three games in eight days, the third of such a stretch stretched over three concurrent segments prior to the kickoff of the 2024 League Cup.
The trip to Dallas represents an opportunity to get back to winning ways after a frustrating defeat at the hands of New England a week ago. FC Cincinnati overcame several hurdles but fell just short of getting the result. Now, with a week's break to get refreshed, FCC can try to put that loss behind them and start the week in a positive way, knowing how challenging the rest of the week could be.
FCC will begin the week with a depleted group as the team looks to rebound from injury and suspension. Matt Miazga was announced as having undergone knee surgery this week, which placed him on the season-ending injury list, and Nick Hagglund's broken Fibula leaves the club depleted even further on the back line. Obinna Nwobodo will be unavailable due to suspension after receiving a red card last Saturday and trusted reserve Malik Pinto may be unavailable after an ankle strain sustained in an FC Cincinnati 2 match last Sunday. With the depth again tested, Pat Noonan is looking to keep the standards at their usual high level, with some new faces perhaps getting opportunities to step up in others' absences.
"We feel that's the next man up approach," Noonan said Thursday from his press conference. "Yeah, we're depleted in the midfield a little bit, and along the back line, but I think we've seen enough guys in different spots to feel comfortable moving things around a little bit to accommodate what we have and still be able to field a strong team."
With the trip to Texas bringing an unfamiliar opponent at this time of lineup uncertainty, the mashup of potential newness to the FC Cincinnati starting lineup mixed with FC Dallas operating with a new coach and some new philosophies makes Saturday night's matchup more interesting by the minute.
"They've changed things around a little bit," Noonan said of the last three games under an interim Head Coach. "Different personnel on the field in terms of how they play and they're confident in moving the ball from their goalkeeper up the field. (There are) little tweaks that you've seen in the last couple games that we need to be mindful of…you can evaluate other teams, but how does that make sense to our group and our structure and what we think it might look like? Their last three games have been strong, so that's what we focused on."
Obinna Nwobodo will be again available for selection after serving his Red Card suspension.
FC Cincinnati at FC Dallas – Saturday, June 29, 2024 – 8:30 p.m. ET – Toyota Stadium
Stream: MLS Season Pass on Apple TV
TV Talent (English, Apple): Mark Followill (PxP), Warren Barton (Analyst)
TV Talent (Spanish, Apple): Oscar Salazar (PXP), Luis Gerardo Bucci (Analysis)
Radio: ESPN 1530
Radio Talent: Kyle Youmans (PXP), Omar Cummings (Analyst)
All-time vs FC Dallas
Visits with FC Dallas are few and far between as this will be just the second matchup with FC Dallas in the clubs MLS history and the first since the inaugural 2019 season. In that matchup, FC Dallas came away with the 3-1 win with Emmanuell Ladesma being the lone scorer for FCC. FC Dallas has never had to come play at TQL Stadium or any Cincinnati home venue.
FC CINCINNATI NOTES
Tame the Wild Wild West – Saturday will mark the fourth of six regular season matches in 2024 against a Western Conference opponent. Under Head Coach Pat Noonan, FC Cincinnati are 10-3-4 against a West opponent in MLS Regular Season play, including 3-0-0 this season.
Road Warriors – FC Cincinnati have won five-straight matches away from home, which is cementing the club among the best runs of road form in MLS history. A win Saturday would make FCC just the fifth club, all time, to have won six or more consecutive road
games. And just the third club to win at least six-straight since 2000 and the end of the shootout era. The Orange and Blue are 7-1-1 on the road this season, the most wins and best road win percentage in MLS.
Stars at Night – Miles Robinson and the USMNT continues its run of form at the Copa America after results against Bolivia and Panama. On to the knockout stage now, the American will likely have to face either Colombia, Brazil or Costa Rica in the quarter-finals.
They Shine So Bright – FC Cincinnati third-year Head Coach Pat Noonan leads all coaches since the start of the 2022 MLS Regular Season - his first season as a head coach - in points earned. Noonan surpassed 50 wins across all competitions with Cincinnati with the club’s Hell is Real derby win in Columbus on May 11.
Deep in the Heart of Texas - FC Cincinnati heads to The Lone Star state looking for their first win in Texas. With a 0-2-1 record FCC has made one trip each prior to the three Texas clubs (Dallas, Austin and Houston) and only grabbed one point from the trips.
Scouting FC Dallas (5-9-5, 16 points, 11th in Western Conference, L-W-W-T-L)
FC Dallas struggled to open the season but has found some positive building moments in recent weeks as the club looks to continue to build and push for a playoff spot in the West. After not earning a win in seven consecutive matches from March 3 to April 27, FC Dallas has earned points in six of their last nine matches and have gone undefeated at home dating back to late April.
The club parted ways with Head Coach Nico Estévez on June 9 and promoted Assistant Coach Peter Luccin to coach on the team on an interim basis while the club searches for a new skipper. Since Luccin took over the club is 2-1-0.
Croatian star Striker Petar Musa has been the offensive dynamo that was promised when he signed with the club this offseason, scoring nine goals in 18 matches for the club and assisting another two. Musa, who signed with Dallas after two seasons with Benfica of the Portuguese top flight, recorded his first MLS hat-trick in a 5-3 win over Minnesota two weeks ago.
Jesus Ferreira has been a strong running mate with Musa since the American star returned from injury earlier this season. A homegrown star for Dallas who has made 23 appearances for the National team and scored 15 goals has four this season for the club in nine starts but has also tallied four assists.
The clubs third Designated player though, Argentine winger Alan Velasco, has yet to make an appearance for the club in 2024 as the youngster continues to make a recovery after suffering a torn ACL in the first game of the 2023 MLS Cup Playoffs.
Most often, FC Dallas will deploy a three-man back line much like the one FC Cincinnati uses, but have switched to a more traditional back four when the time calls for it. Up-and-comer Sam Junqua, Nigerian MLS veteran Sebastian Ibeagha and American defender Nkosi Tafari typically comprise the three and Paul Ariola or Marco Farfan have dropped back to play one of the fullbacks in the four man back line.
What has plagued FC Dallas most has been inconsistency defensively through the middle of the field and on the backline. “The Toro’s” record may be misleading to some of the performances as the club is second in expected points this season but has struggled in big moments through the middle and finishing chances off. Musa has been a revelation for the club in desperate need of scoring but even when he has performed the defensive core through the middle has faltered and scoring from outside the Croatian DP has not been there. With a respectable 27 goals scored this season, the defense has conceded 31, making for a lower third of the table -4 differential.
