FC Dallas vs. LA Galaxy | 2018 MLS Match Preview

Dylan Butler

FC Dallas vs. LA Galaxy
2018 MLS Regular Season – Week 11
Toyota Stadium — Frisco
May 12 - 3:30 pm ET
WATCH: Univision, Twitter, MLS LIVE on DAZN (Canada)

Looking for MLS LIVE? It's now on ESPN+. Sign up for a free trial!

FC Dallas is looking to pick up where they left off last year when they won both meetings against an LA Galaxy side that heads to Frisco looking to snap a three-match losing streak.

FC Dallas bounced back from their first loss of the season to tie LAFC in a brief two-game road trip, while the LA Galaxy conceded early and late in a 3-2 loss to the Houston Dynamo.

FC Dallas

Oscar Pareja made two changes to his starting XI from the squad that fell 3-1 to NYCFC the previous week for their first loss of the 2018 season, bringing in Carlos Gruezo for Jacori Hayes in the midfield and starting Michael Barrios on the wing, while pushing up Santiago Mosquera to play alongside Maxi Urruti up top in his 4-4-2 formation.

After Steven Beitashour put LAFC in front in the ninth minute, Urruti leveled for FC Dallas (3-1-4) in the 55th minute with his third goal of the season, assisted by Mosquera. Kellyn Acosta also made his 2018 debut in 29 minutes off the bench after missing the first seven matches after sports hernia surgery.

“Kellyn came out well,” Pareja said after the match. “We’re were still tentative today to put him in the lineup. But when he came in, his range, the maneuver with the ball, the presence helped us a lot. Happy to see Kellyn again with us. I think he was one of the positives today.”

Suspended: None
Suspended after next caution: None
International duty: None
Injury Report: OUT: M - Kris Reaves (sports hernia surgery)

Projected Starting XI
(4-4-2, right to left)
GK: Jimmy Maurer — Reggie Cannon, Matt Hedges, Reto Ziegler, Anton Nedyalkov —Michael Barrios, Jacori Hayes, Carlos Gruezo, Roland Lamah — Santiago Mosquera, Maxi Urruti

Notes: Michael Barrios has scored three goals in six regular season appearances against the Galaxy, tied for his most against any MLS club. … FC Dallas started the season going 3W-0L-3D and conceded just four goals. Over their last two games, they have gone 0W-1L-1D and conceded three goals.

LA Galaxy

Sigi Schmid went with an unchanged lineup from the side that fell 3-2 to the New York Red Bulls at StubHub Center the previous week, but for the third consecutive game, the LA Galaxy (3-5-1) conceded inside the opening 30 minutes — in fact they surrendered goals in the opening two minutes of each half.

They climbed out of the hole to equalize on an 85th minute goal by Ola Kamara, but Memo Rodriguez netted the 90th-minute winner for Houston to extend the Galaxy losing streak to three straight.

“It is very irritating because after five minutes we conceded already a goal like that and we are chasing goals, which is not normal,” Zlatan Ibrahimovic said. “We cannot concede like that. It shouldn’t be normal. It’s not good; it is not good. We can either wake up or continue like this, but if we continue like this, we don’t want the same objective – we don’t want to win.”

Suspended: None
Suspended after next caution: D - Ashley Cole
International duty: None
Injury Report: OUT: F - Bradford Jamieson IV (concussion), D - Rolf Feltscher (shoulder surgery)

Projected Starting XI
(4-2-3-1, right to left)
GK: David Bingham — Dave Romney, Michael Ciani, Jorgen Skjelvik, Ashley Cole — Perry Kitchen, Sebastian Lletget — Romain Alessandrini, Giovani dos Santos, Ola Kamara — Zlatan Ibrahimovic

Notes: Last Saturday marked the first time since May 14, 2017, that Giovani dos Santos tallied a goal and an assist in the same match. He had totaled four goals and two assists in the 20 matches between the two games. … The Galaxy have scored just five goals over their last five games (1W-4L) after netting four goals against LAFC.

All-Time Series

Overall: FC Dallas 25 wins, 97 goals … LA Galaxy 33 wins, 120 goals … 12 ties
At Dallas: FC Dallas 19 wins, 62 goals … LA Galaxy 9 wins, 50 goals … 7 ties
Last meeting at Dallas: FC Dallas 5, LA Galaxy 1 (Oct. 22, 2017)