New York Red Bulls vs. FC Dallas | 2018 MLS Match Preview

Dylan Butler

New York Red Bulls vs. FC Dallas
2018 MLS Regular Season - Week 17
Red Bull Arena — Harrison
June 23 - 6 pm ET
WATCH: UniMás, Twitter, MLS LIVE on DAZN (Canada)

Two of Major League Soccer’s top teams square off in Harrison, where the New York Red Bulls have completed five of their seven wins, and FC Dallas arrives having won four straight in a seven-match unbeaten streak.

The Red Bulls have won six of the last 10 league meetings against FC Dallas (1L-3D). They have kept clean sheets in half of those matches, per Opta.

New York Red Bulls

A year after reaching the U.S. Open Cup Final for the second time in club history in 2017, the Red Bulls (8-4-2) lost to the Philadelphia Union, 2-1, Saturday night at Talen Energy Stadium in the Round of 16.

After falling in a two-goal hole early in the second half, Bradley Wright-Phillips came off the bench to pull the Red Bulls to within a goal in the 77th minute. But they were unable to score the equalizer as New York ended a stretch of five games in 15 days with a defeat.

“Sometimes you say the break is mental. This break is physical,” Jesse Marsch said. “This team needs some time to recover and regenerate. The mental part is a piece of it too, but this team physically needs some rest.”

Suspended: None
Suspended after next caution: None
International duty: D - Fidel Escobar, D - Michael Murillo
Injury Report: OUT: D - Kyle Duncan (torn right ACL), M - Vincent Bezecourt (MCL sprain)

Projected Starting XI
(4-2-3-1, right to left)
GK: Luis Robles — Ethan Kutler, Aaron Long, Tim Parker, Kemar Lawrence — Tyler Adams, Sean Davis — Florian Valot, Kaku, Danny Royer — Bradley Wright-Phillips

Notes: The Red Bulls are allowing MLS opponents to complete just 70.6% of their passes at home in 2018, the second-lowest completion percentage in MLS. FC Dallas is completing just 72.6% of their passes on the road, the second-worst percentage in MLS. … Dating back to last season, New York has lost just one of their last 15 home games in the regular season (9W-5D). They have kept eight clean sheets over this time.

FC Dallas

FC Dallas (8-1-5) might be moving up the Supporters' Shield standings — currently four points behind leaders Atlanta United — but their run in the Open Cup came to an end following a 3-2 loss to defending champions Sporting Kansas City Saturday night.

Carlos Gruezo gave Dallas an early lead, but Daniel Salloi responded with a brace to put Sporting in front in the 66th minute. Roland Lamah leveled 11 minutes later, but Yohan Croizet scored the dramatic 89th-minute winner for SKC.

“Obviously disappointed with the end after such a good game we played and scored two goals in a difficult place,” Oscar Pareja said after the game. “We tied the game in a moment when we were putting a lot of things together and finishing strong.”

Suspended: None
Suspended after next caution: None
International duty: None
Injury Report: OUT: D - Kris Reaves (sports hernia surgery), D - Anton Nedyalkov (broken collarbone), F - Cristian Colman (high-ankle sprain), F - Santiago Mosquera (hamstring strain)

Projected Starting XI
(4-4-2, right to left)
GK: Jesse Gonzalez — Reggie Cannon, Matt Hedges, Reto Ziegler, Maynor Figueroa — Kellyn Acosta, Victor Ulloa, Carlos Gruezo, Roland Lamah — Michael Barrios, Maxi Urruti

Notes: FC Dallas’ Mauro Diaz (0.89) and New York’s Kaku (0.88) lead MLS in assists per 90 minutes this season (min. 800 minutes played). No MLS player has finished a season since 2010 averaging more than 0.73 assists per 90 (RBNY’s Péguy Luyindula in 2013, 0.73). … FC Dallas have won back-to-back road games. They have not won three consecutive games on the road since May 22–June 4, 2005.

All-Time Series

Overall: New York Red Bulls 21 wins, 63 goals … FC Dallas 17 wins, 63 goals … 6 draws
At New York: Red Bulls 12 wins, 34 goals … FC Dallas 8 wins, 30 goals … 2 draws
Last meeting at New York: New York Red Bulls 4, FC Dallas 0 (April 29, 2016)