Two Round One games tonight
The New York Red Bulls host FC Cincinnati tonight at 7 pm ET. Then, FC Dallas take on Seattle at 9 pm. ET. Both games are on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV. Both home teams need a win to survive and force Game 3.
Chicharito, LA Galaxy part ways after four seasons
Superstar striker Chicharito’s LA Galaxy career is over. The club and player announced Friday they’ve parted ways. Chicharito, Mexico’s all-time leading scorer, was out of contract and won’t return to LA for the 2024 MLS season. He last competed in June after suffering a torn right ACL and finished his four-year Galaxy stay with 38 goals and six assists in 74 games (65 starts).
FC Cincinnati's Hagglund out for season with hamstring injury
FC Cincinnati defender Nick Hagglund will miss the rest of the Audi MLS Cup Playoffs with a hamstring injury. The 30-year-old defender signed a contract extension at the start of 2023 and made 27 appearances over 2,158 minutes this season. Pat Noonan turned to 2022 MLS SuperDraft pick Ian Murphy in Hagglund's Game 1 absence on Sunday.
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The New York Red Bulls and FC Dallas enter tonight’s Game 2s on the ropes against heavy favorites. What’s it going to take to pull off the upset and stay alive?
Catch a break and don’t break
Final tally from FC Cincinnati’s 3-0 win in Game 1: A 16-9 advantage in shots for New York and a 1.0-0.6 advantage for FC Cincinnati in expected goals. That isn’t quite what you envision in a three-goal blowout, is it?
Obviously, there are a few caveats there. Game state matters. Cincy went up two in the first half and didn’t need to do anything but dare New York to try and score the rest of the way. Still, it’s not like the Red Bulls were overrun. Álvaro Barreal started things off in the 23rd minute with an excellent finish on Cincy’s second shot of the game. Twelve minutes later, a Red Bulls’ disaster led to an open net for Lucho Acosta on Cincy’s third shot of the game, and that was that.
The risk/reward with Energy Drink Soccer has always been low chance volume, but high chance probability. When a team breaks through that press, they really break through. Barreal tore New York apart with a direct off-ball run on a 1-2. Once Acosta found the ball at his feet after an attempt to head the ball back to the keeper from…[checking]...the midfield line, they were doomed.
Limiting mistakes for any team is critical. It’s something a little more than that for the Red Bulls, though. If they can avoid catastrophe, they have a chance. The only question then is if they’ll be able to find the net. That’s not a question that normally gets an affirmative answer. But maybe things will be different at home.
Jesús turning water into wine
Alan Velasco is out. Not only for the series, but for the foreseeable future. Weeks after topping the 22 Under 22 presented by BODYARMOR list, Velasco tore his ACL in Game 1 in Seattle. That’s a brutal blow to an FC Dallas side that already had a mountain to climb against the Sounders.
Still, even after Velasco’s exit a couple of huge chances fell at Jesús Ferreira’s feet. Chances you’d expect one of the best strikers in the league to finish. Opportunities so good he ended the night with 1.03 xG worth of chances. He didn’t put them on frame.
Needless to say, that’s not what Dallas expect from their best player. And it’s no way to pull off an upset. You come at the king, you best not miss. And miss again. And you really, really shouldn’t miss a third time. Whether it’s down to bad luck or bad finishing, Dallas won’t survive if those opportunities come and go with no end product again.
Then again, are those opportunities going to come? They should have enough firepower between Ferreira and Paul Arriola (and maybe/hopefully Bernard Kamungo) to at least find a few chances. That’s not a given though, especially against this Seattle defense. They were the best in the conference this year and the Sounders will be well aware Dallas have to get the better of them twice. Seattle won’t be anxious.
Whatever comes Dallas’ way they have to make the most of it. That likely comes down to Ferreira regressing to the mean after what happened in Seattle.
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Good luck out there. Make the art you want to make.
