St. Louis CITY SC at FC Dallas Saturday May 7, 2023, 7:30 p.m. Ct Toyota Stadium, Frisco TX Apple TV+ Season Pass This match marks the 1/3 mark of the season. The first ten matches are a tale of two seasons inside the first third. First 5 matches: WWWWW, 5-0-0, 15 points, 3.0 PPG. Second five matches LLWDL, 1-3-1, 4 points, 0.8 PPG Is this our first must-win match? Will we have Klauss? Will we get out of our funk and recapture the momentum? St. Louis CITY SC are 6-3-1, 19 Points, 1.90 PPG, 22 GF, 12 GA, Diff +10 Road Record: 3-1-1 Form: WWWWWLLWDL FC Dallas are 4-3-3, 15 Points, 1.50 PPG, 12 GF, 11 GA, Diff +1 Home Record 3-1-1 Form LWDWLDWWLD Neither team is a barn-burner with long ball or shot accuracy. Both teams are in the middle defensively, with one exception: CITY commits a lot more fouls. Big match, with a lot riding on it. Discuss.
Must-win? I'm not sure. The MLS site declared our Cincy match as a must-win, and in the sense that there was huge pressure to not go three winless (third at home) after the 5-0 start, I'd agree. I would certainly like a win against Dallas, yes, and this is a very winnable match. But it's also an away match, and I think I'd accept a draw *if* we aren't simply outplayed like the draw at Denver. I would love to beat Chicago next up, and I sure as hell don't want to hand SKC their first victory, so those are a bit higher priority for me right now. I just want to see the team playing well ahead of those matches without burning through their energy beforehand.
PRO's Assignments: St. Louis CITY SC at FC Dallas Toyota Stadium (7:30PM CT) REF: Drew Fischer AR1: Jose Da Silva AR2: Felisha Mariscal 4TH: Adam Garner VAR: David Barrie AVAR: Robert Schaap
Where did you hear this? Everything I've seen or heard about his injury says 10-14 days. He won't play against Dallas, and I doubt he suits up for the USOC match at Chicago on the 9th, but he could be available to play against the Fire on the 13th. Unless, of course, what you posted is accurate. I just haven't seen anything to indicate he's going to be out for an extended period of time.
Hopefully we have Blom back for this one. Really think he will be helpful breaking up those counter attacks. But I’ve also really loved Löwen and Indy in CM. Maybe they’ll go with 3 in CM and only one striker. Teams have definitely been exploiting us on the counter.
Player Availability Report: St. Louis CITY SC: OUT: Joakim Nilsson (knee) OUT: Joao Klauss (quad) QUESTIONABLE: Njabulo Blom (groin) QUESTIONABLE: Rasmus Alm (abdominal) FC Dallas: OUT: Tarik Scott (season-ending injury) OUT: Nkosi Tafari (calf strain)
I hope Nilsson is getting close. Original reports were he would be back in May, so if that timetable is still correct, we should see him soon!
Starting XIs: St. Louis CITY SC: Tonight’s 𝙎𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙓𝙄 in Texas 😤#AllForCITY x @amfam pic.twitter.com/Y6tQLIoIqg— St Louis CITY SC (@stlCITYsc) May 6, 2023 FC Dallas: Our XI. Tune in with #MLSSeasonPass on @AppleTV: https://t.co/GCjMs5pJwz pic.twitter.com/sblbUM8Qhf— FC Dallas (@FCDallas) May 6, 2023
Bartlett for Hiebert? I thought Hiebert struggled positionally last week, is this a response to that, or is it just changing it up, or injury?
It looks like we are trying to protect Stroud for the USOC and next home match. Alm is out. That is concerning.
Welllllll here we are. We made it through 50' of nil-nil. Still no word when the match will be finished. Parker picked up his 5th YC. He's penned for the May 13 match at Chicago, but he can play in the USOC match at Chicago. Regardless of being penned, he is eligible to play in the resumed match against FCD, whenever that is played. Our rosters will be exactly the same as the first match, even if Klauss or other players are available. Ostrak and Gioacchini received YCs in the FCD match. If either of them or Parker snags another YC in the resumed match, they will be penned for the mustard-and-ketchup regardless of YC accumulation. Gioacchini's YC was definitely for persistent fouls He was warned, and paid the price. I don't have a clue what he was thinking, but he went full Rambo out there. Ostrak's YC was plain stupid, for impeding the free kick. We need to stop doing that. Parker's YC was unavoidable. They had a jail break, 2-on-1. He had to foul or we might have conceded a goal. During the first 50' we had the better attack, but couldn't finish. Lowen had a fantastic ball in that Bartlett and Ostrak watched. After the half, we came out disorganized, and FCD was starting to get loose in our defensive third. The lightning delay came at a good time. We should be in better mindset when the match resumes. And we will have fresh legs to press. To be continued. Some day.
And we have a schedule to finish the match. It's Wednesday, June 7, 2023, at 7:30 p.m. CT. The game will resume at 0-0 in the 50'. 🚨 𝗠𝗔𝗧𝗖𝗛 𝗨𝗣𝗗𝗔𝗧𝗘Our match at @FCDallas will resume on Wednesday, June 7 at 7:30PM CT at the 50th minute.🔗 https://t.co/zZeZkJIqke pic.twitter.com/kxpbnf3g6M— St Louis CITY SC (@stlCITYsc) May 11, 2023
I think the restart of this game is going to be fascinating. Only 40 minutes to play, so any substitutions won't be for fatigue. We can play our high pressure system on steroids since we only have to do it for 40 minutes. Of the 11 that were on the field at the point of abandonment, we could sub in Blom for Miggy and Hiebert for Nelson and have the exact starting lineup from yesterday. Dallas already made one first half sub, and appears they will have to make 2 subs to restart the match. That will leave them with only 1 more sub window. Based on yesterday, Blom has to be on the field. Parker, Ostrak and Nico are on yellows, so while we want to play our high octane style, those 3 will need to make sure they adjust. I could go for Stroud replacing Ostrak from the restart. No Alm or Klauss for the match. A point on the road would be great, 3 would be massive!
Here are the updated records and form heading into the Match 11 conclusion: St. Louis CITY SC (now 9-4-1) v. FC Dallas (now 6-5-5) Wednesday June 7, 2023, 7:30 p.m. CT Toyota Stadium, Frisco TX AppleTV+ MLS Season pass The match will resume in the 50' St. Louis CITY SC, 9-4-1, 28 Points, 32 GF, 14 GA, Net +18, Road 3-2-1 FC Dallas, 6-5-5, 23 Points, 19 GF, 18 GA, Net +1, Home 4-2-2 Form: St. Louis CITY SC: WWWWWLLWDL[Sus]LWWW FC Dallas: LWDWLDWWLD[Sus]WWDDLL Five of FCD's six wins and four of their five losses have been by one goal. Two of our nine wins and three of our four losses have been by one goal. At match suspension, we had a slight lead in possession, which has been a negative for us in matches this year.
This was the Player Availability Report heading into this past weekend's matches, edited to show only the players who were on the pitch or on the bench when Match 11 was suspended. It probably will not be updated before resumption of Match 11 on Wednesday. Players in bold were on the pitch and players in italics were on the bench when the match was suspended. FCD not only will need to replace two players who were on the pitch, but will have a short bench to do it. St. Louis CITY SC None FC Dallas OUT: Sebastian Lletget, Paxton Pomykal, Tsiki Ntsabeleng, Ema Twumasi
PRO's assignments for the resumed match: FC Dallas vs St Louis CITY Toyota Stadium (8:30PM ET) REF: Drew Fischer AR1: Jose Da Silva AR2: Felisha Mariscal 4TH: Matthew Corrigan VAR: David Barrie AVAR: Malik Badawi We have most of the original officiating crew. Matthew Corrigan replaces Adam Garner as the 4th Official and Malik Badawi replaces Robert Schaap as VAR.