With many of their top threats having reported for international duty, the depth of FC Dallas and Los Angeles FC will be tested when the teams meet Saturday in Frisco, Texas.
While Dallas (12-6-8, 44 points) will be without the second-leading scorer in MLS, Petar Musa (18 goals, five assists), the visitors will not have Denis Bouanga (14 goals, eight assists) and Son Heung-Min (six goals, 13 assists).
In all, LAFC (11-8-8, 41 points) will be without eight players, including midfielder Timothy Tillman (leg injury) and defender Aaron Long, who will serve a red-card suspension from the Black and Gold’s 2-2 tie last week against San Jose.
A reconfigured lineup could be a positive for Los Angeles, which has won just one of its last nine matches, going 1-3-5 since the start of August. With the lull, LAFC have dropped from a share of first to sixth place in the Western Conference.
“The lineup is shaking itself up. We don’t have to shake it up,” defender Nkosi Tafari said. “We’re gonna need everybody, certainly with where we are in the table, it’s really important to start clawing back and getting into a home playoff spot.”
Other LAFC players who have reported to their national teams are Canadians Mathieu Choiniere and Jacob Shaffelburg, as well as Leo Walta (Finland) and Jude Terry (USA).
The departures will give Los Angeles a chance to plug in newly acquired players, including midfielder Sergio Vasquez and forwards Armindo Sieb, Tyler Boyd and Tommy Mihalic.
“I enjoy that some guys are dying to get a chance to show their value and some doors open in moments like that,” LAFC coach Marc Dos Santos said.
Dallas enters on a five-match unbeaten streak, going 3-0-2 during that span. With the Toros also missing Bernard Kamungo (Tanzania) and Ran Binyamin (Israel), they will look for Logan Farrington (nine goals, five assists) and Joaquin Valiente (two goals, 12 assists) to fuel the offense.
“Both rosters are strong and deep, so I expect their replacements to have played a lot in the league so far and eager to play, which is always important,” Dallas coach Eric Quill said.
When the teams met six months ago, LAFC won 1-0 as Hugo Lloris posted one of his 12 clean sheets, tying him for the lead among MLS goalkeepers.
–Field Level Media
