Unbeaten under interim coach Peter Luccin, FC Dallas will set out for their first road victory of the season when they visit the Seattle Sounders on Saturday.
Dallas is 0-6-3 in away matches, with a league-low three road points. However, Saturday marks the team’s first road match since Luccin took over the coaching duties from Nico Estevez on June 9.
The Toros (5-8-5, 20 points) are a perfect 2-0-0 with Luccin on the sidelines. After scoring 18 goals in their first 16 matches, FC Dallas exploded for seven goals in their last two, including a season-high five in Wednesday’s 5-3 win over Minnesota United.
Petar Musa led the way with his first MLS hat trick, with all three scores coming from just outside the goal area. The streaky forward has had two five-match scoreless droughts this season, but still leads all Dallas players with eight goals.
“We just talk with him and say, ‘Petar, don’t worry, it’s just a matter of time. Just make sure that you are close to the box. We need you close to the box,'” Luccin said. “Because inside the box we know that he’s a very effective player.”
The Sounders (5-7-7, 22 points) are coming off a 2-2 draw Wednesday against the host Houston Dynamo. Trailing 2-0 at halftime, Paul Rothrock and Jackson Ragen each scored within a six-minute span to earn Seattle the comeback point.
After the “unforced errors” of the first half, Ragen felt that “to get a result when you didn’t put the best 90-minute performance together, that’s what a great team does over the course of the season.”
The bounce-back mentality could apply to Seattle’s season as a whole. After stumbling out of the gate to a 1-5-3 start, the Sounders are 4-2-4 in their last 10 matches.
Seattle’s top-heavy attack is led by Raul Ruidiaz (seven goals) and Jordan Morris (five). The other Sounders players have combined for 11 goals.
In their first meeting this season, the Sounders and Toros played to a 0-0 draw in Dallas on April 13.
–Field Level Media
