The Seattle Sounders are hosting FC Dallas in a Saturday afternoon match, facing the Texas club for the second and last time this year. Dallas is coming off a U.S. Open Cup match on Wednesday that went to penalties. To help give us some insight into the match, we talked to Big D Soccer's Drew Epperley.
Notable injuries
After dealing with an uptick in injuries in April, FC Dallas is relatively healthy again with just two key injuries to discuss: Léo Chu and Sebastian Lletget. Both have been out for a several weeks and may not be available until next month.
Petar Musa, Paxton Pomykal and Marco Farfan all returned from injuries in the last two weeks and have seen their minutes limited as they regain full fitness.
Team form
One word to describe their form as of late: rough. They have two wins in their last eight games across all competitions, with one coming in the US Open Cup against a USL League One side, the other being a wild come from behind win in Miami when the Herons were resting their key guys ahead of a Concacaf Champions Cup series with Vancouver. There have been a couple of bright spots here and there, but Eric Quill’s side has struggled to string together positive results and play consistently for 90 minutes.
Key players
With Lucho Acosta suspended for this game with a yellow card accumulation, the attack will have to flow through Pedrinho. The young Brazilian has done well for himself after his stellar season in 2024 with North Texas SC (a team that won the MLS NEXT Pro Cup). At times he’s been a bright spot off the bench for FC Dallas, including that come from behind win in Miami where he had a goal and assist in 30 minutes of action.
Aside from him, I would also keep an eye on Osaze Urhoghide. He’s been arguably the best player added to the roster this season and that includes Acosta. The centerback has been everything fans in Dallas have wanted in a TAM-level defender. He’s athletic, gets into spots that most centerbacks aren’t able to, and I’d be willing to bet if FCD were doing better in the standings right now, there would be talk of him being in line for an MLS All-Star spot.
One thing fans should know
I kind of feel that these two fan bases know each other very well these days due to all of the playoff series the two have faced off in against one another over the years and then the two offseason trades with one another. But under Eric Quill, you can't fully count this FC Dallas team out of games. In 2025 FC Dallas is 2-4-3 when conceding first. They also have 12 points from losing positions this season.
Projected lineup
(4-2-3-1): Maarten Paes; Nolan Norris, Osaze Urhoghide, Sebastien Ibeagha, Shaq Moore; Ramiro, Kaick; Bernard Kamungo, Pedrinho, Anderson Julio; Petar Musa
