FC Dallas will look to post its first three-game winning streak and first road victory this season when it visits struggling and short-handed New England Revolution on Saturday night.
Dallas (8-11-5, 29 points) earned both its previous wins at home and by multiple goals, 2-0 against the LA Galaxy and 3-1 against Austin FC.
In the latter match on Wednesday, Petar Musa scored his team-leading 13th goal from the penalty spot to break a 1-1 tie in the 56th minute. Marco Farfan added insurance against the 10-man Verde, helping Dallas avenge an earlier 2-1 defeat at Austin.
But Dallas is one of only two MLS teams yet to earn an away win (St. Louis City), and its three points earned while traveling are the fewest taken by any MLS side.
On Wednesday, interim manager Peter Luccin seemed acutely aware that his team benefitted from some good fortune, namely the ejection of Austin leading scorer Sebastian Driussi just after Musa’s goal.
“Right now you can see me, I’m not reacting because we need to do better,” Luccin said afterward. “Very happy about the win with our fans, but we have a game in four days and we have to change some things if we want to win our first game away.”
New England (7-14-1, 22 points) suffered its third consecutive defeat on Wednesday night, a 5-1 drubbing at the Philadelphia Union.
The Revs entered the midweek with an MLS-high 12 players on the league’s player status report. Nine of those players failed to dress for the game, though New England manager Caleb Porter didn’t think that was a suitable excuse for letting the match get out of control by halftime.
“Yes, we have a lot of 2s and 3s playing right now, on the depth chart,” Porter said. “But I still expect better individual and collective performances. I think we fell short in the mentality again after we conceded.”
Team scoring leader Giacomo Vrioni (eight goals) and assists leader Carles Gil (five) were among those absent. Vrioni could potentially return on Saturday after he was listed as questionable for Wednesday with a calf issue.
–Field Level Media
