FC Dallas vs. New England Revolution | 2017 MLS Match Preview

Carlos Gruezo vs. Lee Nguyen - New England Revolution vs. FC Dallas

FC Dallas vs. New England Revolution
2017 MLS Regular Season
Toyota Stadium - Frisco, TX
Saturday, March 18 - 8 pm ET
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The New England Revolution missed their originally-planned second outing of the 2017 MLS season, when inclement weather forced the rescheduling of their home opener vs. Orlando City. So they enter Week 3 one match behind in proving their mettle -- and coming off a Week 1 loss at the Colorado Rapids. On top of that, their opponents, FC Dallas, have continued to look good this year, with a 2-1 win over the LA Galaxy, a 0-0 draw with Sporting Kansas City, and a 2-1 CCL victory over Pachuca on Wednesday night. 


Still, not all is lost for the Revs. In their 1-0 loss at Colorado, they looked like contenders for the first half -- and they've still got Kei Kamara in the attack, as well as Homegrown success story Diego Fagundez. Plus, they'll be dealing with an FCD side playing on short rest after Wednesday's intense CONCACAF Champions League contest. 

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FC Dallas


It's no surprise that last year's Supporters' Shield winners continue to thrive with attackers and, especially, versatile midfielders like Kellyn Acosta. In fact, following that 0-0 draw against Sporting last weekend, they've now lost only once in their last 10 MLS regular season games (5W-4D), and they've kept four clean sheets on that run. With Wednesday's win over Pachuca, which saw Acosta score an excellent free kick goal to give FCD the victory, FCD moved to 3-1-1 in all competitions in 2017, with their lone loss coming after they'd already built a substantial lead heading into Leg 2 of their CCL quarterfinal series against Arabe Unido. 



Projected Starting XI (4-4-2): Jesse Gonzalez (GK) — Hernan Grana, Walker Zimmerman, Matt Hedges, Maynor Figueroa — Michael Barrios, Kellyn Acosta, Carlos Gruezo, Roland Lamah — Cristian Colman, Maximiliano Urruti


Notes: FC Dallas have won five straight regular season games against the Revolution, dating back to the 2012 season, and have outscored New England 11-2 in that stretch.


New England Revolution


The Revs have played exactly one regular-season match this year, so it's far too early to jump to any conclusions about this New England team. Despite their 1-0 loss to the Rapids, New England have still won five of their last eight regular season MLS games (5-3-0) dating back to the 2016 campaign. One caveat there, though: They've also lost four of their last five away league games.



Projected starting XI (4-4-2): Cropper (GK) — Andrew Farrell, Antonio Mlinar Delamea, Benjamin Angoua, Chris Tierney — Kelyn Rowe, Scott Caldwell, Lee Nguyen, Diego Fagundez — Kei Kamara, Juan Agudelo


Notes: The Revs can possibly count on Juan Agudelo for some magic -- he's scored four career goals against Dallas in MLS play, including one for the Revolution.


All-Time Series


These two teams have played 42 times in regular-season league play, with New England winning 23 of those, and the teams drawing three times.


DAL-NE All-Time MLS Meetings (42 games)

  • Overall: NE lead 23-16-3 (67 NE goals, 57 DAL goals)
  • At DAL: NE lead 11-9-2 (28 NE goals, 28 DAL goals)


Referees


Referee: Alan Kelly
Assistant Referees: Kyle Atkins, Anthon Vasoli
Fourth Official: Younes Marrakchi