Sports Mole previews Sunday’s Major League Soccer clash between Dallas and Real Salt Lake, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.
In-form sides Dallas and Real Salt Lake will be looking to continue their resurgence when they go head to head at the Toyota Stadium on Sunday.
The hosts are unbeaten in five of their last six matches, while this weekend’s visitors have won five of their last seven games across all competitions.
Match preview
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FC Dallas made it through to the last eight of this year’s US Open Cup courtesy of a 2-1 triumph over Tampa Bay at the Al Lang Stadium on Thursday.
First-half strikes from Patrickson Delgado and Logan Farrington put Nico Estevez‘s men in the driving seat at half time before Josh Perez pulled one back five minutes from time.
Prior to that, Toros were held to a 1-1 stalemate against Houston Dynamo which saw them remain 12th in the Western Conference of the MLS table.
Awaiting them next is the challenge of an opposing outfit who are winless in the last four editions of this fixture since 2022, losing three of them.
Currently on a run of three straight victories in front of their fans, Sunday’s hosts will fancy their chances of getting the job done on home turf once again.
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Real Salt Lake emerged triumphant from a thrilling 5-3 contest against Colorado Rapids as the teams faced off at the America First Field on Sunday.
Cristian Arango and Andres Gomez were the stars of the show for Pablo Mastroeni‘s men as they grabbed two goals apiece with Julio Santos also getting in on the act.
Having picked up 28 points from 14 league matches this term, the Claret and Cobalt sit top of the Western Conference standings, four points ahead of Minnesota United.
With their last four matches on the road yielding a combined 17 goals, Sunday’s visitors will be keen to come out on top from what is expected to be another open and end to end affair on the road.
Dallas Major League Soccer form:
Real Salt Lake Major League Soccer form:
Team News
Dallas trio Geovane Jesus, Alan Velasco and Paxton Pomykal are all ruled out through knee injuries and none will feature in this weekend’s contest.
Twenty-three-year-old Jesus Ferreira was hauled off in the first half of his side’s cup victory last time out, making him a doubt for this one.
Kevin Bonilla and Pablo Ruiz continue to nurse knee injuries, while Erik Holt and Marcelo Silva miss out for Real Salt Lake through hamstring problems.
Following his two-goal haul against Colorado, Cristian Arango has now netted seven times in as many games leading up to Sunday’s clash and is one to look out for here.
Dallas possible starting lineup:
Paes; Junqua, Tafari, Ibeagha; Farfan, Delgado, Norris, Twumasi; Lletget, Kamungo; Musa
Real Salt Lake possible starting lineup:
MacMath; Brody, Glad, Ramirez, Katranis; Eneli, Ojeda; Gomez, Crooks, Luna; Arango
We say: Dallas 1-1 Real Salt Lake
After a poor start to the campaign, Dallas have turned a corner in recent weeks but Real Salt Lake continue to lead the way. We are backing a share of the spoils with honours even at the end of the 90 minutes.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.