Real Salt Lake remains in the hunt for a spot in the MLS playoffs but desperately needs all three available points when they travels to play FC Dallas on Wednesday in a key late-season Western Conference game at Frisco, Texas.
Real Salt Lake (12-12-6, 42 points) is two points under the playoff line and their final four games are with Dallas and three clubs — San Jose, Portland and Sporting Kansas City — that are either in the playoffs or still fighting for a spot.
RSL has lost three of its past five matches and heads to the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex on the heels of a damaging 1-0 loss at Chicago on Saturday. The Fire are in 12th place in the East and will not make the playoffs, so leaving the Windy City in defeat might have doomed Salt Lake’s chances at the postseason.
It faces a similar situation on Wednesday.
“It just puts more emphasis on the next one, it makes this next game more important,” RSL defender Justen Glad said. “At this point the last four are must-wins. It sucks being (under the playoff line) right now, but our destiny is still in our own hands.”
FC Dallas (6-14-11, 29 points) has long been eliminated from the postseason and are in 12th place in the 13-team Western Conference. Dallas heads into Wednesday’s match after forging a 2-2 draw at the Los Angeles Galaxy on Saturday.
Dallas’ goals scored by Jesus Ferreira (in the 30th minute) and Franco Jara (41st) as the visitors built a 2-0 lead at halftime that would evaporate not long before the final whistle.
FC Dallas remains winless over its past nine matches (0-5-4) and hasn’t won since Aug. 29. Interim coach Marco Ferruzzi took charge of the team on Sept. 19 and still hasn’t tasted victory, but Dallas’ players took the draw in Los Angeles as a sign of progression.
“You can see it, especially in the past few games, we’re really starting to come together and learning what he (Ferruzzi) wants from us,” Dallas midfielder Paxton Pomykal said. “From an outside perspective, you can start to see some of the changes that we’ve been making.”
Earlier this year, the clubs played to a 2-2 draw at Frisco before RSL earned a 3-2 at home on Sept. 4 to start Dallas’ 0-5-4 run.
–Field Level Media
