FCD’s first game in Austin comes with urgency to improve playoff standing

FC Dallas are back on the road this weekend after a trip to South Texas and a trip to Central Texas to play Austin FC for the first time at the Q2 Stadium.

The expansion club in the capital caused a sensation in 2021, if not on the field, reaching large, lively crowds in its new stadium and drawing a lot of attention on social media.

But, especially a week after a visit to longtime rival Houston Dynamo, which ended in a 2-2 draw, how does FCD see their second meeting with Austin anyway?

“It’s a huge rivalry,” said Ricardo Pepi, FC Dallas’ top scorer. “I feel like we’re making it an important game because it’s Texas. We just want to show the people in Texas who the boss is. “

At the moment, FCD is ahead and sits three points ahead of Austin in the table. But the three Texan teams sit as the lowest, penultimate and third from last club in the Western Conference.

While FCD is only four points away from seventh place, which would make it into the playoffs, the window is closing for the team that makes a move.

“It’s a very important game and we urgently need to score maximum points,” said FCD coach Luchi Gonzalez on Friday. “The majority of the games we have left are against teams in this group that can get into the playoffs or fall below the playoff line.

“For us it is a direct competition, so these are games that are not just three but six because they are direct rivals with us in the table.”

Pepi was the sensation for FCD. He scored a goal against Dynamo last week to boost his season’s goals to nine, then traveled to Los Angeles where he scored the winning penalty for the MLS in the all-star game against Liga MX. A day later it was announced that Pepi, who is approved for the national teams of the USA and Mexico, is accepting an appointment to the US squad ahead of the World Cup qualifiers in September.

However, it was another up-and-coming international, 20-year-old Hungarian winger Szabolcs Schön, who stood out at the very first regular season opener against Austin.

He had two assists in the 2-0 win in Frisco on August 7th and although he said he would like to set up a few goals again, he would also like to score his debut goal for FCD before going into the Mandatory.

“I hope for assists for myself, but I also want to finally score my first goal for this team. But it’s not a problem if I have two assists again, ”smiled Schön.

However, this was the last game the FCD won, losing to Sporting Kansas City and the Seattle Sounders and drawing against Houston last weekend.

Meanwhile, Austin celebrates a 3-1 home win over the Portland Timbers and has Sebastián Driussi, an Argentine striker who came from Zenit Saint Petersburg as designated player.

“It should be a battle of concepts, that’s for sure. We’re looking forward to it, ”said Gonzalez. “I’m sure they study us, we study them in great detail with, without the ball.

“Driussi is a player who gave them an extra spark in midfield with 10, he even played a wrong 9, so we have to see how that could look on Sunday. This will be a tactical, technical, and physical battle. We are looking forward to it.”

Gonzalez hopes his team will win these battles and come home with a win if the playoff chase begins in earnest. It may be a short trip home after the game, but it won’t be a pleasant one if the FCD returns empty-handed.

Jon Arnold is a staff writer at The Striker Texas who works with The Dallas Morning News to cover Dallas FC and other notable football stories in Texas. For more soccer coverage, please visit thestrikertexas.com.

More coverage of FC Dallas in the Dallas Morning News can be found here.

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