Real Salt Lake returns to Texas for the second time this season, this time facing FC Dallas in the first meeting of the year between the Western Conference foes. Here are three things to know about FC Dallas.
South American Flare
With Colombian-born Oscar Pareja at the helm, there is a notable South American flavor to the FC Dallas roster with representation from Argentina (four players), Colombia (four players) and Ecuador (one player). Those players have contributed 14 goals and 11 assists thus far this season. Among them is Colombian Fabian Castillo, who is among the best young players in MLS and was called into the Colombian National Team last year. This year, he has three goals and three assists in 17 appearances for FC Dallas, giving him 32 goals and 28 assists in 154 career MLS matches at just 24 years old.
Home Cooking
Home teams, historically, have good record in MLS. That is taken to a different level between FC Dallas and Real Salt Lake. In 14 all-time matches between the two clubs at FC Dallas, RSL is just 1-11-2. That doesn’t include defeats in the 2010 MLS Cup playoffs and in the 2011 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup. That success isn’t limited to matches against RSL, though. Dallas is currently unbeaten at 10-0-3 in the last 13 matches overall at Toyota Stadium, including a 5-0-3 mark this year.
Homegrown, Too
With the USSDA Playoffs in town this week, the Frisco area will be packed with young aspiring players. Few in the league have mined the Academy system like FC Dallas. With six Homegrown players currently on the roster, Dallas looks to lead the league in minutes played by Homegrown talent for the third straight year. Thus far this year, HGPs have logged 2,584 minutes for Dallas (15.4%). Real Salt Lake has five Homegrown players on the current roster, who have logged 1,568 minutes (10.6%).
