Life will be difficult for the hosts of leg two without their top notch playmaker. Thanks to a straight red card in the first match, Morales is unavailable for the second leg. FC Dallas are not without casualties of their own from the first leg, though. They had Atiba Harris sent off in the first match, and he will not be easy to replace.
Major League Soccer Playoffs, Leg 2: Real Salt Lake Set To Face FC Dallas Without Javier Morales
Dallas take a 2-1 lead into tonight’s game, but most would probably agree that both teams are probably around even odds to win right now. Based on Real Salt Lake’s home record this season, Dallas will have a rough time getting a draw and it’s highly unlikely that they will win tonight’s match outright. When these two teams met at Rio Tinto Stadium on October 16th, Dallas were thoroughly dominated in a 2-0 RSL win. If that result is duplicated, Real Salt Lake will advance.
Real Salt Lake and FC Dallas have responded as expected to the suspensions of Morales and Harris, bringing in Will Johnson and Jeff Cunningham, respectively, to start tonight’s match. Both lineups are without surprise and both Schellas Hyndman and Jason Kreis appear to be willing to simply play their best eleven available to them and hope they can get the job done instead of making any kind of dramatic tactical statement.
Real Salt Lake Lineup (4-4-2): Rimando - Russell, Borchers, Olave, Russell - Beckerman, Williams, Johnson, Grabavoy - Espindola, Saborio
FC Dallas Lineup (4-4-2): Hartman - Ihemelu, Benitez, Jackson, John - Hernandez, McCarty, Chavez, Shea - Ferreria, Cunningham
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