FRISCO, Texas — Wednesday night's FC Dallas match against St. Louis CITY will be anything but typical – as they'll play a mere 40 minutes (plus stoppage) before the final whistle is blown.
Why? That darn North Texas weather.
FC Dallas and St. Louis CITY played their inaugural match against one another on May 6 before Mother Nature had other plans. The game was set on a weather delay in the 50th minute – and ultimately suspended. The two clubs will pick up where they left off (literally) on Wednesday night at 7:30 p.m.
Where will the game start? Who can play? How long will the game be?
Per MLS rules, the match must restart exactly where the game left off with the players who were on the field at the time. This means at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday night, instead of kicking off from the center circle, the game will commence from an FCD goal kick. The teams will play out the remaining 40 minutes on the game clock.
The players, as stated before, must be the same as when the game was suspended. For FC Dallas, though, a number of players who were on the field a month ago are now nursing injuries. The rules state that injured players may be replaced only by players that were on the bench for the original game.
Here is a list of the FC Dallas injuries:
- Paul Arriola (right thigh)
- Paxton Pomykal (left thigh)
- Ema Twumasi (Ankle)
- Sebastian Lletget (right thigh)
- Tsiki Ntsabeleng (Knee)
- Tarik Scott (season ending injury)
Arriola had already been subbed out for Jesús Jiménez, so the only changes that will need to be made are for Pomykal and Lletget. This was the starting XI that day:
- Ferreira
- Obrian
Arriola (subbed out for Jiménez before whistle)- Lletget*
- Quignon
- Pomykal*
- Farfan
- Martinez
- Ibeagha
- Jesus
- Paes
Here was the listed bench (i.e.: only players who can be utilized):
Jiménez (already subbed in for Arriola)Ntsabeleng (injured now)- Cerrillo
- Junqua
Twumasi (injured now)- Norris
- Velasco
- Kamungo
Replacing Lletget and Pomykal in the match will likely be Velasco and Cerrillo. The changes won't count toward the allotted match substitutions, either. So, FC Dallas will still have four more substitutions it could make.
It's a very unorthodox way to "begin" playing a match but will force both sides to adapt.
"I feel like the first 10-15 minutes is going to be a little bit hectic and chaotic," head coach Nico Estevez said in a media press conference. "Also because the way that St. Louis plays. How they want to high press you, how they want to play more direct. Then after that I think the game will get some kind of break to recover a little bit. After that 5-10 minutes they will come again, and it will fluctuate around. For us, it’s very important to press in those moments where the game is hectic.”
FC Dallas and St. Louis CITY were tied, 0-0, when the game was stopped on May 6.
Match forecast
Rain chances remain low in DFW on Wednesday, so maybe the weather will behave this time around. High: 91. Low: 68. 20% rain coverage.
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