FC Dallas' Petar Musa looks to stay hot vs. St. Louis City

FC Dallas could climb two places in the Western Conference standings and move within two points of a playoff spot if they can earn a victory at struggling St. Louis City on Saturday.

Dallas (7-11-9, 30 points) has posted a 1-0-2 record since parting with playmaker Luciano Acosta, who never lived up to his 2023 MLS MVP pedigree during only half a season with his third MLS club.

Petar Musa has scored six goals in his last six matches -- part of his team-leading total of 13 -- despite nagging injuries that limited him to only eight minutes off the bench in Dallas' last fixture.

Manager Eric Quill's side has earned 18 points through 13 away matches (4-3-6).

But Quill knows that a draw probably won't be helpful for his side's postseason quest against an opponent that already is out of contention.

"We have to be ultra-aggressive," Quill said. "Not ties, we need three (points). But a team that gives up (goals), that has been faltering defensively, you want to make sure you score the first goal. That's the best thing you can do for yourself is create doubt and not concede first."

St. Louis (5-17-6, 21 points) clearly is rebuilding after parting with sporting director Lutz Pfannenstiel late last month. Pfannenstiel's dismissal came after Olof Mellberg, the club's second full-time manager, was fired in late May.

The third-year MLS club has lost eight of its last 10 league matches, conceding three or more goals in six of those defeats.

But interim manager David Critchley believes some of the recent defending has been better than the last two results, in which St. Louis lost back-to-back 3-2 affairs. At Vancouver two weekends ago, the Whitecaps scored twice from the penalty spot; home to Houston last weekend, a furious late St. Louis rally fell just short.

"There is growth there, even though you've looked at the last two games and we've said, ah, six goals conceded," Critchley said. "Not a lot of times we're getting (broken) down and cut through. It's mostly just shoring up some of the individual actions that we need to improve on, and then the week before was just a couple of bad calls that didn't go our way."

--Field Level Media