Now the Season Really Gets Going

Record vs Dallas - 19-19-8
Record at home - 10-8-5
at LSP - 0-1
Last game 8/27/11 - 2-3 (Kamara 22, Bravo 68, Hernandez 70, Santos 89, Warshaw 92+)

KC is getting into a meaty portion of their schedule starting tomorrow when they take on FC Dallas. It's the first of four in a row against the Western Conference for the Wizards. As of this typing, Houston is the only Eastern team to defeat a Western team in a game (and Houston defeated Chivas and San Jose, two teams that aren't considered to be the class of that conference, although as I type the Revolution are leading the Timbers.)

Dallas comes into this game a little undermanned right now, they'll be missing Brek Shea and Carlos Rodriguez due to their call ups to their national teams for Olympic qualifying (US and Panama respectively). It looks unlikely that both Fabian Castillo and former MVP David Ferreira. In the past that would be a cause for concern for KC fans as they never seemed to do well against a team that was missing key parts. But under Peter Vermes, KC has done a better of punishing teams that are at a disadvantage. KC though can't take Dallas lightly, they still have Ricardo Villar, and Panamanian striker Blas Perez, who will be a handful for Aurelien Collin or Matt Besler, depending on if the Frenchman plays or not.

Collin though is listed as probable for the game tomorrow for Kansas City. He's one of 3 starters from last week's game listed on the injury report, but Collin, Bobby Convey, and Graham Zusi are all listed as probable, so I'd expect all 3 to be in the lineup. As a whole there's really no reason to change the lineup that has won the first two games of the season if everyone is able to go.

Nielsen
Myers - Collin - Besler - Sinovic
Cesar - Espinoza
Kamara - Zusi - Convey
Sapong

Number to Remember - 6 - That's the number of games against the West that KC has in a row. The West is proving itself to be the better conference so far this season, as I mentioned earlier. If KC wants to seriously be considered a contender for a title this year, taking care of business in these games, especially at home is a must.

Key Match Up - Aurelien Collin vs Blas Perez - Both are physical players so this has the potential to be a very fun match to watch. Collin so far has avoided picking up a yellow card in his 147 minutes so far this season. Late on Collin seemed to have learned what he could and couldn't get away with in the league and avoided some of the silly cards he picked up earlier. Still this is going to be a match up where I expect both to leave with a yellow card.

PREDICTION - As I mentioned earlier, if KC wants to be seriously considered a contender for a title this year, and really does want to "paint the wall", then KC needs to win this game. Dallas is a good team, even without Shea, Castillo, and Ferreira, but KC is at home, and that's the key thing. If KC has ambitions of winning a title, these are the games you win to prove to the rest of the league that you are really a favorite and you're a team that has to be watched.

KC - 2 (Kamara, Zusi)
FCD - 1 (Perez)