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Former Impact Defender of the Year will be hoping he can help propel his new expansion club, Nashville SC to victory over FC Dallas this evening. It’s the first-ever meeting of the clubs at Nashville’s Nissan Stadium, but they have already met twice this season at Frisco.
Both games were tight and there hasn’t been many goals, just one, from David Accam in the 86th minute, giving Nashville its first-ever MLS win back in August. The teams then played out a 0-0 draw at Toyota Stadium five days later.
The best outcome for the Impact this evening is an away win so sentiment from north of the border will not be with their former player, but with The Toros, who can help Montreal’s own play-off prospects by damaging Nashville’s.
Nashville sits only two points behind the Impact in the East, but has two games less played. They also have to come to Red Bull Arena to face the Impact before the regular season ends.
FC Dallas also has plenty of incentive this evening and not only because they have failed to defeat Nashville in two attempts. They are just one point away from a top 4 place with two games in hand of LAFC, who currently sit 4th.
Nashville are unbeaten in their last three, while FC Dallas picked up their first win in five when defeating Sporting KC last weekend,
And after a slow start, Nashville even has a magic number in mind when it comes to points required for play-off qualification.
“The analytic background work that has been done — of course is extremely difficult in a season that is so unnatural to be perfect about any number — that we need to hit but that [26 points] seems to be a bit of a benchmark for the group,” said head coach Gary Smith.
The Impact will be hoping Nashville’s analysis is spot on since they currently have just three points less than the magical mark, although top six still needs to be the target to avoid the Play-In round, which precedes the Play-offs in the East.
So Impact fans will be keeping a keen eye on proceedings this evening, undoubtedly hoping for an inaugural Dallas victory over Nashville SC.
Sorry, Daniel...