The Daily Kickoff

Your Saturday Kickoff: 4 players who need to step up tonight

J. Sam Jones

What you need to know

Three MLS games today

FC Dallas host Colorado, Nashville face New England and LA welcome RSL. Check out the full schedule here.

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Four players to keep an eye on tonight

We’ve got three games today. All three will have an impact on Audi 2023 MLS Cup Playoffs positioning. Dallas need a win to keep the pressure off on Decision Day. New England can jump into the top four, while Nashville can still move a couple of spots up the standings before the postseason. And RSL can move into the top four with a win. Here are a few key players to keep an eye on for the team’s still playing for something (Sorry, LA and Colorado).

Alan Velasco

Forward · FC Dallas

It’s been a big week for Velasco. He finished on top of our 22 Under 22 presented by BODYARMOR list. It’s not exactly an official award, but past winners include Ricardo Pepi, Brenden Aaronson, Diego Rossi, Alphonso Davies and Miguel Almirón. It’s a big deal to be on top. Now, FC Dallas need him to play towards his ceiling in a critical game.

Dallas have a tendency to play games that don’t exactly max out on entertainment value. There have been a lot of very, very standard 1-1s and 1-0s lately. The attack just isn’t clicking. That includes Velasco. After a nine-goal, seven-assist season in 2022, Velasco has just three goals and four assists this year. To be frank, I’m surprised that kind of performance earned him the top spot on the list. Now, he has even more eyes on him. It’s as good a time as ever to prove he deserved the nod.

Tomás Chancalay

Forward · New England Revolution

The obvious answer here is Carles Gil. It’s always Carles Gil. Don’t overthink it, it’s Carles Gil.

But he needs some help from time to time. Tomás Chancalay has instantly turned into one of the most intriguing members of the Revs’ supporting cast. Chancalay arrived on loan from Racing this summer and has scored four times in his first nine games in MLS. He’s constantly finding chances, averaging a little over five shots in each of his last four games. And, most importantly, he appears to have a hilariously photoshopped picture of him on the New England website when you go to his player page that makes me laugh every single time and makes Chancalay look like a life-size bobblehead.

Anyway, if he can continue to make an impact in attack, the Revs’ chances of making a run look a lot better than they may have initially seemed after some key losses the last couple of months.

Sam Surridge

Forward · Nashville SC

There’s no gentle way to say it. Nashville’s attack has been atrocious the last few weeks. They’ve scored five times in the eight games since Leagues Cup and have been shut out in five of those games, including the last three. In that span, new DP striker Sam Surridge has failed to find the net for his first goal.

To be fair, he hasn’t started every game. But expectations were high when he came in and expectations were even higher after a solid performance in Leagues Cup. Nashville need him to start scoring. Not only because they need goals, but because they had so much time to ensure they got this signing right. If Surridge is a miss, then there are serious questions to ask. It’s very early days on that, of course. But time is running out this season for Nashville’s attack to click. Or at least provide enough to win games.

Real Salt Lake

Literally anyone who wants to score!

RSL will be without Jefferson Savarino and Chicho Arango today. Savarino is on international duty, while Arango picked up a hamstring injury last weekend. That means the next highest scorer on the team is… center back Justen Glad…[checking]... who appears to be suspended. But then there’s Danny Musovski…[checking]... who apparently has a quad contusion that might keep him out of this one.

So. Yeah. Anyone who wants to find the net should go ahead and try to do that. Whether that’s Anderson Julio, Damir Kreilach or Diego Luna, doesn’t matter. RSL have to get the job done against a mediocre Galaxy team with nothing to play for. And then they have to do the same against Colorado on Decision Day. A top-four spot is there for the taking.

Other things

Canada humbled by Japan in international friendly: The Canadian men's national team were thoroughly beaten Friday in their only friendly of the October international window, suffering a 4-1 defeat vs. Japan at the Denka Big Swan Stadium. The Samurai Blue, a Round-of-16 finisher at the 2022 FIFA World Cup, showed their class from the opening whistle and got two goals from Fortuna Düsseldorf midfielder Ao Tanaka (2', 49'). An own goal from Alphonso Davies (39') and a strike from Reims forward Keito Nakamura (42') put the match out of reach.