The road to the 2011 MLS Cup Final begins tonight, with the New York Red Bulls taking on FC Dallas at Pizza Hut Park in Major League Soccer's first wild card match (Fox Soccer Channel, 9pm).
FC Dallas enters the match as the highest-seeded wild card team, but a 2-5 finish to the regular season has Schellas Hyndman's club looking vulnerable against a New York Red Bulls side that finished the season strongly.
Dallas will be relying on the dynamic contributions of Brek Shea and Marvin Chavez to stretch New York's defense, and a defense led by George John and goalkeeper Kevin Hartman. The Red Bulls will be led by Thierry Henry, while once again turning to Dane Richards as a forward, this time to replace injured starter Luke Rodgers. Juan Agudelo is starting the match on the bench.
The Red Bulls are no strangers to success in Frisco, having posted a 3-0-1 record in their past four trips to Pizza Hut Park, with the most recent visit yielding a victory on Sept. 17th.
In case you missed it, here's my Fox Soccer preview on tonight's match, as well as Thursday's other MLS wild card match, between Colorado and Columbus.
SBI will be providing commentary on tonight's match, so please feel free to following along here. As always, you are welcome to share your thoughts and opinions in the comments section below.
Enjoy the action (Tonight's commentary is after the jump):
