FRISCO, Texas – FC Dallas are heading to the MLS Cup Playoffs for the first time since 2011, possibly as a No. 3 seed in the West. And they've accomplished the feat despite missing several key players throughout the season, none more influential than midfield maestro Mauro Diaz.
But as the team approaches its last regular season match on Saturday vs. Portland (8:30 pm ET, FREE Stream of the Week), all signs point to the impending return of the Argentine, possibly at his highest level of fitness since the run of form that led him to be voted the Etihad Airways MLS Player of the Month for March.
While Dallas head coach Oscar Pareja would not offer specifics as to how how many minutes Diaz would play, the Colombian manager said he does expect Diaz to be available.
“His best training in the last six months,” head coach Oscar Pareja said about Diaz. “Very excited to see him training the way he did. It has been a while.”
After leading Dallas to the best record in the league early on in the season, Diaz sustained an injury at DC United on April 26 which required surgery. That layoff, along with other subsequent setbacks, limited Diaz to just eight appearances in the club's last 25 regular season matches, mostly as a sub.
Despite his absence, FC Dallas bounced back from a poor run of results in May to fight their way back into the postseason and advance to the semifinals of the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup.
Meanwhile, FC Dallas had arranged for a change of scenery for Diaz, granting the Argentine permission to return to his home country to spend time with his family, as well as to work with a local training staff that had connections with Pareja.
“The trip to Argentina helped him,” Pareja said. “Obviously the job that the [FC Dallas] trainers and the coaching staff has done with him has worked very well so far.”
In order to overtake Real Salt Lake (46pts) for third place in the Western Conference and thus avoid the Knockout Round match in midweek, only a victory will do for FC Dallas against Portland on Saturday night. The Timbers will also be chasing a win, hoping to snag the fifth and final playoff spot in the West.
Diaz's return would clearly help FCD's chances, although Pareja's squad has consistenly shown it is not dependent on any one individual player.
“We have a good team,” Pareja said. “We have built a group and we are proud of it. The one who wants to get points from us, they need to run more than us, or fight harder and if that’s the case, we walk out proud. We have a good group.”
Kevin Lindstrom covers FC Dallas for MLSsoccer.com.
