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United-FC Dallas Preview

Sep 4, 2009 - 5:21 PM By SANTOSH VENKATARAMAN STATS Senior Writer

D.C. (7-5-11) at FC Dallas (6-11-5), 8:00 p.m. EDT

It's been an interesting few days for D.C. United goalkeeper Josh Wicks.

Wicks is expected to be in the lineup Saturday night after a tumultuous week when United look to boost their playoff hopes in a road game against FC Dallas.

D.C. (7-5-11) snapped a four-game MLS winless streak last Saturday with a 1-0 victory at Chicago. Wicks recorded his fourth shutout, but got into a fight with teammate Marc Burch on the field in the closing minutes. The two had to be separated.

That only set the stage for an even stranger incident involving Wicks in the U.S. Open Cup final against Seattle on Wednesday. After the Sounders scored the game's first goal in the 67th minute, Wicks appeared to step on Seattle star Fredy Montero and was ejected.

Down to 10 men, D.C. went on to lose 2-1.

"I made a mistake and it cost us a player and it cost us the game eventually," Wicks said. "It is what it is."

Because his ejection came in the U.S. Open Cup, Wicks is eligible to play Saturday. D.C. issued a statement saying that Wicks would be subject to "internal discipline," but he has not been suspended.

D.C. is in fourth place in the Eastern Conference, six points behind the second-place Fire in the race for the conference's second guaranteed playoff spot. With the quick turnaround for this game after the failure to defend their U.S. Open crown, United knows that nobody is going to have much sympathy for them.

"We can cry in our beers, as they say, tonight and tomorrow morning get refocused and get moving again and go to Dallas because we don't have a choice, we have to move on and maybe we can use this disappointment to try to get to another final in the league," midfielder Ben Olsen said.

D.C. is looking to complete a sweep of Dallas (6-11-5) after a 2-1 victory May 2 behind two goals from Jaime Moreno. United went 4-1-3 in the last eight meetings with Dallas, although they lost 3-0 in their last visit to Pizza Hut Park on Sept. 28.

Dallas has 23 points, fourth fewest in the league, after losing two straight matches. The club is 10 points out of a playoff spot.

"I think the future is we have to believe that we're mathematically still in position to get to 40 points," coach Schellas Hyndman said. "Once we are no longer mathematically in that position, then we can start talking about next year. I don't think I would do any justice to my position to have any other thought.

"I'm disappointed that we've let points slip through our hands but every team that's fighting for a playoff spot can probably say the same thing."