Nico Estevez says FC Dallas must put their trust in a long-term process as the Western Conference strugglers prepare to visit high-flying Toronto FC on Saturday.

Dallas sit 13th in the West with just two wins from nine matches this year, though they snapped a seven-game winless run by beating the Houston Dynamo 2-0 last week.   

Just as Estevez refused to be too critical of his players during their poor run of form, he will avoid getting too high off the back of a single victory.

"As we always say, we're never too high and never too low. It's about taking the positive things that we did against Houston to carry through the week, having the same mentality," Estevez said.

"Also, with some of the things that we didn't do well, we'll keep improving on those.

"As we always say, it is a process and we're trying to keep growing throughout the season, while getting results."

Toronto, meanwhile, sit fourth in the Eastern Conference with 16 points from their first 10 MLS games under John Herdman.

They scored two late goals to overturn a 1-0 deficit and clinch a third straight victory against Orlando City last time out, leaving Herdman to credit his players for their resilience.

"We showed a good mentality to set the tone on how we wanted to approach it," he said.

"I thought the guys were brave from the front and stamped their physical dominance on the game. To see the shift they put in was exceptional. It was a complete performance."

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Toronto FC – Prince Osei Owusu

Owusu has scored five goals for Toronto in MLS this year, his latest being a 90th-minute winner against Orlando last week. He has had 15 shots overall in 2024, converting 33.33 per cent of those. 

FC Dallas – Petar Musa 

Musa has scored in each of Dallas' last two matches, against the Colorado Rapids and Houston. 

He has scored (three goals) or assisted (one) four of his team's seven MLS goals since the beginning of March, demonstrating his importance. 

MATCH PREDICTION – DRAW

Toronto won their first-ever meeting with Dallas 4-0 in June 2007, but Dallas have only lost one of 18 subsequent regular-season meetings (11 wins, six draws).

Dallas, though, are winless in their last 11 games against Eastern Conference opponents across all competitions (five draws, six losses), dating back to a 1-0 win over Inter Miami last April.

Toronto have more league wins this season (five) than they managed through the entirety of 2023 (four), but Dallas have only lost one of their last four. A draw could be on the cards in Canada.

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

Toronto FC – 34.8%

FC Dallas – 35.6%

Draw – 29.6%