Three games in eight days in three time zones. That is what Dominic Kinnear’s Houston Dynamo are facing this week.
After working a well-deserved road victory Sunday in LA against the Galaxy, Houston took a coast-to-coast flight to D.C. where they will face United Wednesday evening before ending the stretch in Houston against Sporting Kansas City Sunday evening.
With all the air miles comes a lineup conundrum for Kinnear who will have to manage his squad, which has not escaped the injury bug, while still putting a team on the field that can take three points against a wounded United team.
“You want to make sure you put your best team on the field and there are some conversations we needed to have,” Kinnear told MLSsoccer.com by phone on Wednesday. “Those will be open and honest … You go with some conversations and go with some feelings about players and you try and put together a team on the day that you feel is the best team.”
HIGHLIGHTS: Dynamo defeat LA Galaxy
If all his players are at his disposal Kinnear has some interesting decisions to make; the biggest of which comes in midfield. Houston’s quartet of Andrew Driver, Adam Moffat, Ricardo Clark and Boniek Garcia outplayed their Galaxy counterparts Sunday evening. The four’s success, however, begs a welcome but tough question: What does Kinnear do now that Brad Davis is back in the fold?
“It’s a good area for us where guys have been playing well and have been productive,” Kinnear said. “Obviously Brad comes back and it’s a good person to have back on the field. It all comes down to these guys being fresh.”
While there are decisions to make, Kinnear has removed much of the angst about who will or will not go by simply being up front with his group.
“He’s always been up front and been honest and you could be in a different situation where you don’t know what’s going on at all,” Davis told MLSsoccer.com. “That’s one thing about Dom, he’s always going to be honest with you. It’s not always going to be what you want to hear as a player but he will tell you. I think it helps as a player knowing where you stand and what the mentality is going into that week.”
Darrell Lovell covers the Houston Dynamo for MLSsoccer.com. Follow him on twitter at @DarrellLovell.
