Dynamo-Chivas USA game notes

Dynamo vs. Chivas USA – U.S. Open Cup quarterfinals
The Dynamo will host Chivas USA on Tuesday in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup quarterfinals. It will be the third of at least four meetings between the teams this season, with Houston taking both regular season meetings by shutout earlier this year, 3-0 in Houston on April 17 and 2-0 in Carson, Calif., on May 8. The teams will square off in SuperLiga on July 18. The Dynamo are 2-0 all-time in Open Cup quarterfinals, having reached the semifinals in 2006 and 2009. The winner of Tuesday’s match will play at either Los Angeles or Seattle in the semifinals on August 31.

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Open Cup information
· The Open Cup champion receives a bid to the qualifying round of the following year’s CONCACAF Champions League.
· Professional teams are limited to five foreign players on their 18-player game-day roster.
· Ties are broken by 30 minutes of extra time (not sudden death), followed by a shootout.

Dynamo Notes
· The Dynamo are 8-0-3 in their last 11 games against Chivas USA, dating back to Houston’s win in the 2006 Western Conference semifinals. That record includes four consecutive wins in 2009-10 and runs the Dynamo’s all-time lead in the series to 9-2-5, including a 7-0-2 mark at Robertson Stadium.

· Tuesday’s match will be the Dynamo’s fourth of 10 games in 36 days from June 26-July 31, not including the MLS All-Star Game, which will be held in Houston on July 28. During that stretch, the Dynamo are scheduled to play five league games, three SuperLiga matches, and two Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup games.

· Since making his first career league start on May 22, second-year pro Danny Cruz has played 510 minutes in league play as an outside midfielder, notching two goals and two assists and suffering 17 fouls; two of the resulting free kicks led to goals against Philadelphia on May 29. For the season, Cruz has been fouled once every 29 minutes.

· The Dynamo have had to call upon their depth in 2010: in league play alone, 23 players have seen action, 14 players have logged at least 350 minutes, and 14 players have scored for Houston. Bobby Boswell is the only player to have started all 15 league games this year.

Up Next: Crew come to town
The Dynamo will return to league play on Saturday, hosting the Columbus Crew, two-time defending winners of the MLS Supporters’ Shield, awarded to the team with the best regular-season record. The Crew won the 2008 MLS Cup title, and the teams are an even 2-2-4 against each other all-time.