With all of the group stage matches in the books, the Houston Dynamo are set to square off against FC Dallas in the third-place match of the Disney Pro Soccer Classic, in Orlando, Fla. Houston finished the group stage with an 0-1-2 record, but advanced to the consolation match over the Montreal Impact and Sporting Kansas City by virtue of a goal differential tie-breaker.
This will be the third-consecutive year the Texas rivals will have squared off in Florida. In 2010, the Dynamo edged Dallas 2-1 to take third place in the tournament. After falling behind 1-0 on a 13th minute goal from David Ferreira, the Dynamo's Lovel Palmer scored minutes later and Cam Weaver added one in the second half to give Houston the victory. In 2011, the two squads met in the tournament final. Ruben Luna put Dallas on the board in the 15th minute but Houston tied it up 90 seconds before the final whistle on a spectacular strike from Francisco Navas Cobo. The game went to a penalty shootout where Dallas came away with a 5-3 victory and the trophy.
With only 10 days to go before the start of the MLS season, both teams can be expected to put strong lineups on display Saturday night. Geoff Cameron, Jermaine Taylor, Je-Vaughn Watson and Kofi Sarkodie have all returned from international duty for the Dynamo. For Dallas, midfielder Brek Shea should be available for selection after the 2011 MLS All-Star played 73 minutes in Wednesday's U.S. men's national team win over Italy.
Saturday's match kicks off at 5 p.m. CT and can be seen live on ESPN3.com. Kevin Corke and Jonathan Yardley will be on the call.
