Last week the Houston Dynamo broke the proverbial duck against the Philadelphia Union with a 1-0 win that broke a three game scoreless streak. As they head to the Northeast to face the New England Revolution, the focus is keeping the goals flowing.
Houston’s three games scoreless streak was part of a seven game winless streak that saw the Dynamo score just twice. Part of that streak was a 2-0 loss to the Revolution at home where Houston failed to hit the back of the net against a stingy Revs defense.
Keeping the goals flowing against New England this time around looks sure to provide the same tough task as the Revs rank first in the league in goals allowed, conceding just 14 goals this season. While their opponent is stingy, Houston’s focus is to continue hitting the back of the net.
“Playing against them at home is going to be a tough game,” Dynamo defender Jermaine Taylor said. “One of the things I’m looking for this week is goals because we’ve been doing a lot of striking. We’re getting chances. One day it’s going to come because we have good strikers that can put the ball in the back of the net.”
With goals the call of the day, no position group is looking to break out more than the Dynamo forwards. The group last scored May 8 against D.C. United, that’s an eight game drought for the Dynamo strikers.
“Ideally you’d like to see strikers score your goals, but as long as you’re winning games and remaining dangerous, the one thing that would be a concern is if we’re not getting chances,” said head coach Dominic Kinnear.
Those goals won’t come easy against a team that offers a tough match-up like New England has this season. Houston got a first-hand view of that physical play when the Revs visited Houston and lost both Taylor (injury) and Bobby Boswell (red card).
Saturday, the club expects the same type of game from the Revs, this time around on their home turf. With a home loss, just the second in their BBVA Compass Stadium history, the goal is to give New England the same treatment as Houston looks to build on their first win in eight games.
“We always say we should win at home. We took care of that business, now can we go and beat a team that’s in our conference that beat us when they came here,” Boswell said. “If we can return the favor that’d be great.”
Darrell Lovell covers the Houston Dynamo for MLSsoccer.com
