THE BASICS
Houston Dynamo at FC Dallas
Friday, June 26, 8:00 p.m. CT
Providence Park, Portland, Oregon
BROADCAST INFORMATION
UniMás - 8:00 p.m. CHANNEL LISTINGS | WATCH IN ENGLISH
Yahoo Sports Radio 1560 AM - 8:00 p.m. (7:30 p.m. pregame)
La Ranchera 850 AM / 101.7 FM - 8:00 p.m. (7:30 p.m. pregame)
PREVIEW
MLS Heineken Rivalry Week continues with the battle for El Capitán, when FC Dallas and the Houston Dynamo meet in the second Texas Derby of the season on Friday evening at Toyota Stadium before an UniMás and UDN audience. It’s the first home game since May 9 for FCD, who saw their long road run end with a sixth game without a win in a 1-1 draw last week at the Colorado Rapids. The Dynamo had their road winless streak extended last weekend, falling 2-0 at the Portland Timbers. FC Dallas took a dominant 4-1 win in the first meeting between the teams, May 1 in Houston.
REFEREE: Chris Penso. AR1 (bench): C.J. Morgante; AR2 (opposite): Scott Kachmarik; 4th: Marcos de Oliveira
MLS Career: 65 games; FC/gm: 23.2; Y/gm: 3.2; R: 17; pens: 12
INJURY REPORT, PRESENTED BY HOUSTON METHODIST (as of Wednesday, June 24)
HOUSTON DYNAMO – PROBABALE: Brad Davis – Right knee bone bruise
FC DALLAS – QUESTIONABLE: Rolando Escobar – Right hamstring pain
HEAD-TO-HEAD
- ALL-TIME (22 meetings): FC Dallas 6 wins, 30 goals … Dynamo 9 wins, 32 goals … Ties 7
- AT DALLAS (10 meetings): FC Dallas 3 wins, 10 goals … Dynamo 3 wins, 13 goals … Ties 4
- FUTURE MATCH: 610/4: FC Dallas vs. Houston Dynamo, 4 p.m. CT (ESPN2)
- The teams are meeting for the second time this season. Ryan Hollingshead, David Texeira, Mauro Diaz and Fabian Castillo all scored as FC Dallas rolled to a 4-1 win, May 1 at BBVA Compass Stadium
- FC Dallas have won the last three meetings between the teams, over the last three seasons. Each of the last two victories have come by 4-1 scorelines, both in Houston. The wins are just the second and third wins alltime for FCD in Houston in 14 meetings in all competitions, the first since 2010.
- The clubs play for “El Capitán”, the 19th-century Mountain Howitzer cannon to be awarded to the winner of the season series by supporters groups for both clubs. This will be first year since 2011 the series will include more than one meeting during the regular season, with both clubs now in the Western Conference.
- Coaches record: Oscar Pareja vs. HOU: P4 W3 L0 D1 … Owen Coyle vs. DAL: P1 W0 L1 D0
HOUSTON DYNAMO
The Houston Dynamo had their road winless streak extended to three games, falling 2-0 to the Portland Timbers on Saturday evening at Providence Park. The Dynamo are in ninth place in the Western Conference with 20 points from 16 matches.
LAST MATCH
- The Timbers took the lead in the 34th minute from a set piece, when Maximiliano Urruti got on the end of a Jorge Villafana free kick from some 30 yards out on the left for an open header from the penalty spot.
- The Portland second came in the 61st minute. Referee Baldomero Toledo whistled Dynamo center back David Horst for a foul in the box on a 59th-minute corner kick, and Gaston Fernandez coolly chipped in the resulting spot kick to put Portland in control.
- Dynamo head coach Owen Coyle made three changes to the team that gained a 4-2 victory against the New York Red Bulls at BBVA Compass Stadium. Kofi Sarkodie came into the back four for Jermaine Taylor, and Leonel Miranda and Nathan Sturgis started in midfield in place of Brad Davis and Giles Barnes.
- HOUSTON DYNAMO (4-1-4-1): Tyler Deric - Kofi Sarkodie, David Horst, Raul Rodriguez, DaMarcus Beasley - Luis Garrido - Leonel Miranda (Alex 75), Nathan Sturgis (Rob Lovejoy 58), Ricardo Clark, Alexander Lopez (Mauro Manotas 82) - Will Bruin.
TEAM NEWS
- The Dynamo saw their winless streak away from BBVA Compass Stadium extended to three games in the defeat in Portland. They’ve won just once in the last four matches – all away from home.
- “We have to look at this one, take our medicine and figure out what we have to improve because every week in this league you have to bring it. You can’t sulk about it,” said striker Will Bruin: Obviously we’re going to be mad and get back to Houston and all focus is on Dallas for Friday. It would be nice to bounce back with a good result.”
- The Dynamo allowed one goal from a set piece in the defeat, and the penalty kick conceded came as a result of a deadball opportunity. The Dynamo have allowed three goals from set pieces this season – they have scored eight goals from set pieces, most of any team in MLS.
- “Very disappointing. I felt that we didn’t play well the whole game, not just the two mistakes we made,” defender DaMarcus Beasley said. “From back to front we were soft. We gave the ball away in bad areas. Just all-in-all a bad game. I’m not pointing fingers at anybody. Collectively, as a whole team, we weren’t good enough. They punished us and they got the win.”
- Kofi Sarkodie returned to the Dynamo team, coming in at right back in a league game for the first time since May 5 and playing the full 90 minutes.
- Leonel Miranda made his first start since March 28, playing 75 minutes in a wide midfield role with both Brad Davis and Boniek Garcia out through injury, and Giles Barnes away on international duty.
- Nathan Sturgis made his first league start since May 1, coming into a central midfield spot and playing 58 minutes.
- “You always want your best players available and we have a very good team even without four starters, four quality players, but at the end of the day you can never foretell what would happen if they were on the team or not,” said Dynamo head coach Owen Coyle. “Ultimately when it’s all said on done the decisions are still going to be the same, regardless of who you have, it’s always difficult.”
- Said Beasley: “We’ve got guys in this locker room that can play and step up to the challenge. It’s happened before. Our captain has been out, Giles [Barnes] has been out, Jermaine [Taylor] has been out. That doesn’t matter. We’ve got guys in this locker room that can step up and play. It just didn’t happen [in Portland] for anybody, not the guys that came in and started but for anybody. We didn’t have it.”
