THE BASICS
Houston Dynamo at New York Red Bulls
Saturday, October 4, 5:00 p.m. CT
Red Bull Arena, Harrison, New Jersey
BROADCAST INFORMATION
NBC Sports Network - 5:00 p.m. CHANNEL LISTINGS
Yahoo Sports Radio 1560 AM - 5:00 p.m. (4:30 p.m. pregame)
La Ranchera 850 AM - 5:00 p.m. (4:30 p.m. pregame
PREVIEW
A huge match for a pair of teams aiming to stay in the thick of the Eastern Conference playoff chase is ahead on Saturday evening when the New York Red Bulls take on the Houston Dynamo at Red Bull Arena before an NBC Sports Network audience. The Red Bulls return home still clinging to fifth place and the final playoff position in the East, following their 4-0 defeat at the LA Galaxy last weekend. The Dynamo remained alive in the playoff hunt, a further five points back of the Red Bulls, their undefeated streak at five games following a 2-0 home win vs. the Chicago Fire.
REFEREE: Jair Marrufo. AR1 (bench): Peter Manikowski; AR2 (opposite): Kermit Quisenberry; 4th: Silviu Petrescu
MLS Career: 171 games; FC/gm: 23.4; Y/gm: 2.8; R: 33; pens: 50
INJURY REPORT, PRESENTED BY HOUSTON METHODIST (as of Thursday, October 2)
HOUSTON DYNAMO -- OUT: Mark Sherrod – Left knee ACL; Tally Hall – Right knee ACL; QUESTIONABLE: Will Bruin – Right mid-foot sprain; Corey Ashe – Right knee sprain; Tony Cascio – Right knee ACL
NEW YORK RED BULLS -- OUT: Michael Bustamante – Right knee surgery; Bobby Convey – Deviated septum surgery; Ambroise Oyongo – Hamstring Strain SUSPENDED: Jamison Olave (yellow card accumulation)
HEAD-TO-HEAD
- ALL-TIME (20 meetings): Red Bulls 9 wins, 32 goals … Dynamo 3 wins, 19 goals … Ties 8
- AT NEW YORK (10 meetings): Red Bulls 7 wins, 18 goals … Dynamo 0 wins, 4 goals … Ties 3
- 2014 (MLS): 4/23: NY 4, HOU 0 (Wright-Phillips 12, 24, 86; Henry 65); 7/4: HOU 2, NY 2 (Barnes 1; Davis 82 – Wright-Phillips 13, 72)
- The teams are meeting for the third time this season. A Giles Barnes goal in the first minute and a late Brad Davis penalty kick canceled out a pair of goals from New York’s Bradley Wright-Phillips to leave the teams in a 2-2 draw July 4 at BBVA Compass Stadium. Wright-Phillips netted a hat trick to lead the Red Bulls to a 4-0 win April 23 at Red Bull Arena.
- The Red Bulls have not lost in the last six league contests between the teams, outscoring the Dynamo 17-3. The Red Bulls are 7-0-3 all-time at home vs. Houston.
- The Dynamo did win the Eastern Conference Semifinal Series between the clubs last year, winning 2-1 at Red Bull Arena in the second leg, after the teams played to a 2-2 draw in Houston. It is the Dynamo’s only win ever in Harrison in all competitions.
- Coaches record: Mike Petke vs. HOU: P5 W4 L0 D1 … Dominic Kinnear vs. NY: P25 W6 L10 D9
HOUSTON DYNAMO
The Houston Dynamo stretched their undefeated run to five matches, defeating the Chicago Fire 2-0 on Sunday afternoon at BBVA Compass Stadium. The Dynamo are in eighth place in the Eastern Conference with 36 points from 29 games.
LAST MATCH
- Dynamo hit for the opener just after the quarter-hour. From the left side of the field, midfielder Ricardo Clark got the best of Fire veteran Logan Pause before firing a cross toward the back post. Omar Cummings split a pair of defenders to come sliding in for a simple finish.
- The Dynamo hit for the second on a perfectly played team goal in the 67th minute. Defender Kofi Sarkodie hit a cross from the right side to midfielder Brad Davis, who headed the ball back to a wide-open Boniek Garcia at the penalty spot, and he thumped home a picture-perfect volley with his left foot.
- Dynamo head coach Dominic Kinnear made one change to the team that played to a scoreless draw with Philadelphia Union at PPL Park. Boniek Garcia came back into the midfield in place of Andrew Driver.
- HOUSTON DYNAMO (4-4-2): Tyler Deric - Kofi Sarkodie, David Horst, A.J. Cochran, DaMarcus Beasley -Boniek Garcia, Luis Garrido, Ricardo Clark, Brad Davis (Andrew Driver 85) - Giles Barnes, Omar Cummings (Brian Ownby 79).
TEAM NEWS
- The Dynamo extended their season-long undefeated streak to five matches with a second consecutive shutout victory. They have now not allowed a goal in 216 minutes, their longest shutout streak this season.
- “I don’t think we had as many chances against us this week as we did last week so I thought defensively we were pretty good,” said Dynamo head coach Dominic Kinnear. “We never really gave up too many second opportunities. I thought David [Horst] and A.J. [Cochran] had a good game.”
- Said Brad Davis: “It’s also a kind of attitude throughout the whole entire team. I think now everybody’s been doing that extra little bit of dirty work to get back and help out, be compact and do not necessarily the things that are fun but the things that help the team. It’s been a change in mentality throughout the group. I feel like we’re a tough team to beat when we have that kind of die-hard attitude."
- Boniek Garcia scored his second goal of the season, his first since netting the Dynamo’s third goal of the year, in their 4-0 season-opening win vs. New England on March 8.
- “It kind of plays into the way that we like to play in the first place. We got the ball wide in some good spots, got some good service into the backs. Kofi [Sarkodie]’s done a great job this year about getting forward at the right times and putting some good balls into the box,” said Davis. “On the second goal that we scored there, that’s happened quite a few times this year. We’ve gotten a good ball and my job is be on the back side making sure if the ball goes long or whatever, to be there to kind of clean up and keep the play alive. That’s the way it worked out this time.”
- Davis collected an assist on the second Houston goal, his fifth assist in the last seven games. He now has 10 assists for the season, the sixth time in his 13 MLS seasons he’s had 10 or more assists.
- “We have good wide players and it’s kind of funny that our two wide players were in the box at the same time and combined for the goal,” said Kinnear. “I thought we came out with the correct attitude and put them under pressure, and it was good to see us get rewarded with a goal.”
- Omar Cummings also scored his first goal since the season opener, when he capped the victory that day with the fourth goal. Cummings was making his fourth consecutive start; he has a goal and two assists in that span.
