THE BASICS
Houston Dynamo at Portland Timbers
Friday, August 21, 10:00 p.m. CT
Providence Park, Portland, Oregon
BROADCAST INFORMATION
UniMás (Alternate Channel) - 10:00 p.m. CHANNEL LISTINGS
Yahoo Sports Radio 1560 AM - 10:00 p.m. (9:30 p.m. pregame)
La Ranchera 850 AM / 101.7 FM - 10:00 p.m. (9:30 p.m. pregame)
PREVIEW
The Portland Timbers and Houston Dynamo meet for the third time this season in a crucial match for both clubs playoff ambitions when they face off on Viernes de Fútbol at Providence Park. The Timbers come in off back-to-back 1-0 victories, last on the road against Real Salt Lake, to move into fourth place in the Western Conference – just four points off the top spot. The Dynamo remain on the road following their 2-0 loss at the New England Revolution that left them in seventh place in the West, four points back of the final playoff placing.
REFEREE: Ricardo Salazar. AR1 (bench): Mike Kampmeinert; AR2 (opposite): Eduardo Mariscal; 4th: Alejandro Mariscal
MLS Career: 208 games; FC/gm: 26.7; Y/gm: 2.6; R: 58; pens: 70
INJURY REPORT, PRESENTED BY HOUSTON METHODIST (as of Wednesday, August 19)
HOUSTON DYNAMO – OUT: Jermaine Taylor – R quad tear; DOUBTFUL: Ricardo Clark – Left hamstring strain; QUESTIONABLE: DaMarcus Beasley – Left calf strain; Raúl Rodríguez – Right adductor strain; PROBABLE: Giles Barnes – Right Achilles tendonitis
PORTLAND TIMBERS – OUT: Ben Zemanski – Right ACL surgery
HEAD-TO-HEAD
- ALL-TIME (7 meetings): Timbers 2 wins, 7 goals … Dynamo 3 wins, 8 goals … Ties 2
- AT PORTLAND (3 meetings): Timbers 2 wins, 4 goals … Dynamo 1 win, 2 goals … Ties 0
- LAST YEAR (MLS): 5/16: HOU 3, POR 1 (Bruin 9, 83; Barnes 75 – Adi 48); 6/20: POR 2, HOU 0 (Urruti 34; Fernandez 61)
- FUTURE MATCH: None.
- The teams are meeting for the third time this season, splitting the first two. Will Bruin scored a pair of goals and Giles Barnes added a third as the Dynamo eased to a 3-1 victory May 16 at BBVA Compass Stadium; Maximiliano Urruti and Gastón Fernández scored on either side of halftime to lead the Timbers to a 2-0 win June 20 at Providence Park.
- The Timbers have won twice in seven meetings all-time in the series, winning the last two meetings at Providence Park. The Dynamo have won two of the four meetings all-time in Houston, with two draws.
- Coaches record: Caleb Porter vs. HOU: P4 W2 L1 D1 … Owen Coyle vs. POR: P2 W1 L1 D0
HOUSTON DYNAMO
The Houston Dynamo had their undefeated streak put to an end after three matches, falling 2-0 to the New England Revolution on Saturday evening at Gillette Stadium. The Dynamo are in seventh place in the Western Conference with 31 points from 24 matches.
LAST MATCH
- The match was suspended on two different occasions due to lightning, with the first stoppage coming early in the first half and the other at halftime.
- After the second long break, the Revolution finally broke through midway through the second half. Lee Nguyen sent in a long cross from the right side off a short corner and his service was headed right at defender Jose Goncalves, who drove home a close-range shot.
- In the 87th minute, the Revs added their second when a charging Nguyen came up the left side and into the box before sliding it off to an unmarked Juan Agudelo to calmly finish.
- Dynamo head coach Owen Coyle made three changes to the team that got a late winner for a 2-1 win against the San Jose Earthquakes at BBVA Compass Stadium. Tyler Deric came back in between the posts for Joe Willis, A.J. Cochran started in central defense in place of Raul Rodriguez, and Nathan Sturgis started in midfield for Leonel Miranda.
- HOUSTON DYNAMO (4-4-1-1): Tyler Deric - Sheanon Williams, David Horst, A.J. Cochran, DaMarcus Beasley (Kofi Sarkodie 46) - Alex, Luis Garrido, Nathan Sturgis (Boniek Garcia 76), Brad Davis - Giles Barnes - Will Bruin (Erick Torres 56).
TEAM NEWS
- The Dynamo had their three-game undefeated run put to an end in the loss at New England, losing for the first time since July 18.
- The Dynamo had their three-game undefeated run put to an end in the loss at New England, losing for the first time since July 18.
- “They created some chances and got some opportunities and we were just unable to break the pressure in all honesty for a while there. One is on a set piece we need to be tighter on that – I think our guy lost a mark there,” said Brad Davis. “We had a couple of chances to even the score ourselves though to be honest with you and we were a bit unfortunate there and then at the end we had a bit of a breakdown as well for them to go up 2-0 – at that point it’s going to be extremely difficult to come back from two goals.”
- Each of the last six times the Dynamo have been shut out in league play, dating back to May 5, they have suffered a defeat. Each of the last four losses the Dynamo have suffered have come by 2-0 scorelines.
- After a one-match absence to injury, Tyler Deric returned between the posts in place of Joe Willis.
- A.J. Cochran came back into central defense for his second start in the last four matches, playing the full 90 minutes in place of Raúl Rodríguez.
- There was also an injury concern as DaMarcus Beasley was not able to continue after the extended halftime break after suffering a calf ailment, replaced by Kofi Sarkodie.
- “I think we’ve shot ourselves in the foot and pick ourselves up again look and try to get our squad healthy because Raul Rodriguez missed out, Ricardo Clark’s already injured, DaMarcus Beasley had to come out of the game, Giles (Barnes) was probably feeling that Achilles as well,” said Coyle. “So we have to get those players healthy because those are big players for the Dynamo.”
- Nathan Sturgis also returned to the lineup after a one-match absence, playing 76 minutes in a central midfield position.
- Boniek Garcia came off the substitutes’ bench for the final 14 minutes, his second consecutive appearance as a substitute after returning from the Honduras national team and missing seven league matches.
