THE BASICS
Houston Dynamo at Sporting Kansas City
Saturday, August 1, 8:00 p.m. CT
BBVA Compass Stadium, Houston, Texas
BROADCAST INFORMATION
ROOT SPORTS (Alternate Channel) - 7:30 p.m. (7:00 p.m. pregame) CHANNEL LISTINGS
Yahoo Sports Radio 1560 AM - 7:30 p.m. (7:00 p.m. pregame)
La Ranchera 850 AM / 101.7 FM - 7:30 p.m. (7:00 p.m. pregame)
PREVIEW
A critical match in the chase for playoff positioning kicks off when Sporting Kansas City return home to take on the Houston Dynamo on Saturday at Sporting Park. Sporting lost for just the second time in three months last time out, falling 2-1 at Real Salt Lake, and now sit just a point ahead of sixth place in the division. The Dynamo are five points out of sixth and the final postseason position, coming off a dominant 3-0 win against the LA Galaxy at BBVA Compass Stadium last weekend.
REFEREE: Jorge Gonzalez. AR1 (bench): Corey Parker; AR2 (opposite): Ian Anderson; 4th: Younes Marrakchi
MLS Career: 120 games; FC/gm: 25.2; Y/gm: 3.3; R: 37; pens: 31
INJURY REPORT, PRESENTED BY HOUSTON METHODIST (as of Thursday, July 30)
HOUSTON DYNAMO – OUT: Jermaine Taylor – R quad tear; DOUBTFUL: Rob Lovejoy – Right hamstring strain; Taylor Hunter – Right peroneal strain; PROBABLE: Boniek García – Right adductor strain; Ricardo Clark – Left quad strain
SPORTING KANSAS CITY – OUT: Ike Opara – Left Achilles; Jalil Anibaba – Left thigh; QUESTIONABLE: Seth Sinovic – Concussion
HEAD-TO-HEAD
- ALL-TIME (21 meetings): Sporting 5 wins, 26 goals … Dynamo 7 wins, 29 goals … Ties 9
- AT KC (10 meetings): Sporting 2 wins, 12 goals … Dynamo 4 wins, 13 goals … Ties 4
- FUTURE MATCH: 9/23: Houston Dynamo vs. Sporting Kansas City, 7:30 p.m. CT
- The teams are meeting for the second time this season. Benny Feilhaber scored two goals for Sporting KC, the second deep into second-half added time, to leave the teams in a wild 4-4 draw April 25 at BBVA Compass Stadium.
- The home team has not won in the series in the last five meetings. Each team won at the other’s home ground in the two matchups a season ago. Sporting won 2-0 at BBVA Compass Stadium on June 6, then the Dynamo returned the favor with a 3-1 victory Aug. 29 at Sporting Park.
- The teams met three consecutive seasons in the MLS Cup Playoffs from 2011-13, the Dynamo advancing in the first two meetings before SKC triumphed in the last. The 2011 and 2013 meetings were for the Eastern Conference Championship; both clubs find themselves in the Western Conference beginning this season.
- Coaches record: Peter Vermes vs. HOU: P14 W4 L3 D7 … Owen Coyle vs. KC: P1 W0 L0 D0
HOUSTON DYNAMO
The Houston Dynamo rebounded from a loss, defeating the LA Galaxy 3-0 on Saturday evening at BBVA Compass
Stadium. The Dynamo are in eighth place in the Western Conference with 27 points from 21 matches.
LAST MATCH
- The Dynamo took the lead in the ninth minute. Brad Davis pushed up the left flank and sent a hopeful low ball across the box, where Will Bruin was able to control and curl a finish around goalkeeper Brian Rowe.
- The Dynamo doubled the lead in the 27th minute. Nathan Sturgis weaved through the LA defense and laid the ball off for Davis, and he drove a low left-footed shot from 22 yards past Lowe for the 2-0 lead.
- In the 88th minute, Leonel Miranda played keep-away in the box before cutting back at the edge of the box and lofting a shot into the top corner to clinch the win.
- Dynamo head coach Owen Coyle made three changes to the team that fell 2-0 to Real Salt Lake at Rio Tinto Stadium. Sheanon Williams and A.J. Cochran came into the back four for Taylor Hunter and the suspended Kofi Sarkodie, and Leonel Miranda started out wide in place of Alexander Lopez.
- HOUSTON DYNAMO (4-4-1-1): Tyler Deric - Sheanon Williams, David Horst, Raul Rodriguez, A.J. Cochran - Leonel Miranda, Nathan Sturgis, Ricardo Clark (Zach Steinberger 90), Alex (Rasheed Olabiyi 87) - Brad Davis - Will Bruin (Erick Torres 69).
TEAM NEWS
- The Dynamo have won back-to-back games at BBVA Compass Stadium, extending their home undefeated streak to five games dating back to May 5.
- "When we're at our maximum, we're capable of beating anybody in the league and we showed that. I've said before and I said it to the players after the game – the key to us moving forward is the consistency,” said Dynamo head coach Owen Coyle. “I mean we're missing eight players … it was important that we show everybody the qualities that the Dynamo have and we did – we scored three, I'd say we could've done five or six.”
- “You can't play great and then play awful, play great and then play awful. We're certainly not where we want to be right now,” said Will Bruin. “But what we've done is in the past. All we can control is every game, week in, week out, and if we play like that, then I think we're going to be looking at making a run for the playoffs come October.”
- Will Bruin scored his ninth goal of the season, the third-highest single-season total of his MLS career and three shy of his one-season career-high. Bruin has scored a goal in six of the last seven games where the Dynamo have hit the back of the net, dating back to May 10.
- “Will Bruin led the line again, as he does and I'm so pleased with him because he's developed into a real topclass [player] in my mind. He scored a wonderful goal and ran himself into the ground,” said Coyle. “We talked about some fresh legs coming in in Erick "Cubo" Torres and I get Giles Barnes back. I believe I can find a front three in Barnes, Bruin, and Torres that can complement with the other quality that we have. It was a big result that we craved and one we needed to give everybody a lift.”
- Brad Davis scored his first goal of the season, ensuring that he has scored at least one league goal in each of 14 MLS league seasons. Davis also recorded his fifth assist of the season, his first since May 16.
- Rasheed Olabiyi made his second appearance for the Dynamo, coming on as a late substitute, and recorded his first assist.
- Sheanon Williams made his Dynamo debut after his acquisition from Philadelphia Union, coming in at right back and playing the full 90 minutes. A.J. Cochran made his first start of the league season, playing the full match at left back.
- Leonel Miranda scored his first goal with the Dynamo, making a second start in the last six matches, playing 90 minutes in a wide midfield role.
- “The Open Cup really helped me out in terms of confidence and allowing me to develop a rhythm. Those 90 minutes that I played really helped me out in terms of getting into a particular groove and of course scoring that goal also helped me out a lot,” Miranda said.
