THE BASICS
Houston Dynamo vs. Columbus Crew
Wednesday, May 7, 7:00 p.m. CT
BBVA Compass Stadium, Houston, TX
BROADCAST INFORMATION
CSN Houston Plus - 7:00 p.m. (6:30 p.m. pregame) CHANNEL LISTINGS
MLS LIVE - 7:00 p.m.
Yahoo Sports Radio 1560 AM - 7:00 p.m. (6:30 p.m. pregame)
La Ranchera 850 AM - 7:00 p.m. (6:30 p.m. pregame)
PREVIEW
A pair of clubs now caught in a logjam in the middle of the Eastern Conference will look to make a midweek move as the Houston Dynamo play host to the Columbus Crew on Wednesday evening at BBVA Compass Stadium. The Dynamo put an end to their long winless run last weekend in a 4-1 win at Chivas USA. The Crew have now gone five games without a victory following a bright start, after their 2-0 loss at Sporting Kansas City on Sunday.
REFEREE: Jorge Gonzalez. AR1 (bench): Jeff Muschik; AR2 (opposite): Eric Weisbrod; 4th: Ted Unkel
MLS Career: 107 games; FC/gm: 25.2; Y/gm: 3.3; R: 35; pens: 27
SUSPENDED: CLB: Wil Trapp (through May 7)
INJURY REPORT, PRESENTED BY HOUSTON METHODIST (as of Tuesday, May 6)
HOUSTON DYNAMO -- OUT: Eric Brunner – Right ankle surgery; Ricardo Clark – Concussion; Tony Cascio – Right knee surgery
COLUMBUS CREW -- OUT: Kingsley “Fifi” Baiden – L groin strain; QUESTIONABLE: Hector Jimenez – R calf strain; DISABLED LIST: Matt Wiet – L ACL reconstruction
HEAD-TO-HEAD
- ALL-TIME (17 meetings): Dynamo 3 wins, 19 goals … Crew 5 wins, 23 goals … Ties 9
- AT HOUSTON (8 meetings): Dynamo 2 wins, 10 goals … Crew 1 win, 8 goals … Ties 5
- RETURN MATCHES: 8/23 at Columbus (6:30 p.m. CT); 9/13 at Houston (7:30 p.m. CT).
- The teams evenly split their season series a season ago, each team winning once in three meetings, with the third encounter a draw.
- The teams met once last season at BBVA Compass Stadium, a 3-1 Dynamo win on Aug. 3. It was the Dynamo’s first win against the Crew in almost exactly five years, since Aug. 2, 2008. The victory snapped a nine-game Crew undefeated streak vs. Houston.
- The Dynamo have also won just twice all-time in Houston in eight matches vs. Columbus; the teams have played to five draws in Houston.
- Coaches' records: Dominic Kinnear vs. CLB: P21 W5 L7 T9 … Gregg Berhalter vs. HOU: first game
HOUSTON DYNAMO
The Houston Dynamo put an end to their winless streak in emphatic fashion, rolling to a 4-1 win against Chivas USA on Saturday evening at StubHub Center. The Dynamo are in a tie for fifth place in the Eastern Conference with 11 points from 9 games.
LAST MATCH
- Chivas USA grabbed a quick lead in the seventh minute. After Dynamo midfielder Brad Davis brought down Carlos Alvarez inside the box, Erick Torres converted the resulting penalty kick.
- But the Dynamo were level five minutes later. Davis maneuvered past Eric Avila and Bobby Burling as he moved from right to left across the area, beating goalkeeper Tim Melia. Giles Barnes then put the Dynamo ahead in the 32nd minute, making the most of space in front of him following a long pass from Boniek García and finished with a scintillating drive.
- The Dynamo made it 3-1 before halftime as Will Bruin held off a defender while receiving a pass in the area and hit a shot on the turn past Melia.
- The rout was complete at the three-quarter when Melia was adjudged to have fouled Bruin in the area, earning a red card from referee Sorin Stoica. Barnes then beat substitute goalkeeper Trevor Spangenberg from the spot with the resulting penalty.
- Dynamo head coach Dominic Kinnear made one change to the team that reached a 1-1 draw with the Portland Timbers at BBVA Compass Stadium. Servando Carrasco came into the midfield in place of Warren Creavalle.
- HOUSTON DYNAMO (4-3-1-2): Tally Hall - Kofi Sarkodie, Jermaine Taylor, David Horst, Corey Ashe - Boniek Garcia (Brian Ownby 87), Servando Carrasco, Andrew Driver - Brad Davis (Alexander Lopez 85) - Giles Barnes, Will Bruin (Mark Sherrod 82).
TEAM NEWS
- The Dynamo won for the first time since March 15, which was the second of two consecutive wins to start the season.
- “[I'm] really happy for the guys, they’ve been working hard and catching a lot of grief from a lot of people, both inside the organization and out, and I didn’t like it,” Dynamo head coach Dominic Kinnear said. “You always want to win. We never step on the field not wanting the result to go our way. So it’s nice to see that we won a game.”
- It was their second four-goal output this year (tied for high in MLS), after recording a 4-0 win against New England in the season opener.
- “I think the best thing was that we went down a goal, and it’s not a great thing to go down a goal early, but I thought our response was fantastic,” Kinnear said. “Scored three great goals before the break and took our time and pick-and-chose our moments to go forward.”
- Giles Barnes collected the third two-goal game of his MLS career, his first two goals of the 2014 season. Barnes led Houston with 9 goals in 2013.
- “It feels good. It feels like a long time coming. I’ve come close in quite a few games and it’s been a little bit frustrating to find the goal for me,” Barnes said. “Most important thing for me is to get the team back on track.”
- Making a second consecutive start in an attacking midfield role, Brad Davis scored his first goal of the season; he had added his third assist of the season the week vs. Portland.
- “We know we’re a good group and we can play like that every game. It’s a long season, we face injuries sometimes, sometimes guys are healthy and sometimes they’re not,” said striker Will Bruin. “We’re confident in the way we play, shifting into the 4-3-3 has helped a little bit, helped us play more free and we expect to play like that every night.”
- Servando Carrasco was given his first start of the season, coming into a deep-lying role in central midfield. He had come off the substitute’s bench in three consecutive matches.
