THE BASICS
Houston Dynamo vs. Portland Timbers FC
Saturday, May 16, 7:30 p.m. CT
BBVA Compass Stadium, Houston, Texas
BROADCAST INFORMATION
ROOT SPORTS Alternate Channel - 7:30 p.m. (7 p.m. pregame) CHANNEL LISTINGS
Telemundo Houston - 11 p.m. (tape delay) CHANNEL LISTINGS
Yahoo Sports Radio 1560 AM - 7:30 p.m. (7 p.m. pregame)
La Ranchera 850 AM / 101.7 FM - 7:30 p.m. (7 p.m. pregame)
PREVIEW
A pair of clubs looking to make a charge up the Western Conference table meet when the Houston Dynamo play host to the Portland Timbers on Saturday evening at BBVA Compass Stadium. The Dynamo return home after putting the skids to a three-game winning run – all at home – with a 2-1 win at Toronto FC last weekend. The Timbers continue their road swing which began with a 2-1 win at the Montréal Impact last weekend, snapping a two-game winless skid.
REFEREE: Edvin Jurisevic. AR1 (bench): James Conlee; AR2 (opposite): Kyle Longville; 4th: Daniel Fitzgerald
MLS Career: 85 games; FC/gm: 22.6; Y/gm: 3.5; R: 20; pens: 13
INJURY REPORT, PRESENTED BY HOUSTON METHODIST (as of Thursday, May 14)
HOUSTON DYNAMO – DOUBTFUL: Nathan Sturgis – Right shoulder dislocation; PROBABLE: Brad Davis – Left hamstring strain
PORTLAND TIMBERS – OUT: Ben Zemanski – Right ACL surgery; QUESTIONABLE: Will Johnson – Right leg surgery; Michael Nanchoff – sports hernia surgery; Gastón Fernández – turf toe
HEAD-TO-HEAD
- ALL-TIME (5 meetings): Dynamo 2 wins, 5 goals … Timbers 1 win, 4 goals … Ties 2
- AT HOUSTON (3 meetings): Dynamo 1 win, 3 goals … Timbers 0 wins, 2 goals … Ties 0
- FUTURE MATCHES: 6/20: Portland Timbers vs. Houston Dynamo, 7:30 p.m. PT; 8/21: Portland Timbers vs. Houston Dynamo, 8 p.m. PT (UniMas)
- The teams have played to draws in each of their last two matches in Houston, including a 1-1 result last April 27 at BBVA Compass Stadium in the only meeting between the teams.
- The Timbers have won once in five meetings all-time in the series, a 2-0 victory April 6, 2013, the last encounter at Providence Park. The Dynamo won 2-0 in their only other visit to Portland, in 2011.
- Coaches record: Caleb Porter vs. HOU: P2 W1 L0 D1 … Owen Coyle vs. POR: first game
HOUSTON DYNAMO
The Houston Dynamo put an end to their two-game losing slide, defeating Toronto FC 2-1 on Sunday afternoon at BMO Field. The Dynamo are in a tie for eighth place in the Western Conference with 13 points from 11 matches.
LAST MATCH
- The opener came late in the first half. Dynamo left back DaMarcus Beasley made a clever run into the box and picked up a deft through pass, forcing Michael Bradley into making a lunging tackle. Bradley’s slide brought Beasley down, and referee Chris Penso pointed to the spot. TFC ‘keeper Chris Konopka saved the initial attempt from Boniek Garcia, but he tucked home the rebound for the 44th-minute goal.
- The Dynamo doubled their lead shortly after halftime. Giles Barnes burst past Bradley on a breakaway, slipped a pass past a pair of defenders and found an onrushing Will Bruin, who buried his shot past Konopka for the 53rd minute second.
- TFC scored their first home goal of the season in the 77th minute when substitute Jonathan Osorio sent a pinpoint cross to an unmarked Jozy Altidore, who headed home to the near side of Dynamo ‘keeper Tyler Deric.
- Dynamo head coach Owen Coyle made two changes to the team that fell 1-0 to the San Jose Earthquakes at BBVA Compass Stadium. David Horst came into the back four in place of Kofi Sarkodie, and Will Bruin came into the team for Brad Davis.
- HOUSTON DYNAMO (4-4-1-1): Tyler Deric - Raul Rodriguez, David Horst, Jermaine Taylor, DaMarcus Beasley - Boniek Garcia (Zach Steinberger 83), Ricardo Clark (Leonel Miranda 83), Luis Garrido, Alexander Lopez (Rob Lovejoy 74) - Giles Barnes - Will Bruin.
TEAM NEWS
- The Dynamo won their first game since April 11, snapping a four-game undefeated streak overall in the win at Toronto FC. It was their first win away from BBVA Compass Stadium this season.
- “We gave ourselves a nervy 10 or 15 minutes, but we’ve got to learn to manage those games and see them out as we did eventually today,” Dynamo head coach Owen Coyle said. “Could we have defended better? Absolutely. But the boys stood up … we also stood up against the counterattack. What we had to do was show everybody we’re not feeling sorry for ourselves … we could pick ourselves up as we did.”
- Boniek Garcia scored the Dynamo opener, his first goal in MLS since last Sept. 28. Garcia was making a second consecutive start after being out of the first team for three matches.
- With Brad Davis out injured, Giles Barnes moved into the underneath striker role and collected his first assist of the season. He had four goals in the four games before the San Jose shutout defeat.
- “We know that Giles Barnes is a wonderful player. He brought everything to the game that anybody wants to see in terms of a top-class player. And you know as well in the last couple of games he missed a penalty during the week and he has picked himself off the floor, because it was a game that we should have won against San Jose and he has come up with that performance [vs. TFC],” said Coyle. “It epitomizes everything that we are looking for going forward. He is a wonderful player when he is in that form and we are fortunate to have him.”
- Will Bruin scored his second goal of the season, his second in the last four matches, returning to the starting lineup after coming off the substitutes’ bench the match before.
- I think we stayed focused through the whole 90 minutes. That is something we’ve been slacking with these last few games, is staying very compact and tight and hard to break down. I thought we did a very good job of that,” Bruin said.
- With Kofi Sarkodie out of the team after his late substitution in the San Jose match, Raul Rodriguez shifted out to right back for the first time. David Horst made his first start since April 11, coming into central defense.
- “When all was said and done we knew we performed really well against San Jose, a game we should’ve won. We felt we had to make changes just to freshen up,” Coyle said. “Kofi’s done terrific for a lot of games but we felt he needed a little break and Raul stepped in and we all know his qualities. That’s why you have a squad and a roster so you can change things and freshen up when you need to.”
- The Dynamo return home having won just once at BBVA Compass Stadium in five outings, concluding the three-game homestand with a draw and two losses in the San Jose match. They hit the road for six of their next eight games following the Portland match.
- “The name of the game is to get three points and win football matches. No one’s going to remember that we outpassed them. No one’s going to remember that we had more chances than they did,” DaMarcus Beasley. “Only thing they’re going to remember is that they beat us 1-0 in our house. To get one point out of possible nine is unacceptable. As players we have to look to ourselves and do better.”
