THE BASICS
Houston Dynamo vs. Real Salt Lake
Sunday, May 11, 6:00 p.m. CT
BBVA Compass Stadium, Houston, TX
BROADCAST INFORMATION
CSN Houston - 6:00 p.m. (5:30 p.m. pregame) CHANNEL LISTINGS
MLS LIVE - 6:00 p.m.
MLS Free Stream of the Week - 6:00 p.m.
Yahoo Sports Radio 1560 AM - 6:00 p.m. (5:30 p.m. pregame)
La Ranchera 850 AM - 6:00 p.m. (5:30 p.m. pregame)
PREVIEW
The Houston Dynamo will be looking to maintain their home dominance of Real Salt Lake when the clubs meet in an interconference clash Sunday evening at BBVA Compass Stadium. The Dynamo, who have never lost at home to Real, are coming off their second consecutive win, a 1-0 triumph against Columbus at midweek. RSL continue their road swing off a dramatic, late 3-2 victory at the Chicago Fire last weekend.
REFEREE: Allen Chapman. AR1 (bench): Adam Garner; AR2 (opposite): Claudio Badea; 4th: Ismail Elfath
MLS Career: 36 games; FC/gm: 22.1; Y/gm: 3.3; R: 8; pens: 8
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
REAL SALT LAKE -- OUT: Robbie Findley – R knee; Rich Balchan – adductor; PROBABLE: Chris Schuler – R knee; Kwame Watson-Siriboe – R knee; Cole Grossman – shin splints; Luis Gil – L hamstring
HEAD-TO-HEAD
- ALL-TIME (18 meetings): Dynamo 9 wins, 26 goals … Real 4 wins, 23 goals … Ties 5/li>
- AT HOUSTON (9 meetings): Dynamo 8 wins, 22 goals … Real 0 wins, 14 goals … Ties 1
- RETURN MATCHES: None.
- This is the only league meeting between the teams this season.
- Real defeated Houston1-0 last Aug. 10 at Rio Tinto Stadium, their first victory against the Dynamo since the 2010 campaign. RSL has taken points from their last five home games vs. Houston, with three draws in that time.
- RSL is winless lifetime in nine trips to Houston; their lone result came in a 1-1 draw June 20, 2009. Last year, Real won for the first time ever in the state of Texas after 22 games, in a 3-0 victory July 13 against FC Dallas.
- Coaches record: Dominic Kinnear vs. RSL: P22 W11 L4 T7 … Jeff Cassar vs. HOU: first game
HOUSTON DYNAMO
The Houston Dynamo won their second game on the trot, getting the game’s only goal for a victory against the Columbus Crew on Wednesday evening at BBVA Compass Stadium. The Dynamo are in a tie for first place in the Eastern Conference with 14 points from 10 games.
LAST MATCH
- The game's lone goal came five minutes after the second-half restart. Brad Davis put a free kick into the middle of a group in the Columbus' penalty area and it was the back of Will Bruin’s head that made the contact to fool Crew goalkeeper Steve Clark and loop the ball into the back of the net.
- Dynamo goalkeeper Tally Hall was credited with five saves in recording the clean sheet, the second blanking in a row for the Crew.
- Dynamo head coach Dominic Kinnear made one change to the team that rolled to a 4-1 win against Chivas USA at StubHub Center. A.J. Cochran came into central defense in place of Jermaine Taylor.
- HOUSTON DYNAMO (4-1-3-2): Tally Hall - Kofi Sarkodie, David Horst, A.J. Cochran, Corey Ashe - Servando Carrasco - Boniek Garcia (Omar Cummings 85), Brad Davis (Warren Creavalle 61), Andrew Driver - Giles Barnes, Will Bruin (Mark Sherrod 74).
TEAM NEWS
- The Dynamo have now won back-to-back games, their first two victories since winning the opening two games of the season vs. New England and Montreal.
- “It’s always good to get three points at home while we’re coming off a good victory as well. There is a lot of confidence around the squad at the moment and we have got to keep the train rolling and I think obviously when we got the goal up we protected the lead very well,” forward Giles Barnes said. “Everyone is pulling for each other and we’re pulling the same direction.”
- Will Bruin scored his sixth goal of the season, tied for third in the MLS Golden Boot standings behind Clint Dempsey of Seattle (8) and Chivas USA’s Erick Torres (7). Bruin has scored a goal in three consecutive games matching the longest goal-scoring streak of his career (achieved twice during the 2012 season).
- “I think Will has been big for us this year with that, he’s off to a good start and obviously with a game winning goal. It’s three points in the books because he can finish like that,” said head coach Dominic Kinnear. “I think if you’re criticizing Will then I think you’re looking at the wrong things. What he does off the ball, the way he works, the way he battles, the way he fights are all things he does for this team and a box score or a stat sheet is never going to show that, and that’s why he’s been a key player for us because he’s had that mentality since day one. There’s a reason he’s always on the field, because the team needs what he can give them.”
- Making a third consecutive start after missing three games through injury, Brad Davis recorded his second assist in those games. Davis has four assists on the season, tied for second overall in MLS, behind Seattle’s Obafemi Martins (6).“Obviously when you have someone like Brad who can whip the ball in, I can just go straight into the box. I think we have a good understanding of each other of what runs I like to make and he can put it right on my head and/or my foot,” Bruin said.
- It was the third goal scored this season by the Dynamo from a free kick, from their 13 goals scored for the season.
- “We had a few set pieces and I kind of felt like I was a bit of a spare part and I thought I could lend a bit of a hand,” Andrew Driver said. “My considerable weight got in the way of the guy and managed to get a free header… Obviously it got us a victory.”
- Tally Hall recorded his fourth shutout of the season, tying him for the MLS lead with Clint Irwin (Colorado) and Eric Kronberg (Kansas City).
- “He’s a good shot-stopper, we all know that, we’ve seen it over the years. I think [goalkeepers coach Tim Hanley] does a good job with telling him to not beat himself and to remain big. He doesn’t overplay, he tries and lets the guy attacking goal beat him,” said Kinnear. “Like I said he doesn’t make those mistakes and he makes himself look big and obviously he has some quick hands.”
