THE BASICS
Houston Dynamo vs. Sporting Kansas City
Saturday, April 25, 7:30 p.m. CT
BBVA Compass Stadium, Houston, Texas
BROADCAST INFORMATION
ROOT SPORTS - 7:30 p.m. (7:00 p.m. pregame) CHANNEL LISTINGS
Telemundo Houston - 11:00 p.m. (tape delay) CHANNEL LISTINGS
Yahoo Sports Radio 1560 AM - 7:30 p.m. (7:00 p.m. pregame)
La Ranchera 850 AM - 7:30 p.m. (7:00 p.m. pregame)
PREVIEW
Still conference rivals despite a shift from East to West, the Houston Dynamo and Sporting Kansas City meet for the first time this season when the clubs face off Saturday evening at BBVA Compass Stadium. The Dynamo return home off the heels of a 1-1 draw at D.C. United last weekend, while Sporting saw their four-game undefeated run come to an end in a late 2-1 loss at the LA Galaxy. It’s a rivalry born from three consecutive meetings between the clubs in the MLS Cup Playoffs from 2011-13 – when both clubs were in the Eastern Conference.
REFEREE: Kevin Stott. AR1 (bench): Chris Strickland; AR2 (opposite): Apolinar Mariscal; 4th: Armando Villarreal
MLS Career: 263 games; FC/gm: 25.5; Y/gm: 3.3; R: 64; pens: 66
INJURY REPORT, PRESENTED BY HOUSTON METHODIST (as of Thursday, April 23)
HOUSTON DYNAMO – PROBABLE: Boniek García – Left knee sprain
SPORTING KANSAS CITY – OUT: Ike Opara – ruptured left Achilles tendon; QUESTIONABLE: Chance Myers – Left Achilles; Krisztian Nemeth – Right hip bursitis
HEAD-TO-HEAD
- ALL-TIME (20 meetings): Dynamo 7 wins, 25 goals … Sporting 5 wins, 22 goals … Ties 8
- AT HOUSTON (10 meetings): Dynamo 3 wins, 12 goals … Sporting 3 wins, 10 goals … Ties 4
- RETURN MATCHES: 8/1: Sporting Kansas City vs. Houston Dynamo, 7:30 p.m. CT; 9/23: Houston Dynamo vs. Sporting Kansas City, 7:30 p.m. CT
- Each team won at the other’s home ground in the two meetings 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: P13 W4 L3 D6 … Owen Coyle vs. KC: first game
HOUSTON DYNAMO
The Houston Dynamo gained points from a second consecutive match, coming back for a 1-1 draw with D.C. United on Saturday evening at RFK Stadium. The Dynamo are in a tie for fifth place in the Western Conference with 9 points from 7 matches.
LAST MATCH
- United took the lead 36 minutes in. Jairo Arrieta used a nifty run to draw a foul some 22 yards straight out from goal. From the ensuing free kick, Chris Rolfe struck a venomous, curling effort just inside the upper corner at the right post, leaving Dynamo keeper Tyler Deric no chance even at full extension.
- The Dynamo evened the score in the 65th minute. Brad Davis sent a ball in from the far side corner, which Will Bruin did well to head goalwards. United goalkeeper Andrew Dykstra made an excellent reflex save to push the ball away from goal, but Ricardo Clark was right there to hammer home the rebound from six yards out.
- Dynamo head coach Owen Coyle made two changes to the team that rolled to a 3-0 victory against the Montréal Impact at BBVA Compass Stadium. Raul Rodriguez came into the back four in place of David Horst, and Alexander Lopez started in place of Boniek Garcia.
- HOUSTON DYNAMO (4-2-3-1): Tyler Deric - Kofi Sarkodie, Raul Rodriguez, Jermaine Taylor, DaMarcus Beasley - Luis Garrido (Will Bruin 46 / Chandler Hoffman 90), Nathan Sturgis - Alexander Lopez (Rob Lovejoy 80), Ricardo Clark, Brad Davis - Giles Barnes.
TEAM NEWS
- The Dynamo have not won a game away from BBVA Compass Stadium this season, but they have taken points from two of their three away matches.
- “We were dominant throughout the second half. We scored a great goal even though the ‘keeper made an outstanding save,” said Dynamo head coach Owen Coyle. “My honest assessment is that I think D.C. will be delighted to have gotten a point. We have set standards and we have to keep attaining to those standards in tough places like this.”
- Ricardo Clark has scored goals in consecutive games for the fourth time in his MLS career. Each of Clark’s last six goals have come in three pairs of back-to-back games.
- “He’s such a fit lad every time he comes on the grass and he can get forward and get a goal,” Coyle said. “Of course we always encourage him to get forward.”
- Said Brad Davis: “I think it’s extremely important for us. Rico’s in the middle of the park and that’s one of the things we want out of him. We know how honest he is defensively, but you want him to be able to get up the park and get close to the forwards and get those types of chances and that’s what he did.”
- Alexander Lopez made his first start of the season, coming into a wide midfield role in place of the injured Boniek Garcia. It was Lopez’s first start in MLS since June 6 of last season – which came against Sporting KC; he has made three starts among his 15 career league appearances.
- “We’ve said it from day one in preseason, we know Alex is very talented,” Coyle said. “And what we’ve tried to do is we want to find the role that Alex can bring to the team, and Saturday he was terrific. ... When he brings that work rate, we know the qualities he’s got on the ball. What he’s got to do now is deliver on it for the Dynamo.”
- The Dynamo started the match with Giles Barnes as the lone out-and-out striker, as they have aligned throughout the season. But there was a significant at the halftime break when Will Bruin came on to form a strike pair with Barnes, with Luis Garrido going off and Nathan Sturgis remaining as the deep-lying central midfielder.
- “Will [Bruin] is a proven goal scorer in this league and I have to say that I thought he was outstanding. He led the line and I think he brought a lot to the team,” said Coyle. “I told him after the game that I was so pleased for him and that is the standard he has to bring to the team every week and if he does, then I have a real hard decision to make.”
- Said Clark: “We matched up a little bit better, especially in the midfield. They were finding some gaps. … I think even with the 4-4-2 we still had some good spots, but it made us better and created more chances.”
- After missing out on the Montréal match through an injury that had forced him off early the week before, Raúl Rodríguez returned to the back four in central defense.
