THE BASICS
Houston Dynamo at FC Dallas
Sunday, October 4, 4:00 p.m. CT
Toyota Stadium, Frisco, Texas
BROADCAST INFORMATION
ESPN2 - 4:00 p.m. CHANNEL LISTINGS
Yahoo! Sports Radio 1560 AM - 4:00 p.m. (3:30 p.m. pregame)
La Ranchera 850 AM / 101.7 FM - 4:00 p.m. (3:30 p.m. pregame)
PREVIEW
The third Texas Derby meeting of the season will have huge playoff implications when FC Dallas play host to the Houston Dynamo on Sunday afternoon at Toyota Stadium. FC Dallas return home in third place in the Western Conference, off of a second consecutive defeat in a 3-2 loss to the LA Galaxy at StubHub Center last weekend. The Dynamo are sitting three points below the red line, in eighth spot in the division, maintaining touch following a 3-2 home win against the Colorado Rapids last Saturday at BBVA Compass Stadium.
REFEREE: Chris Penso. AR1 (bench): George Gansner; AR2 (opposite): Mike Rottersman; 4th: Alejandro Mariscal
MLS Career: 75 games; FC/gm: 24.0; Y/gm: 3.4; R: 22; pens: 26
INJURY REPORT, PRESENTED BY HOUSTON METHODIST (as of Friday, October 2)
HOUSTON DYNAMO – DOUBTFUL: Jermaine Taylor – Right quad tear
FC DALLAS – OUT: Bakary Soumare - concussion symptoms
HEAD-TO-HEAD
- ALL-TIME (23 meetings): FC Dallas 7 wins, 32 goals … Dynamo 9 wins, 32 goals … Ties 7
- AT DALLAS (11 meetings): FC Dallas 4 wins, 12 goals … Dynamo 3 wins, 13 goals … Ties 4
- 2015 (MLS): 5/1: HOU 1, DAL 4 (Barnes 32 – Hollingshead 9; Texeira 21; Diaz 52; Castillo 55); 6/26: DAL 2, HOU 0 (own goal 33; Castillo 42)
- The teams are meeting for the third time this season, and FC Dallas have won both. Ryan Hollingshead, David Texeira, Mauro Diaz and Fabian Castillo all scored as FC Dallas rolled to a 4-1 win, May 1 at BBVA Compass Stadium; an own goal and a Castillo goal led FCD to a 2-0 victory June 26 at Toyota Stadium.
- FC Dallas have won the last four meetings between the teams, over the last three seasons. FCD has won the last two meetings at BBVA Compass Stadium, just their second and third wins all-time in Houston in 14 meetings in all competitions, the first since 2010.
- The clubs play for “El Capitán”, the 19th-century Mountain Howitzer cannon to be awarded to the winner of the season series by supporters groups for both clubs. This will be first year since 2011 the series will include more than one meeting during the regular season, with both clubs now in the Western Conference.
- Coaches record: Oscar Pareja vs. HOU: P5 W4 L0 D1 … Owen Coyle vs. DAL: P2 W0 L2 D0
HOUSTON DYNAMO
The Houston Dynamo won their second consecutive game at home, defeating the Colorado Rapids 3-2 on Saturday evening at BBVA Compass Stadium. The Dynamo are in eighth place in the Western Conference with 41 points from 31 matches.
LAST MATCH
- The Dynamo took the lead in just the third minute. Will Bruin won the ball to ignite the attack and played Giles Barnes into the penalty area. Barnes then managed to get it in the path of Leonel Miranda, who sent a first-time inside the far post from the right side of the box.
- The Rapids equalized six minutes later. With a dangerous free kick 28 yards away out on the left, Vicente Sanchez curled a pinpoint attempt around the wall and just inside the near post where Dynamo goalkeeper Tyler Deric couldn’t get to it.
- The Dynamo again scored the go-ahead goal in the 24th minute. Bruin played himself down the line and beat a defender to the ball before sliding a pass into the area where Giles Barnes was cutting in to tap home.
- But Colorado evened terms again in the 44th minute. Sanchez worked the back end of a one-two with Dillon Powers to drive the ball across the goal and toward the far post. The ball took a touch off Dynamo center back Raul Rodriguez, but still nestled into the goal for Sanchez's second of the match.
- The game-winner came barely two minutes into the second half. Bruin missed a header, letting the ball fall right to Brad Davis. With Rapids goalkeeper Clint Irwin chasing the initial cross, Davis had only to turn the ball into an empty goal
- Dynamo head coach Owen Coyle made one change to the team that took a 1-0 decision from Sporting Kansas City at BBVA Compass Stadium. Sheanon Williams came in for the suspended Boniek Garcia.
- HOUSTON DYNAMO (4-4-1-1): Tyler Deric - Sheanon Williams, David Horst, Raul Rodriguez, DaMarcus Beasley - Leonel Miranda, Ricardo Clark (Alex 69), Rasheed Olabiyi (Luis Garrido 83), Brad Davis - Giles Barnes - Will Bruin.
TEAM NEWS
- The Dynamo have put together back-to-back wins for just the second time this season, the first since wins against Toronto FC and Portland on May 10-16.
- “We just saw Portland won as well, so there is no let up at all. We have to get three points out of every game,” Giles Barnes said. “When we’ve got our team healthy we can beat anybody in the league. We’ve shown that all season. We’re so confident in ourselves when we’re healthy. We have everything going for us.
- Barnes scored his seventh goal of the season, but his first since May 16, having gone 13 appearances since his last goal. Barnes also added an assist, the first time in his four MLS seasons he had at least a goal and an assist in the same game.
- “I told him he was going to score. I told him he was going to go kill a corner flag but he didn’t do it,” Will Bruin said of Barnes. “The way we set up sometimes he draws underneath. He likes to get the ball at his feet and lately he’s been getting it in our half. I’ve been telling him, ‘Just stay high, just stay high; the ball will come to us.’ The further up the field he is, the better off we are. If we can keep it going like this we’re going to score some goals.”
- BSaid center back David Horst: “It’s huge to get his confidence going. He’s going to be big these last few games. We need goals and [Giles] and Will need to provide those goals. So for him to get back on the scoresheet and get his confidence going is going to be great for what we’re trying to do.”
- Brad Davis scored his fourth goal of the season, his third in the last five matches. Davis has three goals and three assists over the last seven games, dating back to Aug. 21.
- Bruin collected a pair of assists, the second time in his MLS career he had two assists in a game – the first coming on May 8, 2013, when he scored two goals and added two assists in a win at D.C. United. All four of Bruin’s assists this season have come since June 5; he has a goal and two assists in the last two games.
- “Will has been fantastic these past few weeks,” Horst said. “He’s been battling some big guys up there and [that game was] no different. The more he can do that the better we’ll be. He got some assists and he’s gotten some goals recently so if he can keep that going forward I’ll love him for that.”
- Rasheed Olabiyi made a second consecutive start after a four-match absence, his first two starts since Aug. 21 and his third MLS start overall.
- Sheanon Williams returned to the starting lineup after coming off the substitutes’ bench in the Sporting KC match, his 10th start since coming to the Dynamo from Philadelphia.
