Saturday will be moving day for the Houston Dynamo, or so they hope.
Having already clinched a playoff spot, the Dynamo’s focus is on improving their lot in the MLS Cup Playoffs. If things stay the sam,e Houston would travel to Red Bull Arena to face New York on October 31 in an elimination game. However, a win and some fortunate results could turn things completely.
With so much uncertainty, the Dynamo are making sure to take Saturday’s regular season finale as they would every other game and letting the chips fall where they may.
“We’re not trying to put the cart before the horse,” said defender Corey Ashe. “That’s the big thing we’re going to harp on which is to not overlook it and focus on the game and go from there. That’s how we’re going to approach it but we’ll definitely be watching the TV, that’s for sure.”
The scenarios for Houston to get that improved position revolve around the Philadelphia-New York and Chicago-DC matches. With both games slated to finish before the Dynamo take the field Saturday night, the outcomes could make a big difference come game time.
“Yeah, we’re going to take more players on this trip than normal. You’ve got to be prepared for what happens,” said head coach Dominic Kinnear. “The squad’s pretty healthy right now but like I said we’ll have an eye on the other games being played before we step on the field and then we’ll take it from there.”
Watching games will not be a departure from the normal game day routine for Kinnear, but this week his viewing habits have some added implications; “Obviously it has a bearing on what I’ll do a couple hours after watching the game but it’s pretty much standard to sit around and watch games.”
However, all the scenarios hinge on Houston winning Saturday night.
“We’re gonna prepare like we always would, but we’ll be watching results before we go and we’ll know because we’re one of the later games,” said striker Will Bruin. “I think we’ll prepare like we always do and go for three points. That’s how we help ourselves by getting a win.”
Darrell Lovell covers the Houston Dynamo for MLSsoccer.com. Follow him on twitter at @DarrellLovell.
