THE BASICS
Houston Dynamo vs. Portland Timbers
Saturday, September 24, 2016, 7:45 p.m. CT
BBVA Compass Stadium, Houston, Texas
BROADCAST INFORMATION
UniMás 67 - 8:00 p.m. (CHANNEL LISTINGS)
650 AM / Radio.com app- 7:30 p.m.
Estéreo Latino 102.9 - 7:30 p.m.
PREVIEW
A critical meeting of clubs still in the chase for places in the Audi 2016 MLS Cup Playoffs meet when the Houston Dynamo play host to the Portland Timbers on Saturday evening at BBVA Compass Stadium. The Dynamo come into the match sitting 11 points below the red line at the foot of the Western Conference table – but with two games in hand, following their 1-0 victory at Real Salt Lake last Saturday. The Timbers hit the road after winning back-to-back games at Providence Park, last a 2-1 victory against Philadelphia Union, pulling them into fifth place a point above the red line.
REFEREE: Juan Guzman. AR1 (bench): Claudiu Badea; AR2 (opposite): Peter Balciunas; 4th: Rubiel Vazquez
MLS Career: 76 games; FC/gm: 25.3; Y/gm: 3.6; R: 24; pens: 16
INJURY REPORT, PRESENTED BY HOUSTON METHODIST (as of September 13)
HOUSTON DYNAMO—OUT: Tyler Deric – left elbow sprain; Agus – left knee sprain; QUESTIONABLE: Rob Lovejoy – left hamstring strain
PORTLAND TIMBERS—OUT: Nat Borches – Achilles; QUESTIONABLE: Lucas Melano – groin; Vytas – ribs
HEAD-TO-HEAD
- ALL-TIME (9 meetings): Dynamo 3 wins, 12 goals … Timbers 3 wins, 12 goals … Ties 3
- AT HOUSTON (4 meetings): Timbers 2 wins, 6 goals … Dynamo 0 wins, 3 goals … Ties 2
- The teams are meeting for the second time this season. Diego Valeri set up the first goal then scored the next two, including the game-winner on a penalty kick in stoppage time, as the Timbers claimed a 3-2 win June 26 at Providence Park.
- The Timbers have won three times in nine meetings all-time in the series, winning three of the last four meetings at Providence Park. The Dynamo have won two of the four meetings all-time in Houston, with two draws.
- Coaches record: Caleb Porter vs. HOU: P6 W3 L1 D2 … Wade Barrett vs. POR: P1 W0 L1 D0
LAST MEETING (MLS)
6/26: POR 3, HOU 2 (Melano 64; Valeri 82, 91+ -- Wenger 28; Bruin 30)
- The Dynamo opened the scoring in the 28th minute, when Andrew Wenger slotted home a shot from a tight angle from the right side of the box. Two minutes later, Houston doubled its lead when forward Will Bruin latched on to forward Boniek Garcia’s pass into the area, tucking his effort inside the left post.
- The Timbers began their comeback in the 63rd minute, when Lucas Melano made a well-timed diagonal run in behind the Dynamo defense, running on to a carefully placed pass from Diego Valeri then tucking his effort past Houston goalkeeper Joe Willis.
- The equalizer came in the 82nd minute of play after defender David Horst was adjudged to have handled in the box and Valeri stepped up to the spot, blasting his attempt into the top left corner. The winner then came in stoppage time, also from the penalty spot, after Melano was brought down by Willis inside the area and Valeri chipped his effort down the middle as Willis dove right.
- PORTLAND TIMBERS (4-2-3-1): Jake Gleeson - Alvas Powell (Zarek Valentin 66), Nat Borchers, Liam Ridgewell, Jermaine Taylor - Diego Chara, Ben Zemanski - Lucas Melano, Diego Valeri (Jack Jewsbury 89), Darren Mattocks (Jack McInerney 71) - Fanendo Adi.
- HOUSTON DYNAMO (4-1-4-1): Tyler Deric (Joe Willis 46) - Jalil Anibaba, David Horst, Raul Rodriguez, DaMarcus Beasley - Collen Warner - Andrew Wenger (Cristian Maidana 76), Ricardo Clark, Alex, Boniek Garcia - Will Bruin (Mauro Manotas 84)
HOUSTON DYNAMO
The Houston Dynamo put an end to their winless streak after three matches, defeating Real Salt Lake 1-0 on Saturday evening at Rio Tinto Stadium. The Dynamo are in 10th place in the Western Conference with 29 points from 28 games.
LAST GAME
- The game's lone goal came in the 36th minute. Dynamo midfielder Ricardo Clark stripped a defender of the ball in RSL's half and played a pass to Alex, who raced forward before smashing a toepoke shot from the edge of the area past Nick Rimando and into the top right corner of the net.
- Dynamo goalkeeper Joe Willis was called upon to make just one save in keeping the clean sheet.
- Dynamo interim head coach Wade Barrett made no changes to the team that came back for a late 3-3 draw with Sporting Kansas City at Children’s Mercy Park.
- HOUSTON DYNAMO (4-1-4-1): Joe Willis - Sheanon Williams, Raul Rodriguez, Jalil Anibaba, DaMarcus Beasley - Collen Warner - Boniek Garcia, Ricardo Clark, Alex (Andrew Wenger 57), Cristian Maidana (Eric Alexander 75) - Mauro Manotas (Will Bruin 84).
TEAM NEWS
- The Dynamo put an end to a three-game winless run with the win against Real Salt Lake. The Dynamo have six wins in league play this season, none of them in back-to-back games.
- “It was difficult, but that's what life on the road is like,” said Houston head coach Wade Barrett. “It's difficult to close out a result against a good team in their house. It was a tall task for us and it worked out tonight.”
- It was the Dynamo’s second road win of the season, both coming over the last three away matches, where they also have a draw.
- “We had two good performances on the road, two good results on the road. And the last two road games we have won. One away at San Jose, and we got a draw last week at Kansas City,” said Barrett. “This is a tough place to come play; you know they are a good team. They obviously are good at home so we knew it would take a lot. But we don’t have that many wins on the road this year. And we had good form in the last couple of games, so I hope my guys take a lot of confidence from it.”
- Said defender Sheanon Williams: “We’re just trying to make us feel confident away from home. Letting ourselves know that what we do at home we can do on the road. Wade [Barrett] has done a good job of preparing us for the games, making sure we’re compact and know what to do going into the games and having a good game plan ahead of time.”
- The result was the eighth defensive shutout of the season for the Dynamo, their first since July 23. It was their third victory by a 1-0 scoreline this season – two of those against Real Salt Lake.
- “After the three goals last week we were disappointed but we tried to rectify that today and I think we did a good job getting a shutout,” Williams said. “It is important for the coaching staff to have confidence in [the back four]. To give us a few games under our belt and give us some continuity and I thought we did a lot better job this week than we did last week.”
- Alex scored his third goal of the season, his third consecutive game with a goal, matching the Dynamo club record goalscoring streak set eight times previously.
- “Alex has been good. The one thing I can say about Alex is that he works hard every single day in training. He doesn’t just bring it in the games, you see the energy he puts out in the games and the amount of ground he covers. We ask the guys to put in a lot of defensive work and he is still getting up there to create chances, so he has done a great job.”
- Said Williams: “I think it has gone kind of under the radar. He’s done a fabulous job. He breaks up a lot of plays and of course when you can get your midfielders scoring goals it is really important for us. It helps out on our front line and our whole team. He’s done a great job at finishing opportunities and that is really important for us.”
- Ricardo Clark collected his third assist of the season, his second in the last four matches, which were his first two assists since the opening game of the campaign.
- Barrett made no changes to his team for a third time in 16 games since he took over the head coaching duties for the May 28 game vs. Vancouver.
