THE BASICS
Houston Dynamo at Colorado Rapids
Sunday, October 23, 2016, 3:00 p.m. CT
Dick's Sporting Goods Park, Commerce City, Colorado
BROADCAST INFORMATION
ROOT SPORTS - 2:30 p.m. (CHANNEL LISTINGS)
650 AM / Radio.com app- 2:30 p.m.
Univision Radio 1010 AM - 2:30 p.m.
PREVIEW
The Colorado Rapids will be aiming to secure the Supporters’ Shield for the first time in the club’s history when they play host to the Houston Dynamo on Decision Day at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park. The Rapids will need a win in the regular season finale, and an FC Dallas loss at the LA Galaxy, to clinch the overall best record in the league, after seeing their three-game winning run put to an end in a 1-0 loss at Portland last weekend. The Dynamo bring down the curtain on their 2016 campaign, suffering a third successive home loss last weekend in a 1-0 loss to the LA Galaxy at BBVA Compass Stadium.
REFEREE: Ismail Elfath. AR1 (bench): Peter Manikowski; AR2 (opposite): Andrew Bigelow; 4th: Alejandro Mariscal
MLS Career: 81 games; FC/gm: 24.9; Y/gm: 3.2; R: 18; pens: 22
INJURY REPORT, PRESENTED BY HOUSTON METHODIST (as of October 18)
HOUSTON DYNAMO—OUT: Tyler Deric – left elbow sprain; Agus – left knee sprain; DOUBTFUL: Raúl Rodríguez – right adductor strain; PROBABLE: Eric Alexander – right ankle sprain; DaMarcus Beasley – right hamstring strain; Sheanon Williams – right hamstring strain
COLORADO RAPIDS—OUT: Dillon Serna – knee
HEAD-TO-HEAD
- ALL-TIME (23 meetings): Rapids 9 wins, 32 goals … Dynamo 8 wins, 30 goals … Ties 6
- AT COLORADO (12 meetings): Rapids 7 wins, 15 goals … Dynamo 3 wins, 8 goals … Ties 2
- The teams are meeting for the second time this season, both meetings over the final three weeks of the season. Dominique Badji scored twice and Shkelzen Gashi hit for a late winner for the Rapids, overcoming a pair of goals from the Dynamo’s Mauro Manotas, in Colorado’s 3-2 win Oct. 8 at BBVA Compass Stadium.
- The Dynamo haven’t won at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park since 2008, with the Rapids winning the last three meetings in Commerce City.
- When the Dynamo won 3-2 victory on Sept. 26, 2015 at BBVA Compass Stadium, it was their first win in league play in the series since 2009. The Rapids won five of the nine meetings in between, with four draws.
- Coaches record: Wade Barrett vs. POR: P1 W0 L1 D0 … Pablo Mastroeni vs. HOU: P5 W3 L1 D1
LAST MEETING (MLS)
10/8: HOU 2, COL 3 (Manotas 45, 81 – Badji 12, 54; Gashi 79)
- The Rapids took the lead after just 12 minutes. Dominique Badji ran onto a lofted ball behind the Dynamo back line and buried a shot from a tight angle into the lower corner at the back post.
- But the Dynamo were level just before the break when Sheanon Williams found Mauro Manotas with a low cross from the right, and Manotas’ first-time shot on the half-turn beat Rapids goalkeeper Tim Howard to the near post.
- The Rapids were up again in the 54th minute when Dillon Powers fed a ball in the channel behind the Houston defense and Badji outraced a pair of defenders before slotting a low shot past Dynamo 'keeper Joe Willis from the top of the box. It was then 3-1 in the 79th minute when the Rapids forced a turnover deep and Shkelzen Gashi lashed home a low shot from outside the area.
- The Dynamo pulled a goal back just two minutes later when Manotas hit a low free kick from the left that appeared to take a deflection as it slid under the Colorado wall, catching Howard wrong-footed as it slipped inside the far post, but they could get no closer.
- HOUSTON DYNAMO (4-2-3-1): Joe Willis - Sheanon Williams, Raul Rodriguez, Jalil Anibaba, DaMarcus Beasley - Collen Warner, Ricardo Clark (Andrew Wenger 60) - Boniek Garcia (Jose Escalante 77), Cristian Maidana (Will Bruin 71), Alex - Mauro Manotas
- COLORADO RAPIDS (4-2-3-1): Tim Howard - Eric Miller, Jared Watts, Axel Sjoberg, Marc Burch - Sam Cronin, Micheal Azira - Sebastien Le Toux (Caleb Calvert 73), Dillon Powers, Shkelzen Gashi (Dennis Castillo 88) - Dominique Badji (Joseph Greenspan 90).
HOUSTON DYNAMO
The Houston Dynamo had their winless run stretched to four games with a third successive home defeat, falling 1-0 to the LA Galaxy on Sunday afternoon at BBVA Compass Stadium. The Dynamo are in 10th place in the Western Conference with 33 points from 33 games.
LAST GAME
- The game's only goal came in the 72nd minute. Dynamo defender David Horst tried to clear away a saved shot – but Galaxy striker Alan Gordon charged it down and bundled the ball home for the winner.
- Galaxy goalkeeper Brian Rowe was called upon to make two saves in keeping the clean sheet.
- Dynamo interim head coach Wade Barrett made seven changes to the team that reached a goalless draw with Seattle Sounders FC at CenturyLink Field. Only goalkeeper Joe Willis, center backs David Horst and Keyner Brown, and midfielder Collen Warner kept their places in the team.
- HOUSTON DYNAMO (4-2-3-1): Joe Willis – Jalil Anibaba, David Horst (Will Bruin 78), Keyner Brown, Abdoulie Mansally – Collen Warner (Ricardo Clark 62), Alex – Yair Arboleda (Andrew Wenger 62), Cristian Maidana, Boniek Garcia - Mauro Manotas.
TEAM NEWS
- The Dynamo had their overall winless streak extended to four games, with a third defeat in that time, in the loss to the Galaxy.
- “We have to prepare for this next week and make sure that we’re completely ready to go. We have one more game to finish out the season and it’s important to every single one of us on the staff, the players, everybody, that we put in maximum effort over this next week to try to go get points next weekend,” said Dynamo interim head coach Wade Barrett.
- It was a third consecutive defeat at BBVA Compass Stadium for the Dynamo, who have never gone four consecutive home games with a loss. The Dynamo will finish their 2016 season on the road – where they are unbeaten in their last four outings.
- “I think we have established a couple of good principles in the team. That said, I still want to deliver points at home. I think we’ve done a pretty good job on the road, it’s been four unbeaten on the road, but it’s been disappointing when we can’t deliver points at home,” Barrett said. “I’ve said this multiple times, we want to inspire people to come to the stadium. That doesn’t have to be through a win every time … but we do need to reward ourselves and the people that come to the stadium with wins at home.
- Said Andrew Wenger: “There’s been a very good [run of results] on the road. We’ve been good. We’ve been compact and organized defensively, and we’re still picking up some goals. That gives us a good base to play off of and go forward. As we get better and more organized defensively, we’ll be able to take more risks going forward. That’ll be exciting.”
- The Dynamo were also blanked at the attacking end for a second consecutive match, now 189 minutes since their last goal. They were shut out in three consecutive games once, from July 8-23.
- “When you put a group out there that’s familiar with each other, I think you get a little bit more fluidity in play and we didn’t have that tonight,” said Barrett. “Part of that comes from putting a group out there that you don’t have a ton of time to work on things over the course of a week.”
- Yair Arboleda made his MLS and Dynamo debut, coming into a wide midfield role and playing 62 minutes.
- “He’s been hungry, he’s been training hard, so I was happy that he got his first start tonight, it’s important that we get a good look at him because he hasn’t gotten to play so many minutes,” said Barrett.
- Abdoulie Mansally came in on the left side of the back four and played the full 90 minutes, his first since start since Aug. 24, when he was sent off just before halftime vs. Toronto FC.
- “I know we had to make some changes to the group, some ones that maybe we hadn’t planned on. That being said, we put out a team that was totally fresh – or mostly. One or two players had to serve double or triple duty, over the last three games,” said Barrett. “But for the most part we put out a group that was fresh and ready to go, and in a stretch like this I think that’s very important. We were in the game, we were competitive in the game, and I think the result was there for us, but we wanted more.”
