THE BASICS
Houston Dynamo vs. Sporting Kansas City
Saturday, May 7, 2016, 7:15 p.m. CT
BBVA Compass Stadium, Houston, Texas
TICKETS
BROADCAST INFORMATION
ROOT SPORTS Alternate - 7:00 p.m. (CHANNEL LISTINGS)
610 AM / Radio.com app - 7:00 p.m.
Univision Radio 1010 AM - 7:00 p.m.
PREVIEW
A key contest in the Western Conference for a pair of clubs looking to reverse recent trends is ahead on Saturday evening when the Houston Dynamo play host to Sporting Kansas City at BBVA Compass Stadium. The Dynamo saw their winless streak extended to six games with a third loss in a row last weekend, falling 2-1 at Real Salt Lake. Sporting have now gone five games without a win with a second successive draw last Sunday, reaching a 1-1 result with the LA Galaxy at Children’s Mercy Park.
REFEREE: Drew Fischer. AR1 (bench): Jonathan Johnson; AR2 (opposite): Kevin Klinger; 4th: Edvin Jurisevic
MLS Career: 51 games; FC/gm: 26.3; Y/gm: 3.0; R: 4; pens: 15
INJURY REPORT, PRESENTED BY HOUSTON METHODIST (as of May 4)
HOUSTON DYNAMO—None.
SPORTING KANSAS CITY—OUT: Kevin Ellis – right groin strain; QUESTIONABLE: Soni Mustivar – left hamstring strain
HEAD-TO-HEAD
- ALL-TIME (23 meetings): Dynamo 8 wins, 31 goals … Sporting 5 wins, 27 goals … Ties 10
- AT HOUSTON (12 meetings): Dynamo 4 wins, 17 goals … Sporting 3 wins, 14 goals … Ties 5
- RETURN MATCH: Sporting Kansas City vs. Houston Dynamo, 7 p.m. CT (UNI)
- LAST YEAR: 4/25: HOU 4, KC 4 (Barnes 11, 46; Bruin 46+; R. Rodriguez 83 – Nemeth 2; Dwyer 74; Feilhaber 80, 95+); 8/1: KC 1, HOU 1 (Dwyer 6 – Clark 78); 9/23: HOU 1, KC 0 (Bruin 67)
- The teams played to two draws a year ago, a wild 4-4 draw April 25 at BBVA Compass Stadium and a 1-1 draw Aug. 1 in Kansas City, before the Dynamo claimed a 1-0 victory in Houston on Sept. 23. It was the first victory for the home team in the series in nine matches, since a Dynamo home win in 2012.
- Each team won at the other’s home ground in the two matchups in 2014. 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. Sporting’s last win at home in the series came in 2011, winless in their first meetings at Children’s Mercy Park (0-1-4).
- 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: P16 W4 L4 D8 … Owen Coyle vs. KC: P3 W1 L0 D2
HOUSTON DYNAMO
The Houston Dynamo saw their winless streak stretched to six matches with a third consecutive defeat, dropping a 2-1 decision to Real Salt Lake on Saturday evening at Rio Tinto Stadium. The Dynamo are in 10th place in the Western Conference with 5 points from 8 games.
LAST GAME
- The Dynamo took the lead in the 54th minute when Giles Barnes corraled a loose ball and found Leonel Miranda at the top of the box, whose shot took a deflection off a defender's arm and found its way into the goal.
- But Real were level just eight minutes when Justen Glad made a nice turn at the top of the penalty area to feed Jordan Allen for a rocket which sailed into the back of the net for the equalizer.
- Eight minutes later, RSL turned possession into a great team goal when Demar Phillips sent a great low cross into the penalty area from the wing for Yura Movsisyan to slide into and knock home for the winner.
- Dynamo head coach Owen Coyle made two changes to the team that fell by the game’s only goal in a loss to Columbus Crew SC at Mapfre Stadium. Joe Willis came in between the posts for the suspended Tyler Deric, and Leonel Miranda started in midfield for Alex.
- HOUSTON DYNAMO (4-2-3-1): Joe Willis - Sheanon Williams, Raul Rodriguez, Agus, DaMarcus Beasley (Cristian Maidana 83) - Collen Warner (Will Bruin 75), Ricardo Clark - Andrew Wenger, Boniek Garcia (Erick Torres 83), Leonel Miranda - Giles Barnes.
TEAM NEWS
- The Dynamo saw their winless streak extended to six matches with a third consecutive defeat, the club’s longest stretch without a victory since the 2014 season. The club record is 10 games without a win, set in 2010.
- “Even at 2-1 we were still pushing on to get the equalizer and had some wonderful chances. … We didn’t change anything. We still kept pushing on and a couple of individual errors cost us dearly,” said Dynamo head coach Owen Coyle.
- The Dynamo scored one goal in a game for the third time in the last five matches, the other two being shutouts. The Dynamo have scored three goals total since scoring an MLS-record 11 goals over their first three games.
- “I think we’ve shown today that we can play and we can create chances and we can certainly score goals. … We’re feeling a little bit hard done not to leave with anything, but we know if we continue to perform and cut out the little mistakes, which we have to do, because if we cut them out, then we will win a few games,” said Coyle.
- The loss was a second of the season for the Dynamo after scoring the opening goal, the most of any team in MLS this season (also with one draw after scoring first). The Dynamo have failed to hold the lead in the second half on each occasion.
- “It just comes down to individual mistakes these last few results. How much the team just kind of needs a break to go their way before they string together some results. That’s exactly it,” said goalkeeper Joe Willis. “We’re waiting for that break. We’re putting so much effort into every game and we’re coming away with nothing every time and it’s really disheartening. It’s tough to figure out what exactly we’re doing wrong, because for the most part we have good shape. We put so much effort into it that I think we need a lucky break to go our way to kind of turn the tide.”
- Leonel Miranda scored his first goal of the season, his first since last Sept. 26 of last season, his third goal in his second MLS campaign.
- Giles Barnes recorded his first assist of the season, playing the full 90 minutes for a third consecutive match, lined up as the lone out-and-out striker.
- “It’s not the result we wanted, but we wanted to stick together. We’ve got to stay united. We really believe what we have here. It’s just waiting for that break, but we still got a lot of games left and we got a lot of belief in this change room,” said Barnes.
