There’s likely no team the Houston Dynamo know better than Sporting Kansas City.
Friday night will be the 19th meeting between the rivals since 2012 across MLS regular season, playoffs, and U.S. Open Cup and the third clash of 2016, with the Dynamo picking up wins in MLS and Open Cup play. At this juncture, the Dynamo aren’t expecting any surprises at Children’s Mercy Park (7 p.m. on UniMás).
“I always say, it doesn’t make it any easier to deal with when you know what to expect because they’re very good at what they do,” interim head coach Wade Barrett said. “But we’ve talked about how we’re going to handle things and I’m confident that guys are going to go in there and get a good result.”
“They’re one of the teams that consistently stay the same,” defender Sheanon Williams agreed. “No matter who’s out there, they have the same formation, they try to play the same way. We know what to expect from them and we just have to be ready for it.”
Kansas City and head coach Peter Vermes have stayed true to their high-pressing 4-3-3 formation throughout the years, but along with the philosophical consistency their core group hasn’t had too much variance.
“A lot of their major players are still in the same positions for them,” Barrett said. “[Dom] Dwyer, no matter how much you know him, he’s a good player. He creates chances, he causes problems for the defense. [Roger] Espinoza, [Benny] Feilhaber just put in a good shift, they’re good players. We know what to expect but it’s on us to go in and put our plan in place and to come away with points.”
The Dynamo have been effective against Sporting Kansas City recently, with the two wins this year at BBVA Compass Stadium and a 3-0-2 mark in their last five MLS meetings. But as the cliché goes, those records go out the window when they step on the field.
“They have a good team and we’ve seen them a couple times this year, but those games don’t really mean anything,” Williams said. “It’s kind of like you’re playing them again for the first time, it’s been a while since we’ve gone up against them.”
It will be Houston’s first visit to Kansas City in a year, where Sporting is 9-4-1 this season. In front of a typically raucous home crowd and against a team fighting for playoff positioning, the Dynamo know their gameplan will be put to the test.
“As always, we expect a tough match. They bring a lot of energy, they bring a lot of pressure. It’s always a fun match, matching up against a team that brings that every single time they step onto the field. So it’s a big challenge for us, but we know what to expect.”
