The Houston Dynamo hit the road for the first of three consecutive road matches on Wednesday against the Philadelphia Union (6:30 p.m. CT | KUBE57). The midweek encounter will also be the first of two matches in the span of four days, but head coach Wilmer Cabrera stressed that the team is fully focused on taking things one game at a time.
“Right now we are focused only on Philadelphia,” said Cabrera. “After Philadelphia we will think about the recovery, who recovers faster and what possibilities we will have in terms of the roster to face Atlanta. For now, everyone is ready and we are thinking about Wednesday."
Cabrera also mentioned that his team heads to Philadelphia at a time when the Union are coming off their best results of the year. The Union broke a 15-match winless streak with a 3-0 home win against the New York Red Bulls two weeks ago, then won 4-0 away at D.C. United this past weekend.
Wednesday will be the first and only encounter of the 2017 regular season between the clubs. The match is headlined by two of Major League Soccer’s current top scorers in the Dynamo’s Erick Torres, the co-league leader with 8 goals, and the Union’s C.J. Sapong, tied for third with 7 goals.
The biggest focus this week, however, will be on the Dynamo’s performance on the road. The team is winless on the road this year in three tries and have won no more than three road games in each of the past three seasons, a statistic the club wants to improve this year.
“It hasn’t been a secret that we haven’t won on the road,” said defender DaMarcus Beasley. “We’re doing everything we can, mentally and physically, to try and prepare us to get that monkey off our back and get results. That’s what it’s about, is points going into the second half of the season.”
On the local spotlight will be forward Andrew Wenger, who grew up about a 90-minute drive from Talen Energy Stadium in in Lititz, Pennsylvania. Wenger, a former player for the Union from 2014-2015, earned his first minutes against Vancouver since last playing three weeks ago and will likely pick up more minutes this week as Cabrera rotates the roster with two games in four days.
“We need to be prepared,” said Cabrera. “We’re going to know on Wednesday what our level is, and how improved the team is, in comparison with the last three games we’ve played away.”
