With Boniek Garcia nursing a knee problem, the Dynamo are likely to be unchanged from the team that started vs Montreal at home.
The Woodlands, Texas — A rivalry is re-ignited tonight as the Houston Dynamo take on Sporting Kansas City at BBVA Compass Stadium. The Dynamo will be looking to avenge last years 2-0 home loss.
Houston return for a three game home-stand after picking up vital road points after a 1-1 draw with in-form DC United, while Sporting Kansas City come to Houston off the back of a 2-1 defeat to the Los Angeles Galaxy.
The two sides are still conference rivals in spite of a shift from East to West, and the two sides face off for the first time this season. The rivalry is one born out of meetings in the MLS Cup playoffs between 2011 and 2013 — when both teams were in the Eastern conference.
The casual Dynamo fan may be tricked into thinking that FC Dallas is Houston’s biggest rival in MLS, especially now with the shift to the Western conference, but Dynamo super-fan Sean Ringrose says it’s not the case.
“Anytime you face a team three straight years in the playoffs, regardless of the outcome, there’s going to become a heightened desire to beat them anytime you play them” Ringrose said of Sporting Kansas City.
In Ringrose’s opinion, though, that’s not the only reason that the Houston/Kansas City rivalry has flourished in recent years. “The team was built to bruise,” said Ringrose of previous incarnations of Sporting Kansas City teams, “so yeah, we want to beat them back. We want to make them surrender, so to speak.”
Sean’s favorite memory of this rivalry is Adam Moffat’s rocket in the 2012 playoffs. You can watch that goal below.
This is one of the biggest weekends of the regular season for many Dynamo fans. The Texian Army — the Houston Dynamo’s oldest supporters group — announced earlier this week that they had 12 tents and 21 cases of St. Arnold’s beer for the official tailgate. Everybody is welcome to attend.
Dynamo fans have had a lot to be cheerful for at BBVA Compass Stadium this season. The team has only conceded one goal at home, and that was largely down to a mistake. Last season cutting through the Houston defense was almost as easy at times as a proverbial hot knife through butter — that’s certainly something that has changed.
Sporting Kansas City will be hoping to add to the solitary goal Tyler Deric has conceded at home this season through Dom Dwyer. Dwyer tallied in both fixtures last season, and will look to get his sluggish season so far off the ground by finding the back of the net tonight.
Sporting Kansas City have started slowly in the Western conference so far. They are knotted on 9 points with Houston, Real Salt Lake, Portland and San Jose, but with talent like Graham Zusi, Matt Besler, and Dom Dwyer available to them Kansas City fans must expect better.
All-time at BBVA Compass Stadium it’s a dead heat. Dynamo 3-3 Sporting KC with 4 ties. One thing that not missing in these meetings? Goals. The 10 meetings between the two teams have produced 22 goals, and with Giles Barnes looking sharp and Ricardo Clark marauding from midfield the Dynamo have goal threats in both the striker and midfield positions.
The Dynamo have yet to win away in MLS this season, but their road matches have been against the MLS Cup Champions, the Supporters Shield winners, and a DC United side that is tied for top of the Eastern conference.
The Dynamo started the game against DC with Giles Barnes up top on his own, but at half time they switched to a 4-4-2 formation and they looked a much more dangerous side. “We matched up a little bit better, especially in the midfield” said Ricardo Clark. The veteran Clark said of the Dynamo’s switch to 4-4-2 “it made us better and created more chances.”
With Boniek Garcia listed as “probable” nursing a sprained knee, it’s likely that we could see another start for the rejuvenated Alex Lopez on the right hand side of the Dynamo midfield.
“We’ve said it from day one in preseason, we know Alex is very talented,” Coyle said. “And what we’ve tried to do is we want to find the role that Alex can bring to the team, and Saturday he was terrific. … When he brings that work rate, we know the qualities he’s got on the ball. What he’s got to do now is deliver on it for the Dynamo.”
The question that will be answered by kick off time in Houston is whether or not Coyle will stick to his guns and the 4-5-1 formation that has given them rigidity, but left the lone striker a little isolated, or go for broke with the 4-4-2 formation that caused DC United a lot of problems last week.
Kick off at BBVA Compass Stadium 7:30 p.m. CT and will broadcast live on ROOT SPORTS Southwest (7 p.m. pregame) and on tape delay on Telemundo Houston (11 p.m. broadcast). The game can be heard on Yahoo Sports Radio 1560 AM and La Ranchera 850 AM (Spanish).
Saturday is the start of a three-game home-stand for the Dynamo, with FC Dallas visiting on Friday, May 1 and the Dynamo hosting the San Jose Earthquakes on Tuesday, May 5.
Likely Line-up’s:
Houston: GK Deric; DF Sarkodie, Taylor, Rodriguez, Beasley; MF Sturgis, Garrido, Clark, Lopez, Davis (c); FW Barnes
Kansas City: GK Marin; DF de Jong, Besler, Ellis, Anibaba; MF Carrasco, Feilhaber. Espinoza, Nemeth, Zusi; FW Dwyer.
Injury Report as of Thursday, April 23 2015.
Houston: Boniek Garcia — left knee sprain (Probable)
Kansas City: Ike Opara — ruptured left achilles tendon (OUT); Chance Myers — left achilles (Questionable); Krisztian Nemeth — right hip bursitis (Questionable).
