The Dynamo are looking to re-group and produce a better performance this weekend in Los Angeles
Championships in soccer are won on the road, and last year the Dynamo were awful away from BBVA Compass Stadium — they managed just 11 points from their road games.
Houston’s week three game is their first game on the road this Major League Soccer season and it comes versus one of the toughest opponents you could ask for: last years MLS Cup champions, the Los Angeles Galaxy.
“It was great to get a first result against Columbus and we took a small step back with the loss to Orlando Friday night. They’re one of the best teams, if not the best team, in the league for sure so it’ll be a good test to see where we’re at” said former LA Galaxy forward Chandler Hoffman.
With zero shots on target in the game versus Orlando City and just three over the first two games, Dynamo fans are understandably concerned going to Carson, CA to face a Galaxy side unbeaten in it’s last 21 games in all competitions.
Head coach Owen Coyle isn’t concerned though, that’s just part of the winning mentality he brings to the Dynamo. Coyle believes his team have what it takes to produce a result out in LA, it just means making better decisions.
Captain Brad Davis shows his frustration vs Orlando City.
“We can certainly pass it better [than we have]. It was just making that key decision in the final third,” Coyle said. “That’s not the reason why we lost the game [vs Orlando]; it’s the reason why we didn’t win the game.”
Owen Coyle said during pre-season to Prost-Amerika “When I was a striker I never worried about missing chances, what I worried about was the team not creating them for me.” The Dynamo are having no problems doing that, but they will be counting on Giles Barnes, Will Bruin and Boniek Garcia to start converting the chances presented to them.
With Tyler Deric proving to be stable between the uprights, producing highlight reel save after highlight reel save, and Raul Rodriguez coming in to bolster a back four that boasts future star Kofi Sarkodie and former US Men’s National Team veteran DaMarcus Beasley, the Dynamo haven’t looked like the “leaky” team they did last season.
Houston held a very good Columbus team scoreless at BBVA Compass Stadium, and for long periods kept Kaka and Orlando City completely out of the game thanks to a magisterial performance in the middle of the park from Luis Garrido, and David Horst’s dominance in the air.
The Galaxy’s last game versus the Portland Timbers was a frustrating one, going behind twice to the Timbers before salvaging a draw through Alan Gordon’s looping header right a the death. Captain Robbie Keane put the Galaxy’s comeback down to their willingness to battle stating:
“You can see it, the second [Portland] goal, we didn’t deserve it. It was against the run of play, but full credit to us. We kept battling.”
The Dynamo are completely capable of getting a result out in Carson — there isn’t the gulf in class that people believe there to be. Portland took the game to LA, and that’s what the Dynamo must do, too.
The Dynamo do have something up their sleeve, though: Chandler Hoffman.
“I was there 2 years with Galaxy and 2 years while at UCLA. It’s going to be weird seeing the guys on the opposite side of the line” said Hoffman on returning to Carson.
Hoffman has provided Head Coach Owen Coyle and some of the senior players information as to how the Galaxy go about practicing for games, and systems that they use between their Forwards.
Speaking to Prost-Amerika, without going into too much detail, Hoffman told us “I talked to Beasley, Rico [Clark], and Jermaine [Taylor] about Robbie Keane and Landon. They had this incredible understanding and now Gyasi [Zardes] is starting to get it too. They have very specific things they do regarding their movement off the ball.”
“When I was there we would spend 20 minutes every practice just on positional drills. Just movements between the two forwards, getting the ball from the defensive mids, attacking mid whoever it might be, what runs we would each make into the box. Bruce knows what he’s doing so i’m sure they’re still dong the same things, same build up play, same runs, they do it all in practice and it’s like clockwork when they step onto the field.”
Though Hoffman has played just a few minutes this season for the Dynamo he will be picking up his Championship ring from the 2014 MLS Cup Championship on the trip to LA.
The overall series in this fixture is actually in the Dynamo’s favour (8-6-4) and Houston has become a “bogey” team of sorts for Los Angeles in recent years.
Gyasi Zardes will provide an alternative outlet to Keane for the Galaxy attack
In their last meeting the Dynamo triumphed 1-0 at BBVA Compass Stadium, in 2013 the Dynamo beat the Galaxy on their home turf, too.
In fact it the Galaxy has not beaten the Houston Dynamo in MLS regular season since 2011 eking out a 1-0 win in Carson.
Coach Bruce Arena’s record against Houston? P12, W5, L6, D1.
For Houston this could be a defining moment in their transition from the Dom Kinnear era, to the new Dynamo era.
A result in Carson would put leave the Dynamo with 4-6 points from their first three games of the season — a fantastic start considering the strength of the teams they will have faced.
Likely Line-Ups:
Houston: GK Deric; DF Sarkodie, Horst, Taylor, Beasley; MF Garcia, Garrido, Clark, Davis (c); FW Bruin, Barnes.
Los Angeles: GK Rowe; DF Rogers, Gonzalez, DeLaGarza, Gargan; MF Villarreal, Walker, Juninho, Ishizaki; FW Zardes, Keane (c).
Injuries and Suspensions:
Houston: Raul Rodriguez — Doubtful (right hamstring strain).
Los Angeles: AJ DeLaGarza — Questionable (left ankle), Edson Buddle — Questionable (left leg).
Tomorrow’s game will kick off at 9:30 p.m. CT and will broadcast live on ROOT SPORTS Southwest (9 p.m. pregame) and can be heard on Yahoo Sports Radio 1560 AM and 850 AM (Spanish).
Follow Scott Nicholls on Twitter: @scottnicholls
