Injuries, suspensions and call-ups are all a part of the game. But for Houston Dynamo, they might wish that the game was a bit nicer to them.
Houston took back first place in the Western Conference with a 1-0 win Sunday against FC Dallas, but they did it while missing four players. They face the Columbus Crew on Saturday at Robertson Stadium, and they could be missing more players for that contest.
Midfielder Brad Davis is out until the middle of September with a right knee injury, forward Paul Dalglish is out indefinitely after surgery on his right ankle and Eddie Robinson is out for Saturday's game after picking up his eighth yellow card of the season against FC Dallas.
Dynamo head coach Dominic Kinnear knows that his team just has to keep moving on.
"We can't complain because nobody listens to you and nobody cares," Kinnear said. "Pat Ianni has played some important minutes this year. So has Chris Wondolowski and Corey Ashe. We have definitely gone deep into our bench, and we're coming out OK. I think the guys buy into the team first, let's work hard and see how it goes. We have quality soccer players on our team. We have the attitude at the right place, it makes us a better team."
Along with Davis and Dalglish, midfielder Stuart Holden sat out Sunday's game with an ankle sprain, the third consecutive game he has missed, and defenders Craig Waibel and Ryan Cochrane sat out due to injuries as well. Against FC Dallas, forward Joseph Ngwenya went out with a right ankle sprain.
Houston knows they need to get some guys back because they might be without the services of goalkeeper Pat Onstad and forward Brian Ching for the Columbus game. Ching was called up to the U.S. national team for their match in Sweden on Wednesday, and Onstad was called up to the Canadian national team for their match at Iceland on Wednesday.
Ching did not even dress in the USA's 1-0 loss in Goteborg after suffering a calf strain pre-game, while Onstad played the entire match in Canada's late 1-1 draw with Iceland in Reykjavik.
For now, Kinnear will be looking for players who can give it everything they have to go out and face the Crew.
"At the end of the day, you want guys that are at 100 percent," Kinnear said. "The guys know the importance of the game, and they know it's going to be tough. I think the guys go 100 percent, maybe an extra 10 percent, you get as much as you can out of it."
Jeremy Rakes is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
