Houston Dynamo will receive their championship rings before their match against Chivas USA on Saturday at Robertson Stadium, but after the Orange get their jewelry, they must find a way to hit the back of the net and record a victory against the visitors.
After Sunday's scoreless tie against the Los Angeles Galaxy, Dynamo were happy because of their response to a hectic preseason and the match against Pachuca in the CONCACAF Champions' Cup just three days earlier.
Against the Galaxy, the travel schedule showed as numerous Dynamo players admitted to having "heavy legs" early on. This week the Orange are more worried about what they have to do to improve from the first game.
"I think we have to worry more about what we do on the field, and if we do that, we will be successful," said forward Alejandro Moreno. "We weren't as sharp as we wanted to be in the first half (against L.A.), and we made some adjustments at the half. I think the game was going our way up until the red card. Obviously, that changed the complexion of the game. I think our attitude has to be a little better from the start of the game."
Houston got very familiar with Chivas, playing them six times last season, including in the Western Conference Semifinals. Dynamo went 1-1-2 against Chivas last year in the regular season with Houston's lone win coming at home.
In the postseason, Chivas won the first match 2-1 in California, but Dynamo earned a hard-fought 2-0 win at Robertson Stadium to take the series on aggregate.
Even with the success, the Dynamo are taking Chivas seriously.
"Chivas is a serious team," said defender Craig Waibel. "They have a number of quality impact players. (Maykel) Galindo is a great addition, but their offense poses a threat to anyone in this league.
"The key for us is to shut down their front two and try to frustrate Ante (Razov). Then, we have to take care of business from there. We need to spring quickly on the attack. They put so many people up the middle of the field that wide space, which is what we like to use anyway, is going to be more important this week than most."
Dynamo, however, will go into the game with a bit of a different team as defender Ryan Cochrane will sit out the match serving a one-game suspension. But Houston will get back the services of defensive midfielder Ricardo Clark, who is returning from a knee sprain. The different personnel will cause a shift in the defensive set.
"More than likely, what's going to happen is that I've been going to the middle," Waibel said. "This week with Rico being healthy or getting healthy, he's going to center mid and Kelly (Gray) will step back to wide right. Losing a Cochrane makes us change three positions, which any coach and any player will tell you that if you have to change three positions from one weekend to the next, that's pretty hard."
The traveling hurt Dynamo against L.A., but the Orange think they are better prepared and know they are better rested this week.
"We were busy the last two weeks before the season started with (the Carolina Cup) and then Pachuca," said head coach Dominic Kinnear. "We gave the guys some days off this week and a light workout on Tuesday, so the rest should be there for us to come out firing on Saturday."
Jeremy Rakes is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
