After taking care of the Western Conference's top two teams Sunday and Thursday, Houston Dynamo will try to get their first win against an Eastern Conference club Sunday when they travel to face the Columbus Crew.
Houston defeated both West-leading FC Dallas and second place Colorado by identical 2-1 scores to climb within two points of the Rapids and three points of the Hoops in the Western Conference.
But, the Orange are 0-5 against the East this season and have been outscored 6-1 in those five games. Against last-place Columbus, Houston hopes to change their fortunes.
"That's a big one, Columbus," said midfielder Chris Wondolowski. "We've had our trouble with the East, but I like where we're at. We're starting to jell together. Things are starting to go our way. We're playing a lot better. We're starting to put the ball in the back of the net, which wasn't happening earlier. I like our chances right now. We're a tough team to beat."
Dynamo have a two-game winning streak and with a win against Columbus could climb to .500 at 5-5-1. After their early season struggles, which saw the Orange score four goals in seven games (three in one game), Houston has scored five in the last three contests.
Getting out of that rut has been important, but the Orange aren't happy with two wins.
"We were in a bit of a rut at the beginning of the year, and now we have two wins in a row, but we don't want to stop at two wins," said midfielder Stuart Holden. "We're not happy with two in a row. We want to keep going. I think Columbus is a chance for us to keep going and put us on top of the Western Conference."
Dynamo got a big lift from their young players against Colorado. Wondolowski, Kelly Gray and Zach Wells started for Houston, which was missing Brian Ching, Ricardo Clark, Dwayne De Rosario and Pat Onstad -- all of whom are playing for their respective countries in the CONCACAF Gold Cup.
Holden came off the bench to score the game-winning goal in the 63rd minute, and Wondolowski and Gray each had an assist. Wells finished with three saves in his first league start with Dynamo.
"I think team-wise we are happy that we won because everyone put their effort into it. Look at those guys individually, and you know that they are ready to play," said head coach Dominic Kinnear. "Good touch by [Wondolowski] to keep with the ball, and Kelly laid it off. You give Kelly credit for an assist, but let's be honest, Stuart hit a heck of a shot. I think all the guys who came in and played had an impact. It's not a 12- or 13-man squad; it's an 18-man squad. I'm happy for them because they are seeing reward for effort."
Onstad, who was serving a one-game suspension for the Colorado game, should return to goal for Houston against Columbus as his Gold Cup duties for Canada were for the Maple Leafs' opener. But Dynamo will still be without Ching, Clark and De Rosario against the Crew, whom the Orange tied 1-1 in both meetings last season.
No matter who is on the field for Houston, the Orange want to return to their championship form and continue their winning streak.
"We sat down and talked after our last loss. The bottom line was look in the mirror and say you're a champion," said defender Craig Waibel. "You can't do that right now. The bottom line is that you keep your job is if you play as well or better than last year. What we are trying to take out of this week is reminding ourselves what made us champions last year.
"We're not even thinking about anyone else. One more win will put us in that mindset where we're not even thinking about anyone else. I think that was one of our problems earlier in the year was that we were thinking too much about who we were going against."
Jeremy Rakes is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
