Houston Dynamo continued to roll on and in emphatic fashion Thursday night against Chivas USA, cruising to a 4-0 win. Now on a four-game winning streak and in second place in the Western Conference, the Orange will look to continue their winning ways, but it won't be easy.
The Kansas City Wizards, who are second in the Eastern Conference after dropping Wednesday's game against Columbus, will look to put a halt to Dynamo's winning ways when the clubs meet Sunday afternoon at Arrowhead Stadium.
"K.C. is a team that's been rolling a little," said midfielder Stuart Holden. "They slipped up the other day against Columbus. This will be a good chance for us on a roll to take advantage of their slip-up. If we can win that one, then we'll be right up Dallas' heels and pushing up for first place in the Western Conference."
Houston will get some help returning for the game against the Wizards as midfielder Dwayne De Rosario and goalkeeper Pat Onstad will be back with the team following Canada's exit from the CONCACAF Gold Cup in a heartbreaking and controversial 2-1 loss to the United States.
After Thursday's win over Chivas, head coach Dominic Kinnear didn't know if De Rosario or Onstad would play Sunday.
"Obviously we'll be glad to get guys back," Kinnear said. "When guys go away to serve their country I think it's a bit unfair for them to not be considered to start when they come back -- that would be a touch unfair. We'll see what the injury status is. They will probably be a little spent. We'll talk to them and see how they are.
"That's an emotional drain for them. That game took a lot out of them, and you don't want them to come out flat. It was a good tournament for Canada, but that game there took a lot out of them, especially mentally. We'll talk to Pat and Dwayne and go from there."
The good news for Kinnear is he has a lot of depth and some new scoring weapons. Brad Davis netted his first career hat trick against Chivas as he and Brian Mullan both found the back of the net for the first time in nearly a year in league play.
Those two, added to Joseph Ngwenya, who had his streak snapped of a goal in each of the previous three games, could be trouble for the Wizards. Houston will just be looking to keep things rolling.
"We've done it for four games and had a nice little break coming into this game," Mullan said. "The team has a workman's attitude right now. We're putting things together and creating our chances and finding the back of the net. That's all you can do."
This is the first meeting between the two clubs this year. Last season the two teams split their meetings with the visiting team winning on the home team's field. Dynamo got their first win against an Eastern Conference foe this season with a 2-1 victory against Columbus on June 10, and they will try to make it two in a row Sunday, while looking to continue their winning streak and climb closer to first in the West.
"We just need to continue the way we've been playing," Davis said. "We're playing really well right now. We're playing with a lot of grit. We're all playing hard and with each other. The theme of this team is hard work by all 11 guys on the field, not just by one or two guys, so we just need to continue the way we've been playing and keep it going."
Jeremy Rakes is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
