HOUSTON DYNAMO vs FC DALLAS
ROBERTSON STADIUM, Houston, Texas
May 9, 2009 (WEEK 8) / MLS Game #59
8 p.m. CT (ESPN2/Deportes)
The Houston Dynamo and FC Dallas renew their battle for El Capitán when the teams meet Saturday at Robertson Stadium, the intra-state rivalry won twice in three years by the Dynamo since its inception. FC Dallas has never won in Houston, the Dynamo winning four of the six league meetings with two draws. After an indifferent start, the Dynamo have now won two in a row, while FC Dallas have just a single victory on the campaign through their opening seven games.
REFEREE: Kevin Stott. SAR (bench): Paul Scott; JAR (opposite): Kyle Borne; 4th: Jasen Anno MLS Career: 169 games; FC/gm: 26.3; Y/gm: 3.3; R: 48; pens: 34
INJURY REPORT: HOUSTON DYNAMO - OUT: DF Eddie Robinson (L knee surgery); DOUBTFUL: DF Danny Cruz (nasal fracture); DF Wade Barrett (L hamstring strain) ... FC DALLAS - DOUBTFUL: MF Pablo Ricchetti (R foot); QUESTIONABLE: GK Dario Sala (L knee), MF Marcelo Saragosa (L hip)
INTERNATIONAL ABSENCES: none
SUSPENDED: none
WARNINGS:
SUSPENDED NEXT YELLOW CARD: none
SUSPENDED AFTER TWO YELLOW CARDS: HOU: Ricardo Clark
HEAD-TO-HEAD
ALL-TIME (11 meetings): Dynamo 5 wins, 18 goals ... FC Dallas 1 win, 12 goals ... Ties 5
AT HOUSTON (6 meetings): Dynamo 4 wins, 12 goals ... FC Dallas 0 wins, 8 goals ... Ties 2
RETURN MATCH: 6/13: Houston Dynamo at FC Dallas, 7:30 p.m.CT; 8/6: Houston Dynamo at FC Dallas, 7 p.m. CT
LAST YEAR (MLS):
4/6: HOU 3, DAL 3 (Caraccio 21; own goal 57; Cameron 90 - Cooper 35, 45; Alvarez 57)
5/28: DAL 2, HOU 2 (Cooper 35; Moor 69 - Ashe 59; De Rosario 90)
6/26: HOU 1, DAL 1 (Ching 21 - Cooper 62)
• FC Dallas have defeated Houston just once in league play in the three-year history of the rivalry - a 1-0 victory at Pizza Hut Park in their final meeting in 2006. Houston has won three of the seven league meetings since, with four draws. FCD did win the first leg of their Western Conference Semifinal Series in 2007.
• The Dynamo have not lost to FC Dallas at Robertson Stadium. In the regular season, the Dynamo won both meetings in each of the first two years of the rivalry, before the teams played to a pair of draws in 2008. In addition, Houston claimed a 4-1 victory in extra-time in the Western Conference Semifinals in 2007.
• In addition, the Dynamo claimed a 3-0 victory in the U.S. Open Cup quarterfinals in 2006 at home; that match was played at the Carl Lewis Track & Field Stadium at the University of Houston.
• The Lone Star State rivals are meeting for "El Capitan," as was named the 18th-century Mountain Howitzer cannon to be awarded to the winner of the season series. The Dynamo won the trophy the first two years of its existence, with FC Dallas claiming it last year on away goals after the teams played to three draws in the season series. The rules have been altered for the 2009 competition.
• Coaches record: Dominic Kinnear vs. DAL: P11 W5 L1 D5 ... Schellas Hyndman v HOU: P1 W0 L0 D1
HOUSTON DYNAMO
The Houston Dynamo won for the second time on the season and second time in a row, defeating the New England Revolution for the first time in a league match, 2-0 at Gillette Stadium on Sunday afternoon. The Dynamo now have eight points from six matches on the season, tied for fifth place in the Western Conference, 11 points in back of MLS overall leader Chivas USA.
LAST MATCH
• The Dynamo had never won in six previous league visits to Foxborough, and were coming off a bye week and their lone victory on the campaign. The Revolution were coming off the worst defeat in club history, a 6-0 loss at Real Salt Lake.
• The Dynamo opened the lead after 22 minutes. Stuart Holden stepped forward in the midfield and let fly with a speculative shot from all of 30 yards. The ball skimmed along the ground and through the legs of New England goalkeeper Matt Reis, making his first appearance in five matches after returning from a knee injury.
• The visitors finished off the match just before the hour. Brad Davis put in a corner from the right and Brian Ching rose up to power home a snap header from the top of the six, his second goal in as many games and third on the season.
• Dynamo head coach Dominic Kinnear kept his team the same for a third consecutive match, maintaining the same starting XI that held on for a 1-0 win against the Colorado Rapids two weekends before.
• Here's Kinnear's team (4-3-1-2): Pat Onstad - Richard Mulrooney, Geoff Cameron, Bobby Boswell, Wade Barrett (Andrew Hainault 42) - Brian Mullan, Ricardo Clark, Brad Davis (Corey Ashe 87) - Stuart Holden - Brian Ching (Ade Akinbiyi 87), Kei Kamara. Substitutes Not Used: Tally Hall, Julius James, Craig Waibel, Chris Wondolowski
• "You always want to try and win. Look at the game last (Saturday) and Chivas was pulling away so it's important for us to keep pace so this is a big three points for us," Kinnear said. "For the guys' confidence, sure we played pretty well tonight. Anytime you're below some people, it's important to try and pick up points no matter where you're are."
TEAM NEWS
• The Dynamo have now not allowed a goal in 313 minutes, the second-longest shutout streak in MLS this season, behind Seattle Sounders FC's 350-minute stretch to begin the season.
• "We defended pretty well. We really didn't have too many great saves. The back four held well. Andrew (Hainault) had a good debut for us coming in for Wade (Barrett) for us going against a great player," said Kinnear. "We haven't beaten these guys in a while so it's nice to get that going, but all in all just to get three points is important."
• It was just the second time all season the Dynamo had scored more than one goal in a game. The first was the 3-2 loss at San Jose on March 28, and Kinnear said the game against New England was "probably our best all around consistent performance of the year."
• "Tonight our attack was good. We created some good chances. Kei and Brian (Ching) played well together and then defensively I thought our back four held pretty well," he said. "We won 2-0 on the road. I don't care who's out there for them. I know Steve has them organized and ready to play so anytime you can win a game, you're happy."
• Coming off the first victory of season - after a frustrating start to the season - the Dynamo had hoped they would not lose momentum with the bye week heading into the New England game.
• "We played some good stuff the first part of the season, and maybe got a little unlucky with the results, and now we're getting a bit of momentum with the win against Colorado and obviously Pat (Onstad's) save was hopefully a big turning point for us this year," Stuart Holden said. "The bye week was good to recuperate a little bit and we're just glad we didn't get out of a rhythm and we came in and played some good stuff (Sunday) and we're glad to get the win."
• Andrew Hainault made his MLS debut, coming on just before halftime when Wade Barrett suffered a hamstring injury and helping maintain the shutout stretch. Barrett's injury is not expected to be serious, but he still is listed as doubtful for the Dallas game.
• "I am sort of seeing it from the outside though I did come in last game," Hainault said. "Bobby (Boswell), Geoff (Cameron), Richard (Mulrooney), our midfielders helping out, and we have Pat (Onstad) in the back. We're gelling, but it's a long season so we just have to make sure we keep that going."
FC DALLAS
FC Dallas fell for the second consecutive weekend after gaining their lone victory on the season, seeing D.C. United come back for a 2-1 victory on Saturday evening at RFK Stadium. FC Dallas have four points from seven games on the season, fewest in MLS, sitting in eighth place in the Western Conference, now 15 points adrift of Chivas USA.
LAST MATCH
• D.C. United were coming off their second win of the season, a dramatic last-minute win against New York, while FC Dallas weren't able to build on their first victory of the season the weekend previous at Chivas USA.
• The teams were meeting for the second time in 10 days, after United had defeated FCD 2-0 in a U.S. Open Cup play-in match. This time it was Andre Rocha who put FCD into the lead in the 28th minute, stooping to send home a glancing header at the near post from a corner kick.
• But after the break, Moreno once again brought United to victory. After becoming the first-ever MLS player to hit triple digits in both goals and assists, he added to his all-time goals lead with strikes 11 minutes apart. First, in the 56th minute, the Bolivian was sent in alone by a long ball from Bryan Namoff over the FCD backline, and he sent a low shot home past goalkeeper Ray Burse.
• Then in the 66th minute, a sublime through ball was filtered through the Dallas defense from Christian Gomez, and Moreno was again in alone, this time lofting a lovely chip over Burse for the 124th goal of his MLS career.
• FC Dallas head coach Schellas Hyndman made one change to the team that lost 2-0 to Chivas USA at The Home Depot Center the previous week. Ray Burse came back in between the posts, for the suspended Dario Sala.
• Here's Hyndman's team (4-1-3-2): Ray Burse - Marcelo Saragosa, Drew Moor, Daniel Torres (Steve Purdy 67), Blake Wagner - Pablo Ricchetti (Peri Marosevic 75) - Andre Rocha (Eric Avila 79), Dax McCarty, Dave van den Bergh - Kenny Cooper, David Ferreira. Substitutes Not Used: Kyle Davies, Bruno Guarda, Josh Lambo, Alvaro Sanchez
TEAM NEWS
• FC Dallas have allowed 14 goals in seven games this season, most in MLS. They've allowed multiple goals in six of the seven games, and have not recorded a clean sheet this season, one of three teams in MLS still looking for a first shutout (along with Columbus and San Jose).
• "We've been able to address a lot of the goals that have been scored on us last year from the flanks. Now we're trying to address the number of goals that come through the middle," said Hyndman. "If you look at our last game against D.C. United, both goals came through the middle and the same player. So unanswered goals are very concerning but all we can do is continue addressing it."
• Eleven of FCD's 14 goals allowed have come after the break, and five of those have come within the opening 10 minutes of the second half.
• "I think in the second half, teams adjust to what we're doing," Hyndman said. "We already have a reputation of letting in a lot of goals and we're weak with the balls over the top or through balls. I think they just start targeting that. The organization of the back is what we can work on. You can't develop confidence and good feelings in yourself unless you're doing things right over and over and right now, we're doing things over and over incorrectly."
• Hyndman left no doubt there would be changes for the Houston match. One change could come on the right of midfield, where Andre Rocha has started the last five games after coming off the bench in the first two, although he did score the lone goal vs. D.C. United.
• "I would think that [Dave] van den Bergh is probably averaging eight to 10 services a game, which are all pretty good services," Hyndman said. "Andre is probably averaging two to three, so there's a huge difference."
• As well, Hyndman said Dax McCarty could be moved from the attacking midfield spot he has held down for the last five games.
• "He's not your attacking midfielder because he doesn't have the creativity, the scoring ability, the penetrating balls or dribbles that you look for from a No. 10. He doesn't have (the qualities for) defensive midfield either," Hyndman said. "He's great for a team if you're playing with three central midfielders because he can keep possession and can get touches. He's a very good player, but you don't want to go through the season with your attacking midfielder having one goal and two assists. That doesn't add a lot to the strike force. I think we need to evaluate that position better."
• Hyndman said Costa Rican international Alvaro Sanchez, who has yet to make his MLS league debut, could figure - either in a forward or midfield role. Depending on David Ferreira's disposition, who moved into an underneath forward role from the No. 10 spot, Jeff Cunningham could also return to the first team for the first time since March 29.
• "I think any competitive player doesn't want to go to the bench," Hyndman said. "He (Cunningham) was very non-active in the first couple of games and he's been playing the final 20 minutes in games where I thought he was trying to overdo it because he wanted back on the field."
