The Houston Dynamo are in desperate need of wins as they travel to the Rocky Mountains to take on the Colorado Rapids. The Dynamo have lost four matches in a row after falling to CF Montreal last weekend 2-1. Colorado is coming off a midweek loss to the Vancouver Whitecaps on Wednesday by a score of 2-1. The Dynamo and Rapids drew 1-1 back on March 19 at PNC Stadium.
Back to basics
Depending on your expectations coming into this Dynamo season, this year has gone a number of ways. For the players, 25 points from 25 matches is a disappointment. So, how do they rebound? Back to basics said defender Adam Lundkvist. “As a team, we are going back to the basics,” the Dynamo left back told the media this week. “We kind of lost our way a little bit in the last couple of games. We haven’t had the results that we wanted and we haven’t performed at the level we want. This week has been going back to where we started the season and reevaluating ourselves and trying to get better moving forward. We have nine games left. so we wanted to take all these nine games, one game at a time. It’s all about regrouping, getting back to the basics and getting back to where we started this season. The last couple of games haven’t been great. We want to improve on that and get better results in order to make this last push and try to get into the playoffs – because it’s in our hands. We have to focus on ourselves and just get back to basics.”
Where’s the defense?
Houston has allowed multiple goals in each of the losses during their four-game losing streak, including three at home last weekend to Montreal. Injuries have been an issue, Teenage Hadebe could miss out this week, but the team is simply conceding too many chances and goals to the opposition. Who are the four best players on the back line? The fact we are still asking that question at this point in the season is a good indication of why the team is struggling defensively.
Playing at altitude
Playing on the road in Major League Soccer is never easy, especially for the Dynamo, but playing in Colorado brings another challenge. Playing at altitude with just a short time to adjust your body to it, is tough on players. With all that being said, Houston has to dig deep and find a way. As head coach Paulo Nagamura said this week, it’s about them. “We’ve been in a lot of different difficult places, and don’t get me wrong – Denver is another one, but I think heading to this game on Saturday it is about us,’ Nagamura said this week. ‘It’s about us going back to being a team that is more difficult to play against, about us being more hungry to go and attack and finish your attacks. It’s about us controlling the middle of the field and having the ball. Good in transition, good moments, good reactions, good on set pieces. With all due respect to Colorado, and I think Robin (Fraser) has been doing a very good job with that team, at this moment it is much more about us than about Colorado. I think that’s the mentality heading into Saturday and that’s what our approach should be.”
Availability Report
Houston Dynamo – Questionable: Teenage Hadebe (left leg), Thor Ulfarsson (abdominal)
Colorado Rapids – Out: Braian Galvan (right knee), Aboubacar Keita (right knee), Oliver Larraz (right leg), Jack Price (upper body), Dantouma Torue (right knee)
Predicted Lineup
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