Preview: Houston Dynamo vs. DC United (Major League Soccer—week 7)
Houston Dynamo host DC United at Robertson Stadium on Friday, April 29, 2011, in their seventh fixture of the 2011 Major League Soccer season. Both the teams come into this match after disappointing results in their last matches. The Dynamo’s faceoff with
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Chicago-Fire-c38795 at Toyota Park ended in a 1—1 stalemate, whereas DCU conceded a whopping 4—0 defeat to regional rivals, New York Red Bulls.
The new season has brought http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Good-Luck-c39444 to the Texas-based franchise. Houston were in Western Conference until last season, however, they were moved to the Eastern side in the wake of two new additions to the Western roster: Portland Timbers and Vancouver Whitecaps
FC. This shift to East has proved to be a good omen for the Dynamo. The team finished seventh last year Dominic Kinnear’s men have turned the tables this term. The Orange sit third in the Eastern Conference, closely following http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Philadelphia-Union-c40231 who occupy
the second position.
For DCU, however, things are still going tough. The three-time MLS Cup winners are still dribbling down the grid; the team stands sixth on the Eastern Conference table. Since the start of the latest season, the team has managed only two victories, lost once
and drew thrice in their games.
Houston Dynamo
Kinnear has shown concern with the home games right from the start. The tactician had stated that his primary focus would be to produce results in the home games, but statistics show otherwise. The team has lost only one game so far in the season and the
defeat came at Robertson stadium, the home turf.
Injuries to midfield and the attack had rocked the team hard. http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Lovel-Palmer-c22467 are all sidelined. However, the team’s strength was always its defence, which comprises of Kofi Sarkodie, Jordan Graye,
André Hainault and Bobby Boswell.
The forward spots will be manned by Will Bruin, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Sergio-c33030 “Koke” Pardo might also get a taste of the MLS, but he is more than likely to come off the bench
than start the game.
DC United
Ben Olsen has used every tactic in the books to cater to address the inconsistency plaguing his team. Even http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Charlie-Davies-c8841’ comeback – the player has scored five goals in the league so far – has failed to produce the results.
The overall performance of the team has been disappointing to say the least. The defence in particular has acted the Achilles heel of the United. So far the team has conceded a whopping 12 goals in a mere nine matches.Olsen will have to go an extra mile
to bring Rodrigo Brasesco and Dejan Jakovic back to impenetrable form.
In the attack, Davies will be accompanied by Blake Brettschneider, while http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Jed-Zayner-c18231 are still in the injury list.
Following are the probable line-ups for both Dynamo and DCU.
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Houston-Dynamo-c39542
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Brad-Davis-c7951, Will Bruin, Cam Weaver
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/DC-United-c38901
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Santino-Quaranta-c32529, Blake Brettschneider, Charlie Davies
Prediction
The home ground advantage might go in the Dynamo’s favour and they might notch a close win against the visitors. The predicted score line is 1—0 in Die Oranje’s favour.
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