Chivas USA will look to split the season series when they host the Houston Dynamo on Saturday at the Home Depot Center (10:30 pm EST, Direct Kick/Matchday Live). The teams have experienced remarkably similar form lately, with three draws, one win, and one loss in their last five matches, respectively. The last meeting between the two clubs ended in a 2-1 loss for Chivas, and the Goats will want to reverse their fortune in this game. They played pretty poorly in that match, and it was the start of the worst period so far in their season, so overcoming their evenly-matched foes will help them shake off their past mistakes.
The biggest issue in this match will be Houston’s set pieces for Chivas. All-star Brad Davis has been fantastic all season on them, and he created both goals in that game in June. Chivas’ defense looked disorganized and lacking composure all match, and they were really lucky to not give up more goals to the Dynamo. In the last four games, Chivas have returned to a defensive mindset and have had two clean sheets in that span. I think to counteract the set piece danger from Houston, the midfield will have to pitch in much more than normal and get behind the ball on free kicks and make sure the Dynamo players are well-marked. Houston’s players are quite tall on average, so that will present a difficulty for the Goats as they can’t match up in size, but if they are battling on headers and anything that comes into the box, they can take away easy opportunities for Houston. Added to that, Dan Kennedy has been playing really well lately, and can be counted on to help the backline at times when they need it, so long as the defense doesn’t completely fall apart like last time.
Offensively, I think Chivas will not focus as much as on defense, but this may represent one of the last opportunities for some players to demonstrate they belong in the lineup after the anticipated new arrival(s) join the team. Nick LaBrocca is an automatic choice – nobody will be putting him on the bench at this point. Jorge Flores has been playing well on the left wing, so will probably stay on the field unless a left winger is brought in, but he has had breakaway chances in each of the last two games and could not get the ball in the net on either chance. It will be nice to see him get some more goals. I suspect Chivas will be bringing in a forward, so Justin Braun will want to impress Coach Robin Fraser as he may be the odd man out when Alejandro Moreno returns from national team duty with Venezuela. Both Braun and Moreno are support strikers, so Moreno’s experience may help him get the starting slot over Braun unless Justin can score some more goals.
These teams are very evenly matched, and really seem like mirror images of each other. They are 10th and 11th in the overall table right now, are one point apart, and have identical goals for and against. Both teams have one offensive linchpin (LaBrocca and Davis) and a group of mostly anonymous players chipping in occasional goals around them. I certainly wouldn’t be surprised to see a draw between these teams, but I think both will want to win. A win for both teams will help their playoff chances tremendously and help them put some distance between each other and the other chasers in the hunt. I doubt either team will go for broke, but a loss will probably be crushing, as each side will believe they can beat the other team. In this case, it is Chivas’ time to get the win on Houston, so extra pressure will be on them to get the job done.
Missing in this match for Chivas will be Jimmy Conrad, Alejandro Moreno, and possibly Ben Zemanski. For Houston, Brian Ching and Colin Clark are suspended for getting red cards last week, while Jermaine Taylor and Calen Carr are out with concussion problems.
(image courtesy of Getty Images)
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