HOUSTON DYNAMO vs NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION
BBVA COMPASS STADIUM, Houston, Texas
May 18, 2013 (WEEK 12, MLS Game #107)
7:30 p.m. CT (KPRC-NBC; CSN-NE)
Having had their record home undefeated streak put to an end, the Houston Dynamo will to start another when they play host to the New England Revolution on Saturday evening at BBVA Compass Stadium. The Dynamo lost in their new stadium for the first time ever last weekend, dropping a 1-0 decision to Sporting Kansas City. The Revolution hit the road following a 1-1 draw with the New York Red Bulls at Gillette Stadium last weekend.
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REFEREE: Edvin Jurisevic. AR1 (bench): George Gansner; AR2 (opposite): Frank Anderson; 4th: Armando Villarreal
MLS Career: 57 games; FC/gm: 22.5; Y/gm: 3.5; R: 4; pens: 7
DISABLED LIST: NE: Kevin Alston
SUSPENDED: none
WARNINGS:
SUSPENDED NEXT YELLOW CARD: none
SUSPENDED AFTER TWO YELLOW CARDS: HOU: Corey Ashe, Andrew Driver
INTERNATIONAL ABSENCES: none
HEAD-TO-HEAD
ALL-TIME (14 meetings): Dynamo 3 wins, 14 goals … Revolution 6 wins, 18 goals … Ties 5
AT HOUSTON (7 meetings): Dynamo 2 wins, 5 goals … Revolution 4 wins, 7 goals … Ties 1
LAST YEAR (MLS)
5/19: NE 2, HOU 2 (Sene 26, 57 – Bruin 32; Camargo 87)
- The Dynamo have won the last two games between the teams in Houston, including a 2-0 victory last Sept. 29 in the first game at BBVA Compass Stadium. Those are their only two home wins lifetime vs. the Revolution; the Revs had won on four consecutive trips to Houston.
- The last two meetings at Gillette Stadium have ended in draws, including a 2-2 result last year in the only encounter between the clubs.
- The teams have played for three cups. They met in back-to-back MLS Cup Finals in 2006 and 2007, the Dynamo winning on both occasions (on penalty kicks in MLS Cup 2006; 2-1 in MLS Cup 2007). They also met in the 2008 SuperLiga final (won by New England on penalties).
- Coaches record: Dominic Kinnear vs. NE: P19 W6 L6 D7 … Jay Heaps vs. HOU: P2 W0 L1 D1
HOUSTON DYNAMO
The Houston Dynamo saw their long home undefeated streak finally come to an end, Sporting Kansas City getting the game’s only goal for a victory Sunday evening at BBVA Compass Stadium. The Dynamo are in a tie for second place in the Eastern Conference with 20 points from 11 matches.
LAST MATCH
- The game's lone goal came after 73 minutes. SKC fullback Seth Sinovic found Aurelien Collin on a long throw-in into the penalty area and he flicked the ball past Houston goalkeeper Tally Hall, despite the best efforts of Corey Ashe to clear the shot off the line.
- KC goalkeeper Jimmy Nielsen made three saves for seventh shutout of the season. Sporting became the first visiting team to win at BBVA Compass Stadium, and the first to win in Houston since June 18, 2011.
- Dynamo head coach Dominic Kinnear made one change to the team that rolled to a 4-0 triumph against D.C. United at RFK Stadium. Ricardo Clark came back into the team in place of Giles Barnes.
- HOUSTON DYNAMO (4-1-4-1): Tally Hall - Kofi Sarkodie (Brian Ching 77), Jermaine Taylor (Eric Brunner 46), Bobby Boswell, Corey Ashe - Adam Moffat (Jason Johnson 77) - Boniek Garcia, Brad Davis, Ricardo Clark, Andrew Driver - Will Bruin.
TEAM NEWS
- The Sporting KC victory put an end to the Dynamo’s home undefeated streak at 36 games in all competitions, and 30 games in MLS league matches. Both streaks are Major League Soccer records.
- “I’ve said this since you guys have started talking about the streak, it’s given teams that come in here more motivation,” center back Bobby Boswell said. “Have you ever seen a team win a game and have a huddle after the game and go run around screaming in the tunnel and stuff like that? I haven’t. Obviously they feel they’ve accomplished something great. Credit to them for getting the result, but it’s not going to break us as a team.”
- Added Dynamo winger Andrew Driver: “I think that shows how well we've been doing if a team comes here and celebrates like they've won the whole thing. It shows we're a big scalp for teams and we're doing something right.”
- The Sporting KC home loss followed a coast-to-coast road trip that saw Dynamo victories at the LA Galaxy and D.C. United. Following the New England match, the Dynamo hit the road again for three consecutive matches at Kansas City, Columbus and Montréal.
- “We went coast-to-coast. Six out of nine points, that’s not an easy schedule. We are definitely happy with that. Do we want more? Absolutely we want more,” said midfielder Brad Davis. “But we pushed and like I said, we are not happy right now, but this is one we have to put in the back of our heads. We have a week to recover so hopefully we’ll get back to a healthy squad next week and get back after it.”
- The Dynamo were without striker Giles Barnes, who was forced after just about a half-hour in the D.C. United match. With Barnes out of the side, Kinnear went with Will Bruin as the lone out-and-out striker.
- Ricardo Clark was able to return to the side after missing the United match with a left adductor strain.
- “We knew it was going to be a physical battle. I think that the travel and the road games definitely had some effect obviously with injuries,” said Boswell. “Like I said, it’s all about how we rebound and where we go from here. I like this group. I think we’ve got a pretty experienced group and pretty levelheaded guys.”
READ: Kofi Sarkodie's double goal-line stop wins MLS Save of the Week: Week 11
NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION
The New England Revolution has their current winless run extended to three games, reaching a 1-1 draw with the New York Red Bulls on Saturday evening at Gillette Stadium. The Revolution are in seventh place in the Eastern Conference with 10 points from 10 matches.
LAST MATCH
- The goals came a minute apart in the second half. In the 54th minute, Chris Tierney curled an enticing corner kick into the near post. Diego Fagundez smacked a first-time effort toward goal that Kosuke Kimura cleared off the line, but Fagundez reacted quickly to sweep home the resulting rebound inside the goal area.
- The Red Bulls were level moments later. The ball eventually found its way to Andre Akpan from a Red Bulls throw-in and he played a neat diagonal ball to Lloyd Sam's feet inside the penalty area. Sam collected deftly and placed his effort inside the far post for the eventual equalizer.
- Revolution head coach Jay Heaps made two changes to the team that dropped a late 2-1 decision to Real Salt Lake at Gillette Stadium. Kalifa Cisse came back into the midfield for Scott Caldwell, and Dimitry Imbongo started up top in place of Jerry Bengtson.
- NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION (4-1-4-1): Bobby Shuttleworth - Andrew Farrell, Stephen McCarthy, Jose Goncalves, Chris Tierney - Kalifa Cisse (Andy Dorman 77) - Diego Fagundez, Lee Nguyen, Kelyn Rowe (Saer Sene 70), Ryan Guy - Dimitry Imbongo (Jerry Bengtson 74).
READ: Shuffling the deck: Heaps looking for Revs' forwards to take opportunities
TEAM NEWS
- Diego Fagundez scored his second goal of the season, in the last four games, again playing in a wide right role with Dimitry Imbongo as the lone out-and-out striker.
- “The little man Diego had a heck of a night. You are starting to see him (into) a two-way player. He’s a good player,” said Heaps. “ … He’s going to create more by being more involved in the offense, I like that about Diego. His awareness tactically that’s natural, but it’s his two-way play that shows me he is ready for the next level.”
- “Defending, I just have to do a little bit extra than when you are playing up top. But, when you have good defenders like Andrew (Farrell) or Chris Tierney that can help you out, it makes it a lot easier for me when I have to defend,” said Fagundez. “They will tell me to come back, but most the time I'm attacking wide midfielder so I have to attack. But, like I said, when they need help defending, they'll call me up.”
- Imbongo made his first start of the season, playing 74 minutes after two substitute appearances totaling just 22 minutes, replacing Jerry Bengtson in the first XI.
- “I thought it was a good time to give Dimi (Imbongo) an opportunity, he’s worked hard, and he’s done well in his minutes,” said Heaps. “With two games back to back like this you’ve got to manage bodies. You ask all week, they want time they want to get on the field. So when you give them an opportunity and a guy like Dimi takes it, you are excited about it. I thought he did a nice job.”
- Kalifa Cissé also returned to the lineup in the holding role behind the four-man midfield block, with Lee Nguyen and Kelyn Rowe providing the promptings centrally.
- “Tactically we switched Ryan (Guy) and Diego (Fagundez) a little bit to offset them a little bit. I thought Dimitry (Imbongo) had a pretty good game, as well, our center forward. We asked a lot of him to be there as a young kid as well. He battled. I think as the game went on (he) created a little more space, a little bit more havoc between the two center backs,” said Heaps.
- Chris Tierney recorded his first assist of the season, and now has recorded at least one assist in each of his six seasons with the Revolution.
- “Jay (Heaps) encourages us full backs to push on and try to get balls in the box. The more chances you get the ball whipping around the goal front, the more likely it is to get balls in the net. I think we just have to make a commitment to lay it on the line a little bit more in the box, bang bodies and just get that first one in,” said Tierney.
- New signing Juan Agudelo was not able to feature against his former club, but could be ready for the weekend trip to Houston.
- “He joined us last week and he only had two half-days of training that weren't real. It would have been a tough decision to have him to go full without having a week with us,” Heaps said. “ … We're getting him back to see where he is [in terms of his] fitness level. He hasn't played in three weeks, from a fitness standpoint, but he's healthy and he's moving around. ... This week will be important to gauge him.”
