HOUSTON DYNAMO vs. CHICAGO FIRE
ROBERTSON STADIUM, Houston, Texas
Aug. 31, 2008 | 6 p.m. CT (Ch. 55; My50 Chi.)
WEEK # 23 | GAME # 154
The Houston Dynamo return home holding a solid lead in the Western Conference as they play host to the Chicago Fire in a high-profile interconference matchup at Robertson Stadium. The two-time defending MLS champions lead the West by five points coming into the week, though their four-game league winning streak came to a stunning halt last weekend in New York. The Fire have lost just once in their last nine games and still have the top of the Eastern Conference in their sights, sitting just two points behind the tie between New England and Columbus for the divisional lead.
REFEREE: Alex Prus. SAR (bench): Bill Dittmar; JAR (opposite): Eric Boria; 4th: Fernando Galvan
MLS Career: 133 games; FC/gm: 29.6; Y/gm: 3.4; R: 31; pens: 41
INJURY REPORT: HOUSTON DYNAMO - NONE REPORTED ... CHICAGO FIRE - OUT: DF Daniel Woolard (L knee sprain); FW Patrick Nyarko (R knee sprain)
INTERNATIONAL ABSENCES: none
SUSPENDED: none
WARNINGS:
SUSPENDED NEXT YELLOW CARD: HOU: Bobby Boswell
SUSPENDED AFTER TWO YELLOW CARDS: HOU: Wade Barrett, Stuart Holden ... CHI: Brandon Prideaux, Gonzalo Segares; Bakary Soumare, John Thorrington
HEAD-TO-HEAD
ALL-TIME (5 meetings): Dynamo 2 wins, 8 goals ... Fire 2 wins, 5 goals ... Ties 1
AT HOUSTON (2 meetings): Dynamo 0 wins, 0 goals ... Fire 2 wins, 2 goals ... Ties 0
• This is the second of two meetings between the clubs this season, the only meeting in league play this season at Robertson Stadium on Aug 31.
• A year ago, the visiting team won both games - and the home team did not score in either. The Fire won 1-0 in Houston early on, then the Dynamo won 4-0 in July in Bridgeview - the third of three 4-0 victories in a span of six matches, all on MLS Primetime Thursday.
• The Dynamo have come away with a result on each of their trips to Bridgeview. The teams played to a 2-2 draw in Houston's first visit to Toyota Park, Aug. 30, 2006, then have won their two appearances at Toyota Park.
• But the Fire have won on both of their trips to the Space City - winning 1-0 both on May 20, 2006 and in last year's April trip.
• Coaches record: Dominic Kinnear vs. CHI: P10 W3 L4 D3 ... Denis Hamlett v HOU: P1 W0 L1 D0
LAST MEETING (MLS):
5/17: CHI 1, HOU 2 (Carr 28 - De Rosario 17; Boswell 82)
• The Dynamo got a late winner for a 2-1 win against the Fire at Toyota Park on May 17. The Dynamo took the lead after 17 minutes. Ricardo Clark let fly from outside the area; his shot deflected off the boot of Fire midfielder Chris Rolfe and Dwayne De Rosario instinctively poked out his head to divert it again, Jon Busch left completely helpless as the ball flew into the goal.
• But the Fire levelled the score in the 28th minute. Cuauhtemoc Blanco swung in a free kick from the right corner and Calen Carr rose up to powerfully head down, the bounce taking the ball past Pat Onstad and over the clearing attempt of Wade Barrett.
• In the second half, the rain began lashing down in Bridgeview and the Dynamo scored the winner eight minutes from the end. Richard Mulrooney hooked in a quick free kick from the right flank and Bobby Boswell got up to nod home a looping header for his first goal since joining the Orange.
• Here's Hamlett's team (4-3-1-2): Jon Busch - Brandon Prideaux, Diego Gutierrez, Bakary Soumare, Gonzalo Segares - Chris Rolfe (Wilman Conde 67), Logan Pause, Justin Mapp (Tomasz Frankowski 80) - Cuauhtemoc Blanco - Calen Carr, Chad Barrett (Andy Herron 73). Substitutes Not Used: Mike Banner, Nick Noble, Dasan Robinson, Daniel Woolard
• Here's Kinnear's team (4-3-1-2): Pat Onstad - Richard Mulrooney, Bobby Boswell, Eddie Robinson, Wade Barrett - Brian Mullan, Ricardo Clark, Stuart Holden - Dwayne De Rosario - Franco Caraccio (Kyle Brown 68), Brian Ching. Substitutes Not Used: Chris Wondolowski, Tony Caig, Geoff Cameron, Patrick Ianni, Guy-Roland Kpene, Craig Waibel
HOUSTON DYNAMO
The Houston Dynamo crashed back to earth following a resounding midweek win against Chivas USA, falling 3-0 to the New York Red Bulls on Sunday afternoon at Giants Stadium. The Dynamo still lead the Western Conference with 32 points from 21 matches, five ahead of Real Salt Lake, five points off the pace of the New England Revolution and Columbus Crew for the league's best overall record.
LAST MATCH
• The Red Bulls were coming off back-to-back wins against conference opposition to start off a three-game homestand, while the Dynamo had solidified their standing atop the Western Conference with a resounding 4-0 win against Chivas USA at midweek, their fourth victory in a row.
• But it was the Red Bulls who rolled out to the early lead. Mike Magee chased down a ball in the left corner, laid it back to Dave van den Bergh, and his pinpoint cross found Juan Pablo Angel at the top of the six for an easy header and his eighth goal on the campaign.
• Dane Richards doubled the lead in the 26th minute. Set free by a long ball down the right flank from Seth Stammler, the speedy winger cut into the area and lashed a low drive home inside the far post for his first goal of 2008.
• The Red Bulls put the game away on the hour mark. Diego Jimenez picked out Magee with a masterful ball from his own half, and the young striker raced in alone on Dynamo 'keeper Pat Onstad, cut to his left in the penalty area and drove the ball into the empty goal for his third goal in as many games, a career-long scoring streak.
• Dynamo head coach Dominic Kinnear made three changes to the team that defeated Chivas USA 4-0 at midweek. Pat Onstad and Dwayne De Rosario returned from international duty, replacing Tony Caig and Stuart Holden, and Craig Waibel came back into the back four for Richard Mulrooney.
• Here's Kinnear's team (4-3-1-2): Pat Onstad - Craig Waibel (Corey Ashe 75), Bobby Boswell, Eddie Robinson (Geoff Cameron 62), Wade Barrett - Brian Mullan, Ricardo Clark, Brad Davis - Dwayne De Rosario (Stuart Holden 56) - Nate Jaqua, Kei Kamara. Substitutes Not Used: Tony Caig, Brian Ching, Patrick Ianni, Richard Mulrooney
• "They played good, we played bad and therefore, that's what makes up for the score. Two goals down after the first (30) minutes is difficult to overcome," Kinnear said. "I don't think we had that little zip in our step that we had in our last couple of games and all around the field, we were just below average."
TEAM NEWS
• Although they played in Canada's draw with Jamaica at midweek, Pat Onstad and Dwayne De Rosario were in the lineup for the Dynamo. Brian Ching, who played for the USA in their win in Guatemala, was an unused substitute.
• "We have a good enough squad, we move players in and out. We had a great two games on Saturday and Wednesday, so we never said that we were playing great but we were tired. I don't think that's the right way to approach it," Kinnear said. "I think individually and collectively, we didn't meet the standard that we set in the last couple of games and to go down a goal and not play well is tough no matter where you're at."
• It was just the second loss in 13 matches in all competitions for the Dynamo, their first league loss since June 12 at New England. Their only other loss was a 1-0 reversal by Chivas de Guadalajara in group play in SuperLiga.
• "You run into a bit of a physical and mental beating at times," Kinnear said. "But I think the guys have done great this year. I just told them, it's our second loss in I think two months. It was a bad day all around but we can't dwell on it with so many games coming up."
• Since the loss to Mexico's Chivas, the Dynamo had scored 19 goals in seven games in league play and SuperLiga, before being shut out by the Red Bulls. They had scored multiple goals in each of the games.
• "I don't think we tried to move the ball down the wings. We didn't get I don't think enough crosses in the middle, and other than that, we weren't usually as explosive as we usually are," De Rosario said. "I don't know what it is with us and turf, but right now our record on turf hasn't been that good, but you know both teams play on it. At the end of the day we came out here to get three points, and we didn't come out here to tie and lose and we didn't do that so we are disappointed."
• The week of training with just the match on the weekend was a welcome schedule. World Cup qualifiers are ahead again, conflicting with the Dynamo's game against Kansas City on Sept. 7, then they will begin their CONCACAF Champions League group play on Sept. 16.
• "A win next week at home will be huge and the guys are looking forward to the game as soon as possible but saying that, we definitely have a lot of tired legs including myself from the World Cup qualifiers so we need to take the rest when we get the chance and turn things around next week and definitely come up with a win," said De Rosario.
CHICAGO FIRE
The Chicago Fire won for the third time in four games, getting the game's lone goal in a victory against the Los Angeles Galaxy last Thursday at The Home Depot Center. The Fire have 35 points from 21 matches, sitting in third place in the Eastern Conference, two points behind the New England Revolution and Columbus Crew.
LAST MATCH
• On MLS Primetime Thursday, it was the first game for Bruce Arena in charge of the Galaxy, trying to turn around an eight-game winless run, while the Fire had seen their seven-game unbeaten streak come to an end the week before at home against D.C. United.
• With both teams missing a trio of key performers to international duty, chances were hard to come by. The Galaxy were without Landon Donovan, Eddie Lewis (USA) and David Beckham (England), while the Fire were without Cuauhtemoc Blanco (Mexico), Marco Pappa (Guatemala) and Gonzalo Segares (Costa Rica).
• But the newest Fire hero made his mark on the game in his first start for the Men in Red. Brian McBride took a pass from John Thorrington and laid it back into the path of the Galaxy-killer, and Thorrington stroked home a curling effort from outside the area in the 65th minute for the match-winner.
• Fire head coach Denis Hamlett made five changes to the team that lost 1-0 to D.C. United the previous weekend. With Segares, Pappa and Blanco all away on international duty, Andy Herron and Justin Mapp were also kept out of the team, with Diego Gutierrez, John Thorrington, Stephen King and Patrick Nyarko all coming back in - and Brian McBride making his first start with the Fire.
• Here's Hamlett's team (4-3-1-2): Jon Busch - Brandon Prideaux, Wilman Conde, Bakary Soumare, Diego Gutierrez - John Thorrington, Logan Pause, Stephen King (Andy Herron 63) - Chris Rolfe (Dasan Robinson 90) - Patrick Nyarko (Justin Mapp 22), Brian McBride. Substitutes Not Used: Mike Banner, Tomasz Frankowski, Lider Marmol, Nick Noble
• "I thought tonight from the first whistle the team played very well. We moved the ball and created some good chances. It was a little bit unfortunate not to score a goal early, but I think in the second half we kept doing what we should have been doing, and then we got a great goal by John," said Hamlett.
TEAM NEWS
• While the Fire were missing offensive centerpiece Cuauhtemoc Blanco to international duty, having made a substitute appearance the night before in Mexico's 2-1 World Cup qualifying win against Honduras, having McBride as the spearhead of the attack helped.
• "I think Brian is a great teammate and a true professional. He's come in here and shown our guys that he's capable of playing in big games and helping us do little things. And tonight, John played a ball into him and he held it up pretty well and then laid it back to him when John was through," Hamlett said. "We expect a lot from Brian and I think he's excited to be back playing with us in Chicago. All in all, we are excited to get the deal done and he's here now."
• It was the second victory of the season without Blanco in the lineup - the Fire defeated Chivas USA 1-0 in Bridgeview on Aug. 2 in his only other absence from the lineup. He could miss the key home match against New York with the next round of World Cup qualifiers.
• "We do miss his playmaking ability and his ability to make a pass out of nowhere, which he has done for us so many times this year," Thorrington said. "We have to make up for that in other areas and work that bit harder, and create chances for ourselves more than just expecting to get the ball. We will be very relieved to have him back, but it helps us to play a game without him."
• It was the league-leading ninth defensive shutout for the Fire, their fourth in the last six games. "Our goal is the same, every game, to get a clean sheet," said Busch. "We'll let the guys up front worry about how many goals to score and we'll just take care of things in the back."
• It was another big goal for Thorrington against the Galaxy. In the season finale last year, his stoppage-time strike guaranteed the Fire would make the MLS Cup Playoffs and the Galaxy would be on the outside looking in.
• "Overall it was good to get the goal and the win. I would say overall it wasn't my sharpest night. I found my way into the game. I hadn't been to training for the last week or so, but it all ended on a positive note. We all worked really hard and deserved these three important points for us," Thorrington said.
