HOUSTON – It’s been a rough week on the injury front for the Houston Dynamo.
The club added goalkeeper Tally Hall to their growing number of ACL casualities and while that injury’s gotten the headlines, Houston could have several other holes to plug heading into Saturday's home matchup with the Montreal Impact (8:30 pm ET, MLS Live).
In addition to Hall’s absence, Houston will certainly be without stalwart right back Kofi Sarkodie, who is suspended due to yellow card accumulation, and starters Will Bruin (mid foot sprain) and Jermaine Taylor (concussion) are listed as out.
The damage has the club going through their most crucial stretch of the season, with four starters unavailable from the previous week’s 3-1 victory over Sporting Kansas City.
“Yeah, it’s been a weird preparation week heading up to this game,” head coach Dominic Kinnear said. “You walk off the field in Kansas City and you’re feeling pretty good about it, and then you see the fallout and you’re missing some players. It’s been a bummer. We’ll be fielding a different team on Saturday.”
Houston’s dealt with these issues before. The stretch from May to July was littered with absences due to injuries, suspensions and international duty. Their record during that time, including an eight-game winless stretch, is what has them playing catch up in the playoff race.
With Bruin out, the Dynamo will be without the source of 10 of their 28 goals on the season. He’s been a big part of Houston’s success recently, scoring four of Houston’s last eight goals. With him unavailable and Mark Sherrod still out with an ACL injury, the club has three forwards left in Giles Barnes, Omar Cummings and Jason Johnson.
“It’s been injuries and some things we can’t stop from off the field that’s affected our forward line, so it’s been a weird one,” Kinnear said. “You’ve got to try and find the best 11 you feel for that day.”
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The pressure will lie on Barnes, who hasn’t scored in five games, to pick up where Bruin left off. Houston could also turn to Cummings, who was back in training this week after missing the past two games for personal reasons. Kinnear said the Jamaican international will be available and is a “boost” for the depleted forward corps.
In the back, Houston’s mixing in some good with the bad.
While Taylor and Sarkodie are out, fullback DaMarcus Beasley has been back in training this week after missing two weeks with a hamstring injury. Beasley and Corey Ashe, the only true outside backs available, will likely start along the backline.
“I think he’s feeling good,” Kinnear said of Beasley. “He trained today and I don’t think he’s had any ill effects from the sessions he’s been involved in. Hopefully he’s available for Saturday, and I would think he would be.”
Darrell Lovell covers the Houston Dynamo for MLSsoccer.com.
