Moving in right direction before rematch
Phase I home finale features tough test against Sporting K.C.
The Houston Dynamo and Sporting Kansas City have scored 11 points between their previous two games this season, both blowouts, with the most recent round going to Houston last week.
Kansas City (5-2-2, 17 points) comes to Houston (2-2-4, 10 points) for Round 3 on Saturday in what will be the final home game of the Phase I schedule.
“I think we have done a good job with the two victories,” midfielder Memo Rodriguez said. “We are on a high note right now and need to carry that momentum into this game. Obviously, we played them and had a good game against them, we beat them 5-2. They are going to come out, they are good team and they are a team that likes to pressure. So I think their approach doesn’t change, we just have to be ready for them.”
Following a 4-0 shutout at the hands of Kansas City in the second game of the season in March, the Dynamo exacted emphatic revenge in last Tuesday’s win — a result made more impressive because of limited appearances by forwards Alberth Elis and Mauro Manotas, who is “likely” to be available on Saturday.
Elis registered a goal and an assist before his halftime departure because of a lower back injury. He joined Wednesday’s game against Minnesota United at halftime and recorded two assists. Houston won 3-0.
Houston is playing its best soccer under coach Tab Ramos, and it’s doing it with significant help from less-heralded contributors including midfielder Darwin Ceren, and most recently, Ariel Lassiter, who scored two goals 15 minutes into his Dynamo debut against Minnesota.
“At this point, we are definitely feeling confident in our game,” defender Zarek Valentin said, pointing to Houston’s growing pains during the MLS is Back Tournament earlier this summer. “We weren’t too happy with that, but ultimately, we did trust the process — if I might take that saying
from my buddy Joel Embiid from the 76ers — but I think that we knew that we were moving in the right direction. The pieces were slowly coming together and that we were working toward that success, our style of play and really implementing that.”
Valentin said Houston’s recent dominance hasn’t made it complacent.
Less than 10 games into the season — and just one week after its first win of the year — it can’t afford to be.
The Dynamo’s first win over Kansas City helped lift them from the Western Conference basement. Facing a team that remains at the top of the conference, Houston will look to pull itself above the playoff line for good.
“I think that we can take a lot of positives from the last two wins, back-to-back wins are always great, but we are not in the playoffs. We are still below the line,” Valentin said. “That’s not where we want to be. We want to be a team that is in the playoffs and pushing to be in the top of the Western Conference.”