THE BASICS
Houston Dynamo at Vancouver Whitecaps FC
Saturday, May 28, 2016, 5:00 p.m. CT
BC Place, Vancouver, British Columbia
BROADCAST INFORMATION
ROOT SPORTS - 4:30 p.m. (CHANNEL LISTINGS)
650 AM / Radio.com app - 4:30 p.m.
Univision Radio 1010 AM - 4:30 p.m.
PREVIEW
A key match in the Western Conference is ahead when Vancouver Whitecaps FC and the Houston Dynamo meet for a second time this season on Saturday afternoon at BC Place. Whitecaps FC saw their three-game winning streak put to an end on the road last weekend, suffering a 4-2 loss at the Portland Timbers on Sunday afternoon. The Dynamo saw their long road winless streak continued, opening their road swing with a 1-0 loss at the Chicago Fire. Whitecaps FC took a 1-0 win when the clubs met in March in Vancouver.
REFEREE: Drew Fischer. AR1 (bench): Jeremy Hanson; AR2 (opposite): Jonathan Johnson; 4th: Baboucarr Jallow
MLS Career: 53 games; FC/gm: 26.5; Y/gm: 3.0; R: 4; pens: 15
INJURY REPORT, PRESENTED BY HOUSTON METHODIST (as of May 26)
HOUSTON DYNAMO—PROBABLE: DaMarcus Beasley – left hamstring;
VANCOUVER WHITECAPS FC—OUT: Christian Dean – left foot fracture; Masato Kudo – fractured jaw; QUESTIONABLE: Fraser Aird – right knee contusion;
INTERNATIONAL ABSENCES: VAN: Blas Perez (Panama; vs. Venezuela 5/24, vs. Brazil 5/29); Christian Bolaños, Kendall Waston (Costa Rica; vs. Venezuela 5/27) … HOU: Giles Barnes (Jamaica; vs. Chile 5/27)
HEAD-TO-HEAD
- ALL-TIME (8 meetings): Whitecaps FC 5 wins, 12 goals … Dynamo 3 wins, 9 goals … Ties 0
- AT VANCOUVER (5 meetings): Whitecaps FC 5 wins, 10 goals … Dynamo 0 wins, 2 goals … Ties 0
- FUTURE MATCH: 7/23: Houston Dynamo vs. Vancouver Whitecaps FC, 8:30 p.m. CT
- The teams are meeting for the second time this season. Pedro Morales converted a penalty kick in the 23rd minute, giving Whitecaps FC a 1-0 win March 26 at BC Place.
- In eight meetings all-time between the clubs, the home team has won each. Whitecaps FC have won all four meetings at BC Place, the Dynamo having not scored their since 2014. The ‘Caps also won the lone meeting at Empire Field.
- The Dynamo have won both meetings all-time at BBVA Compass Stadium, including a 2-0 win last Aug. 29, in their three home wins in the all-time series.
- Coaches record: Carl Robinson vs. HOU: P4 W3 L1 T0 … Wade Barrett vs. VAN: first game
LAST MEETING
- (MLS): 3/26: VAN 1, HOU 0 (Morales 23)
- The game's only goal came in the 23rd minute, after Houston fullback Jalil Anibaba tripped up Vancouver's Masato Kudo as he tracked a far-post cross. Pedro Morales converted from the spot, the fourth consecutive Whitecaps FC goal scored from a penalty kick.
- Whitecaps FC goalkeeper David Ousted was credited with five saves in keeping the clean sheet, though he was also twice saved by the woodwork.
- VANCOUVER WHITECAPS FC (4-4-2): David Ousted - Fraser Aird, Andrew Jacobson, Pa-Modou Kah, Jordan Harvey - Cristian Techera (Sam Adekugbe 69), Pedro Morales, Matias Laba, Kekuta Manneh (Nicolas Mezquida 86) - Masato Kudo (Jordan Smith 78), Octavio Rivero.
- HOUSTON DYNAMO (4-2-3-1): Joe Willis - Jalil Anibaba, David Horst, Raul Rodriguez, DaMarcus Beasley - Alex, Ricardo Clark - Andrew Wenger (Abdoulie Mansally 58), Cristian Maidana (Mauro Manotas 64), Leonel Miranda - Will Bruin (Rob Lovejoy 81)
HOUSTON DYNAMO
The Houston Dynamo saw their road losing slide continue, falling 1-0 to the Chicago Fire on Saturday afternoon at Toyota Park. The Dynamo are in 10th place in the Western Conference with 11 points from 12 games.
LAST GAME
- The game's only goal came after just four minutes, as Gilberto played a no-look through-ball to a streaking Arturo Alvarez, and he nicked it over onrushing Houston goalkeeper Tyler Deric from inside the area for his first goal with the Fire.
- Fire goalkeeper Sean Johnson was credited with three saves in recording his first shutout of the season.
- Dynamo head coach Owen Coyle made two changes to the team that defeated Real Salt Lake 1-0 at BBVA Compass Stadium. Tyler Deric came back in between the posts for Joe Willis, and Will Bruin started up top in place of Erick Torres.
- HOUSTON DYNAMO (4-2-3-1): Tyler Deric - Sheanon Williams, David Horst, Agus, DaMarcus Beasley (Jalil Anibaba 13) - Ricardo Clark, Alex - Andrew Wenger, Cristian Maidana (Mauro Manotas 65), Giles Barnes - Will Bruin (Leonel Miranda 55).
TEAM NEWS
- In the days leading up to the Whitecaps FC, Dynamo head coach Owen Coyle announced his resignation with immediate effect, to return back home to England. Assistant coaches Wade Barrett, Paul Caffrey and Paul Rogers will manage the Dynamo in Saturday’s game.
- The Dynamo suffered their sixth defeat in six road outings this season in the loss to the Fire. The Dynamo have now lost 10 consecutive road games, matching the sixth-longest streak in league history; they are winless overall in their last 14 games away from BBVA Compass Stadium.
- “It’s the same as any defeat,” Dynamo head coach Owen Coyle said. “Nobody likes losing games and I think today was an opportunity to come and look to get nine points out of 12 and we’ve let that slip us by. I think every one of us, and I’ve said that to the group, you can’t perform to such a high standard at home as we’ve done and then come and [play like that].
- The Dynamo were shut out at the attacking end for a third time this season – they have lost in each one of their offensive shutouts by a 1-0 scoreline (also: 0-1 at Vancouver, March 26; 0-1 at Columbus, April 23).
- “I’m not talking about the result,” Coyle said. “I felt as much for all the possession we had, we never passed it as quickly and as fluently or looked as dynamic as we do when we go and attack it quickly. On the road, it’s got to be the same to replicate those home performances, and when we’re doing that we’re showing we can stand toe-to-toe with the very best.”
- DaMarcus Beasley made a second consecutive start at left back, but came off after just 13 minutes as he has been suffering from a groin injury. It was Beasley’s first game at Toyota Park since 2004, when he left the Fire to join PSV Eindhoven in the Netherlands.
- “He’s one of the top players and he always has been and it’s always difficult when you lose a player of that caliber,” Coyle said. “It certainly didn’t help us because he gives us an attacking threat, but that’s the nature of the game. Every player that picks up an injury you’ve got to adjust to it and unfortunately it happened very early in the game for ourselves.”
- Tyler Deric returned between the posts for his fourth start of the season, after serving a one-match ban for his second sending-off this season, May 11 vs. San Jose. In Deric’s two full matches, the Dynamo have won one and lost one.
- Will Bruin returned to the starting lineup after a one-match interruption, his second start in the last six matches, playing 55 minutes as the lone out-and-out striker.
- “We didn’t move the ball quick enough. We kind of sat on it. Touch, touch, touch, then move it. We have to move the ball with conviction and quicker. Our passing has to be more accurate,” Bruin said.
- Said Coyle: “We weren’t very useful going forward. We’re really annoyed because we conceded a soft goal in the first few minutes. And then we had loads of possession without having the penetration that we require. We had 65 percent possession in the game. I just felt we should have moved the ball quicker, and not result in low goal scoring chances.”
- At midweek, the Dynamo faced Spanish side Real Sociedad in the annual BBVA Compass Dynamo Charities Cup, winning the friendly on penalty kicks after the teams played to a 3-3 draw. David Rocha and Mauro Manotas netted for the Dynamo with the third goal an own goal, as Sociedad stormed back from three-goal deficit over the final 35 minutes.
- Here’s the Dynamo team: Tyler Deric (Joe Willis) 48; Abdoulie Mansally, Raul Rodgriguez (Agus Garcia) 62, Sebastian Ibeagha, Jalil Anibaba (Bradley Bourgeois) 62; Zach Steinberger (Sheanon Williams) 83, Collen Warner (Cristían Maidana) 62, David Rocha; Leonel Miranda (Christian Lucatero) 75, Boniek Garcia (Rob Lovejoy) 45; Mauro Manotas (Will Bruin) 62
