The Houston Dynamo will be the rare club thankful to travel when they head north to face FC Dallas in the Texas Derby fixture on Saturday night.
Houston (2-1-0, 6 points) will be the last MLS team to hit the road during the 2026 season after its previous away opener at New England — scheduled for March 7 — was postponed due to delays installing the Revolution’s natural grass surface.
The Dynamo mostly stayed put during January and February in preparation for the season.
“Most teams wouldn’t be excited to go on the road, but we haven’t traveled yet this year, and we don’t do a lot of traveling in the preseason,” Houston coach Ben Olsen said Friday. “So it’ll be nice to get the team away from here; and Dallas, this is the derby, one we look forward to, one they look forward to.”
The Dynamo have trailed in all three of their matches this season. Last Saturday, former Los Angeles FC winger Mateusz Bogusz scored his first goal for the club in Houston’s dramatic 3-2 win against Portland, coming 15 minutes into second-half stoppage time and 12 minutes after teammate Nick Markanich was sent off for a foul on Portland goalkeeper James Pantemis.
Dallas (1-1-2, 5 points) hasn’t won since opening weekend but has faced three of the top five clubs in the early Supporters’ Shield standings over that stretch, drawing twice.
“You look hard at the video and where your shortcomings are, and you solve it on the training field,” Dallas coach Eric Quill said. “And the guys stay engaged, which they have been all week long, and you hope that that repetition, and those moments that you’re constructing again, if they play themselves out in a game, that they’re fixed.”
Petar Musa scored his second career MLS hat trick — and first since June 2024 — last Saturday as Dallas rallied from two goals down in a 3-3 home draw to become the first side to take points from San Diego.
Musa is tied with Vancouver’s Brian White for the MLS lead with five goals. Reserve forward Logan Farrington has Dallas’ only other goal.
–Field Level Media
