Two of Major League Soccer’s surprise teams will play for more than Lone Star State pride when the Houston Dynamo host FC Dallas on Saturday in a Copa Tejas fixture with plenty of playoff implications.
The Dynamo (13-9-7, 46 points) head home after a 3-3 midweek draw at San Diego FC that kept them in fifth place in the Western Conference. Houston is just one point out of fourth and home-field advantage in the first round of the playoffs, and only six points behind conference-leading Vancouver.
Houston carries a five-game winless streak (0-2-3) into Saturday’s match despite a brace by Guilherme and a spectacular bicycle-kick goal by Mateusz Bogusz against San Diego. The goals were Guilherme’s 15th and 16th of the season, marking his first multi-goal match since the Dynamo’s season opener.
Houston coach Ben Olsen praised Guilherme as the Dynamo’s go-to player but said the team will need more from others to make noise in the postseason.
“(Guilherme)’s carried a big load for us — it’s too much. So we as a team have to continue to work on whether we can take some of that pressure off of him,” Olsen said. “But when you need something, you need a play, it’s nice to have that type of player on the field for us.”
FC Dallas travel south after a 1-0 home victory over Seattle on Wednesday that helped clinch a playoff spot for the surging Toros. Kaick scored a highlight-reel goal in the second half and Daniel made seven saves to lift the Toros to the win.
Dallas begins the weekend in third place in the West, two points behind Vancouver with St. Louis City in between.
The clean sheet was the eighth of the year for Daniel, who was acquired from San Jose on July 9.
“That’s why (Daniel)’s here,” Dallas coach Eric Quill said. “He’s here to help us win games, and he’s been doing it his whole career. He’s a big-time goalkeeper, and he’s been dealing with hamstring issues, so he’s not even at full health right now, if I’m being honest.”
FC Dallas (14-7-8, 50 points) have lost just once in their last eight matches (5-1-2) and cemented their spot among the top four teams in the West with five matches remaining in the regular season.
The Toros beat Seattle for the first time in their past six meetings without getting a goal from Petar Musa, who leads the team with a franchise-high 19, or Logan Farrington, who sat out Wednesday’s match.
–Field Level Media
