Minnesota United will try to snap a team-record six-match losing streak when they travel to Houston to take on the Dynamo on Saturday night.
Minnesota (8-9-5, 29 points) hasn’t won since defeating visiting Sporting Kansas City 3-1 on June 1. The Loons, who were third in the Western Conference, have fallen to 10th place.
Despite its recent struggles, Minnesota is still just four points behind the fifth-place Portland Timbers with a match in hand in the bunched Western Conference.
“If we can start stringing some results together and be where we were, everything can be rosy quite quickly,” first-year Loons head coach Eric Ramsay told the Minneapolis Star Tribune. “I do genuinely get a sense that for as quickly as it’s changed against us, it can very, very quickly change back in our favor.”
Part of Minnesota’s problem has been missing as many as 10 regulars due to international obligations, injuries and suspensions during the losing streak.
The Loons are still without starting goalie Dayne St. Clair and leading goal scorer Tani Oluwaseyi (seven goals in 15 games), who are due back next week after they play for Canada in the third-place game in Copa America on Saturday.
Defender DJ Taylor, who reinjured his hamstring in a 2-1 loss to the LA Galaxy on Sunday, is expected to be sidelined about a month.
Houston (8-7-6, 30 points) sits eighth in the West and will be playing for the first time since a 3-2 road loss to Real Salt Lake on July 3. The Dynamo were supposed to host Los Angeles Football Club on Sunday, but that match was postponed because of Hurricane Beryl.
The loss to RSL snapped a six-match unbeaten streak for Houston, which defeated the Loons 2-1 on April 13 in Saint Paul, Minn., on Sebastian Kowalczyk’s first career MLS goal in the 77th minute.
Ibrahim Aliyu scored his team-leading sixth goal in the loss to RSL, which finished with a 10-2 edge in shots on goal and a 20-7 advantage in shot attempts.
“Not a great performance from us,” Dynamo coach Ben Olsen said. “We looked a little bit unfocused. … Just a little bit lackadaisical. We gave up poor goals, played into their hands, short balls into the midfield, and transitions from them coming down the heart of our defense. Not the greatest performance from us.”
Houston will be without defender Franco Escobar, who is suspended for yellow card accumulation.
–Field Level Media
