Real Salt Lake will try to snap a lengthy MLS winless streak when they visit the Houston Dynamo on Wednesday night.
RSL (8-9-5, 29 points) last won a league match on May 16, a 2-1 victory over the Colorado Rapids. In their last nine matches, they are 0-5-4.
Salt Lake was able to rescue a point in its last outing on Saturday thanks to Noel Caliskan’s first goal of the season in the 75th minute, which capped the scoring in a 2-2 draw with Los Angeles FC.
“I think the guys in the second half did a fantastic job of creating probably some of the better chances,” said RSL head coach Pablo Mastroeni. “I think if we were just a little bit more polished in our decision-making and execution in that final third, we probably could have won that game.”
After a 6-0-2 stretch, Houston (12-7-4, 40 points) has followed a 2-1 loss to St. Louis City on Aug. 22 with back-to-back 0-0 draws against the San Jose Earthquakes and Charlotte FC.
The Dynamo, who enter play three points behind the Vancouver Whitecaps for first place in the Western Conference, have allowed the fourth-fewest goals in the league with 26. But their 30 goals scored are tied for sixth fewest.
“The defensive side of the game is still a strong point, to state the obvious, of this group,” said Houston head coach Ben Olsen. “What we need to continue to work on is obvious in seeing out the game in the final third and being more threatening and score more goals.”
Guilherme is the Dynamo’s leader in goals (12) and assists (seven) but has gone without a goal contribution in his last three matches. Houston goalkeeper Jonathan Bond has kept 11 clean sheets, tied with two others for the MLS lead.
Sergi Solans leads RSL with nine goals.
RSL won the previous meeting between the teams, a 3-0 victory on May 13 in Sandy, Utah.
The Dynamo are 7-2-2 at Shell Energy Stadium this season. Real Salt Lake are just 1-7-3 on the road.
–Field Level Media
