The Houston Dynamo and visiting St. Louis City enter Saturday evening’s Decision Day match already qualified for the MLS Cup Playoffs.
All that’s left for both teams is to secure important positioning in the Western Conference.
St. Louis City (14-10-9, 51 points) have an identical record to Houston (14-10-9, 51 points) but currently sit in fourth place via a goal-differential tiebreaker (10 to 1). A win by either team, plus a San Jose Earthquakes loss or draw against Minnesota United, would hand the winner the West’s third seed. A draw, coupled with a San Jose loss, would see St. Louis move to third on goal differential.
A St. Louis win also would snap a four-match losing streak and a five-match winless stretch for head coach Yoann Damet’s side.
“This is the end of the marathon, and then there is a final sprint (playoffs) kicking off in two weeks,” Damet said. “So, super excited by the challenge. I think being in the last game where you play for something, and something very good, is exciting.”
Houston, which lost 3-1 to the Portland Timbers on Sunday, could see the return of Guilherme (16 goals, 10 assists) after he missed the past two matches with a lower-body injury, per head coach Ben Olsen. Hector Herrera (three goals, two assists) also is “really close” after a two-match absence of his own, Olsen added.
“We have one more dress rehearsal, and then two weeks of work to get ourselves in the best position possible,” Olsen said. “And I think it’s doable, but this is certainly a big match to take a step forward, both in the results department and also just in form, and that’s what this is about.”
St. Louis City took the previous regular-season meeting between the two sides, a 2-1 win at Energizer Park on Aug. 22. They also played the Dynamo to a 2-2 draw in the U.S. Open Cup quarterfinals on May 19 before winning 4-2 in penalties.
St. Louis could also see the return of midfielder Alex Matan (lower leg) and goalkeeper Roman Burki (concussion) after both players returned to training following injuries.
–Field Level Media
