THE BASICS:
Houston Dynamo vs. C.D. Árabe Unido
Tuesday, August 27, 7:00 p.m. CT
BBVA Compass Stadium, Houston, TX
BROADCAST INFORMATION:
FOX Sports 2 - 7:00 p.m. (Check local listings)
Univision Deportes 2 - 7:00 p.m. (Check local listings)
REFEREES:
Hugo Cruz. AR1 (bench): Warner Castro; AR2 (opposite): Javier Rojas; 4th: Ricardo Cerdas
INJURY REPORT:
HOUSTON DYNAMO -- Omar Cummings – Left knee MCL sprain; Tyler Deric – Right thumb fracture; QUESTIONABLE: Calen Carr – Left knee; Ricardo Clark – Illness
HEAD-TO-HEAD:
- ALL-TIME (2 meetings): Dynamo 1 win, 6 goals … Árabe Unido 0 wins, 2 goals … Ties 1
- AT HOUSTON (1 meeting): Dynamo 1 wins, 5 goals … Árabe Unido 0 wins, 1 goal … Ties 0
- FUTURE MATCH: 10/4: Árabe Unido vs. Houston Dynamo, 7:00 p.m. CT
- The teams are playing for the first time in the 2013-14 CONCACAF Champions League group stage.
- The teams met during the 2009-10 edition of the tournament, with the Dynamo winning their home match and drawing the away fixture.
A LOOK AT THE OPPONENT: ÁRABE UNIDO:
Full name: Club Deportivo Árabe Unido
City: Colón, Panama
Founded: 1994
Manager: Richard Parra (Colombia)
League: Liga Panameña de Fútbol
Titles: 10-time Panama League champion. Most recent: Apertura 2012.
Nicknames: Los árabes, Blue Express, La furia colonense
Current season: Third place. The Blue Express are 3-2-2 (11 points), three points back of first place Tauro F.C. After a slow start to the season, Árabe Unido has won its last three league games. Humberto Ward leads the club with two goals this season.
Árabe Unido is making its third appearance in the Champions League, and first since the 2010-11 tournament. The club earned a 3-1 home win over W Connection in the opening game of this group stage. Humberto Ward scored twice and Jose Gonzalez added a third as the Panamanian club rolled to an opening win.
The Dynamo and Árabe Unido were in the same Champions League group in the 2009-10 tournament. Houston secured a 1-1 draw at Árabe Unido in August 2009 in a memorable game that included eight yellow cards, five red cards and two power outages. A month later, the Dynamo produced a 5-1 win overLos árabes, with two late goals from Stuart Holden.
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If you can't make it out to BBVA Compass Stadium tonight, feel free to join us here. The history is above us, hopefully the Dynamo can produce something similar tonight.