Only seven games remain in the 2010 season for the Houston Dynamo. Some might say these games can't go by quick enough, given the season the team is having, but in a league like MLS where the strange regularly does happen, anything is possible.
Saturday's game against Toronto FC is the Dynamo's last home game until October 10th. Between now and then, the team faces a three game road trip that will take then to Kansas City, Washington DC and Philadelphia. Despite the looming road games, if the Dynamo have any hopes of making a playoff run, it has to start with a win over Toronto FC.
Let's take a look at five things you need to know about Saturday's match-up.
1. The Dynamo will be thin in the midfield on Saturday thanks to a trade, an injury and a suspension. Brian Mullan was traded to Colorado for Colin Clarke and allocation money, but Clark won't be available until next season while he recovers from an ACL tear. Anthony Obodai will likely be out the rest of the season after having surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his knee. Finally, Lovel Palmer will be serving his red card suspension that he earned against the Rapids in September.
2. Richard Mulrooney only needs six minutes to reach 24,000 minutes played in his MLS career.
3. While the Dynamo are not mathematically eliminated from the playoffs, they essentially need to win all of their remaining matches to have any chance of going to the post-season.
4. Saturday's match will be Toronto FC's second since the firing of GM Mo Johnston and head coach Preki. TFC played midweek in a CONCACAF Champions League match against Real Salt Lake, losing 4-1.
5. Houston leads the all-time series against TFC (2-1-4), and are 2-0-1 against them all-time at Robertson. Houston hasn't lost to Toronto in the last six matches between the two teams.