Dynamo at Crew: Looking for Three Points

Wow, a match two weekends in row! We're going to get spoiled.

The Dynamo's stretch of matches against Eastern Conference foes continues with a trip to Columbus to face the Crew. Robert Warzycha's side have lost two straight matches and will be looking to rebound against the Dynamo in the friendly confines of Crew Stadium.

Houston will again be without Brad Davis as he continues to recover from a calf injury, so a similar lineup from last week's rain shortened draw with the Chicago Fire is likely. Corey Ashe is expected to remain in the midfield while Jermaine Taylor will cover at left back, something that all Dynamo fans should be just fine with. Adam Moffat returns from suspension to resume his patrolling of the deep midfield with the occasional foray forward to unleash a patented Moffat Rocket on goal.

More interesting for me is how Will Bruin and Brian Ching will play now that the weight of getting a goal together is off their shoulders. Bruin was outstanding in the preseason and struggled a bit in the season's opening games, but the connection the two forwards made for the Dynamo's goal against the Fire was the kind of link up play we've been looking for. The goal settled down calls for Calen Carr or Mac Kandji to start and reminded us all, in Dom we trust.

The one thing we know will be settled for the Dynamo is the defense. Despite some frustrating fluke goals allowed in the first couple matches, the more settled back line has returned us to the type of play we've grown accustomed to during the Dynamo's six plus years in town. We've gone of this many times, but it's nice to not be worrying about when a bad goal is coming because the defenders have proven, both late last season and so far this year, that those types of goals are not going to happen anymore.

No match this early in the season is a "must win" but this is about as close at it comes, but not for the reasons you might think. The Dynamo don't need the point per se, but given that the Crew have not been playing well this is the type of match I'd like to see Houston come out and take three points from. Anyone concerned with Sporting KC's insane start just needs to remember that it's a long season and in MLS it's about getting to the playoffs and playing your best soccer in September and October.

If you're going to the match, it's $1 Beer & Brat night. Woo!

Predicted lineup: Hall; Hainault, Boswell, Cameron, Taylor; Moffat, Watson, Camargo, Ashe; Bruin, Ching

Predicted score: I'm going 2-0 Dynamo. I think the defense can shut down the Crew and Bruin and Ching will have another great day, building on their performance last weekend.