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"We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard" -JFK
The Houston Dynamo are in for a real test tonight. Traveling to Central America is hard enough, but a trip to Estadio Tiburcio Carías Andino in Tegucigalpa, Honduras is extra tough. Tonight's match will not make or break the Dynamo's CONCACAF Champions League campaign, but it could go a long way towards putting them in the driver's seat towards winning the group.
In their way is C.D. Olimpia, the former club of Dynamo midfielder Boniek Garcia, who celebrated its 100th anniversary in May by capturing its 25th Honduran title. Los Leones have won the CONCACAF Champions Cups twice and were ranked as the second best club in Central and North America in the 1900s by the International Federation of Football History and Statistics. MLS fans will be familiar with former DC United striker Luciano Emilio who know plays for Olimpia.
A win or draw tonight for Houston means they'd be leading the group with two matches at home left to play. An ideal position to be in really and perfectly within the realm of possibility. The Dynamo handled themselves well against C.D. FAS last week, earning a 3-1 win thanks to goals from Brian Ching, Cam Weaver and Je-Vaughn Watson.
While I don't expect a 3-1 win tonight, I wouldn't be upset if it happened. Let's be honest though, a draw would be amazing and a loss would be a bummer but neither unexpected or the end of the world.
Let's take a look at a graphical representation of how I will react to the three possible outcomes to tonight's match against Olimpia.
Basically, I'll be extremely happy with a win or draw and only mildly annoyed by a loss in that way how you feel when something happens that you completely expect, but you hope it doesn't.
Expect a more beefed up lineup from the Dynamo than we saw against FAS. Brad Davis and Warren Creavalle are out tonight, but as far as we know, everyone else is available for selection. Even with the Chicago match looming on Sunday, I wouldn't be surprised to see Kinnear go for the win tonight with several starters in the mix.