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The Houston Dynamo open the home portion of the first leg of the CONCACAF Champions League Group Stage against Panamanian side Club Deportivo Arabe Unido. Normally, I would have more information to go on for these match previews, but since I hadn't received any information from the league or the Houston Dynamo game preview blast yet I went and did some of my own research.
Here is what Wikipedia has to say about DAU:
Club Deportivo Árabe Unido is a professional soccer club located in Colón, Panama that plays in Liga Panameña de Fútbol, the highest soccer league in Panama. The club plays its games in Estadio Armando Dely Valdés. DAU has won 5 Liga Panameña de Fútbol championships since 1998, the fourth highest total of any team since 1988. The club has also finished second 3 times since 1998.
The club was founded by an Arab-Panamanian Gerardo Sabat and was originally named Club Atlético Argentina from 1990-1994. But from 1994 the name was changed to Club Deportivo Árabe Unido in order to represent all Arab Panamanians.
I also took a gander over at the Panamanian Football League's standings page to see DAU's current results. Through seven matches, they have notched 3 wins, 2 losses and 2 draws while managing a +2 goal differential. This leaves them in third place in the league.
Their first CCL match was against W Connection, the same team the Houston Dynamo barely managed a 0-0 draw in Honduras, where DAU managed a full three points. The full three points leaves DAU currently in first in the group stage, and the Dynamo sit in a position where they really need the three points tonight.
The match will be played at BBVA Compass Stadium, and tickets to the match are included if you are a Season Ticket Holder. The match will be aired on Fox Soccer at 7pm CDT. Hey, at least it isn't CSN Houston.
I would expect Head Coach Dominic Kinnear to field a mostly reserves squad much like he did in the first game against W Connection. Let's hope this time the players will have a little bit more cohesion in their attack, as we really do need the full three points. Anything less than three must be considered a failure.
If anyone else has input on the opposition, feel free to post them in the comments!