Friday Night News: Injuries and Partnerships

With all the substitutes off for injuries received in Wednesday night's match against the Columbus Crew, Houston Dynamo fans were understandably curious as to what the injury report would look like for Sunday afternoon's clash with the New York Red Bulls. Well, here it is, and it's not very pretty:

OUT: Corey Ashe- Left hamstring strain; Eric Brunner - Right ankle sprain; Andrew Driver - Right calf strain

QUESTIONABLE: Omar Cummings - Left knee sprain; Ricardo Clark - Illness; Tyler Deric - Right thumb fracture

About the one good thing I can see is that Deric has been upgraded to questionable. Meanwhile, Driver and Ashe both join Brunner as the casualties of the Dynamo's two match swing through the Midwest, with no real news on when any of them will be back. With Jermaine Taylor gone for international duty, it leaves many question marks along a Dynamo back line that had been shake at best as of late.

Driver's injury means that Boniek Garcia's absence is that much more glaring. Could this mean we finally see Alex Lopez start an MLS match? We'll have to wait and see about that.

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Also, the Dynamo reached a long term partnership with Visa. From the press release:

The Houston Dynamo and Visa have reached a long-term sponsorship agreement that will make Visa a founding partner of BBVA Compass Stadium and the official payment services partner of the Houston Dynamo and BBVA Compass Stadium.

The Dynamo and Visa began their partnership this season. Visa is the official presenting sponsor for Sunday's home match against the New York Red Bulls. Before the game, Dynamo President Chris Canetti will present David Cramer, Head of U.S. Signature and Regional Accounts for Visa, with a framed autographed jersey to commemorate the partnership.

"We are pleased to announce the creation of a partnership between the Houston Dynamo, BBVA Compass Stadium and Visa," said Steven Powell, Executive Vice President of the Houston Dynamo. "Visa becomes the preferred credit and payment card of both properties. The partnership provides us an incredible opportunity to collaborate with two key partners, BBVA Compass and Visa to provide soccer fans special rights, benefits and experiences in the future."

As part of the partnership, fans who purchase a Dynamo jersey with name customization with their Visa card from the adidas Dynamo team store inside BBVA Compass Stadium will receive a $25 Visa gift card.

This relationship, along with their partnership with FIFA, marks Visa's continued sponsorship of soccer in the community, throughout the country and the world.

Powell continued: "Visa brings a wealth of experience in working with soccer fans around the world as an official sponsor of the FIFA World Cup. We look forward to learning from those experiences and providing our fans with similar types of memorable ‘can't buy' experiences at BBVA Compass Stadium."

Visa also donated tickets to Sunday's game to Houston's Milby High School. In addition, Milby High School Principal Roy de la Garza will perform the pregame ceremonial "First Kick". At halftime, fans will compete in a relay race around the field to win a BBVA Compass Visa gift card.