Pick the Houston Dynamo Lineup against the Portland Timbers

The Houston Dynamo embarks on its first game on the road and they head towards inhospitable waters as they make their way towards Portland, Oregon to take on the Timbers. The Timbers are the lone team above them in the Western Conference standings and a win over them in front of their incredible fan base would certainly cause other MLS clubs to take notice of the new-look Dynamo. While the story about Houston has been about its high-octane offense, Portland’s has actually been more impressive as they’ve scored one more than us while only conceding a single goal compared to our two that we’ve allowed.

Head Coach Wilmer Cabrera has not really tinkered with his starting lineup, even in the preseason, although there have been a few differences in his selections. Central defensive midfielder Juan David Cabezas was expected to be a starter day 1, but he was given a suspension for being sent off in the final game with his former club. So we all thought he would be handed the starting role against Columbus Crew SC only to be surprised that Eric Alexander – who showed well against Seattle, given a consecutive start. Cabezas did feature against Crew SC, and I think he did enough to get the starting job at Portland. The other move was Dylan Remick given the starting job in the Crew SC game over DaMarcus Beasley who was a mysterious scratch from the starting lineup as he apparently missed the game due to family reasons (although I swear I saw him in the concourse after the game). I would anticipate DMB to get the starting job once again and this lineup to look closer to the one we envisioned for the home opener.

My Projected Starting Lineup

So who do you want to see face the Portland Timbers? Once again, goalkeeper Joe Willis remains the only player on the injury sheet so plenty of players to pick from in your starting XI. Let us know and feel free to share your choices in the comments section below!