Houston Dynamo hope to carry momentum against surging Vancouver Whitecaps

The Houston Dynamo will hope to ride the momentum of last week’s 4-0 win over Orlando City SC, a top team in the Eastern Conference, against 6^th in the West Vancouver Whitecaps FC. The ‘Caps started their year a little rocky as they picked up their first win in week 4 against the LA Galaxy. Since then they have since come into a bit of form, particularly on the road as they’ve won their last 2 matches away from BC Place with wins against the Montreal Impact and the Colorado Rapids. The Dynamo will need to continue their dominance at home in order to keep Whitecaps at bay as the ‘Caps hope to move up the table.

Last Week

The Whitecaps came up with a 1-0 over league bottom the Colorado Rapids thanks to a goal by Brek Shea. Shea, who was traded to Vancouver by Orlando in exchange for Giles Barnes, got free on a counter attack and was able to nutmeg goalkeeper Tim Howard 1v1 from just inside the 18 yard box late in the game to put the visiting Whitecaps up with the deciding goal. Another player to keep an eye on for the Dynamo will be former Seattle Sounder goal scorer Fredy Montero who has produced 3 goals in his 6 appearances with Vancouver.

For Houston, they absolutely demolished their opponent in last week’s fixture as we saw Houston best the then top of the East, Orlando City SC, 4-0 in a huge home win. Although a missed penalty marred the early portion of the match, a brace by Mauro Manotas and goals coming from Romell Quioto and Alberth Elis continued the theme of the year: our forwards will score as they please.

Homerun with the Formation Change

The Dynamo are the top team in the league at home based on points. They’ve won 5 games and only drew 1 so far into 2017 which has remade BBVA Compass Stadium the fortress it was meant to be. Head Coach Wilmer Cabrera briefly dabbled with a 4-4-2 lineup following the injury to Romell Quioto, but following the away loss at Toronto FC and Quioto being back to 100%, he promptly reverted back to his favored 4-3-3 formation with an emphasis built on counter attacking soccer. This devastated Orlando City’s group as they had no answer for our offense and couldn’t crack our usually porous defense. Vancouver will be difficult given their 4-1-4-1 formation which could see lots of possession in our half of the field, very similar to the Toronto game. However, it’s very tough to bet against the swagger the Men in Orange have at home. They play with much more confidence and seem to always be hungry for goals.

The Dynamo will kick off against Vancouver at 8:00 PM CT at BBVA Compass Stadium Friday May 12^th.