Houston Dynamo at Philadelphia Union Preview: Houston still looking for elusive road win

The Dynamo have lost three games this season and all three losses have come on the road. The Dynamo’s road struggles have been well documented but this week they will be going up against a defense that hasn’t allowed a goal in 273 minutes in the Philadelphia Union. The game against Philadelphia will be Houston’s second in six days with a third game against Atlanta on Saturday.

The Dynamo are coming off of another win at home that helped put them to the top of the Western Conference. This time it was a 2-1 win over the Vancouver Whitecaps. Alberth Elis and Erick Torres both added to their season goal totals. Torres moved in to the lead in the Golden Boot race with his PK goal in the 63rd minute of the game. Elis ended up leaving the game before the half with a hamstring strain, but he is expected to travel with the team to Philadelphia.

For the Union’s part they are at the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings with a goal differential of +1 keeping them one slot ahead of Montreal for the crown of worst in the East. However, after suffering a four game losing streak, the Union have turned things around coming away with points in their last four matches. They won 3-0 against the New York Red Bulls the first week of May and followed it up last weekend with a 4-0 win against DC United.

Both teams have given up 14 goals this season, but it’s the ability to score that really separates the two. The Union have scored 15 goals this year with forward CJ Sapong scoring seven of them. Houston on the other hand has scored 21 goals a quarter of the way into the season. But for Houston, only two of the 21 goals have been scored on the road which is a stark reminder of the team’s struggle to produce away from Houston. Eight of the goals that Houston has given up have come, you guessed it, on the road.

Can Houston finally gain some traction and a point or three on the road? We’ll find out on Wednesday at 6:30 pm CT.