Houston Dynamo return to action against Portland Timbers

Ten games. That’s how long it has been since the Houston Dynamo have won a game. The streak has made for a long hot summer as the team hasn’t won an MLS game since early July. Saturday night the Houston Dynamo host the Portland Timbers as they look to snap that streak.

The Dynamo were off last weekend but the week prior they lost 4-2 to FC Dallas. The rivalry game was the last of three and the loss meant that FC Dallas walked away the Texas Derby winners and will be taking possession of El Capitan at the end of the season.

The Timbers played the Colorado Rapids last weekend and won 2-0. Jeremy Ebobisse scored the first goal of the game just before half time. Sebastián Blanco passed the ball in the box to Ebobisse who was at the back post. The forward just had to tap the ball in to get his first goal of the season. The second goal for the Timber’s was another assist from Blanco. Blanco chipped the ball to Diego Valeri who headed it into the net to make the score 2-0.

Houston and Portland faced each other in July in a game that saw the Timbers win 2-1. The loss was a bit of a heart breaker for the Dynamo as it looked like they were going to leave Providence Park with a 1-1 draw before giving up a late goal. Sebastián Blanco opened up scoring in the seventh minute of the game to give the home team an early lead. Houston's Romell Quioto answered with a goal of his own in the 12th minute of the game to tie the game 1-1. It looked like the Dynamo were on their way to getting one point on the road, but in the 80th minute things took a turn for the worse. Portland assaulted goal with a number of shots until the ball fell to Fanendo Adi who tapped the ball in for the game winning goal.

In their last ten games the Dynamo have tied only three games and lost the rest. They have sunk all the way to 10th place in the Western Conference standings. They have 28 points after playing in 27 games. Houston has a +1 goal differential and are the lowest team in the standings with positive goal differential. The three teams above them in the standings all have negative goal differentials.

Portland has fared better this season as they currently sit in fifth place. They have 44 points after playing the same number of games as the Dynamo. They have scored 40 goals this season but have allowed 36 goals but their opponents.

The winless streak taken the air out of the Dynamo’s season and their playoff hopes. The Timber’s have just three wins on the road this season leaving a small opening for the Dynamo to crawl through and get three points on Saturday.

Things kick off in Houston at 7:30 PM CT.