Pick the Starting Lineup for the Dynamo vs. the Portland Timbers

The Houston Dynamo are coming off an unusual Lamar Hunt US Open Cup elimination earlier this week. Although Houston held a 2-0 lead going into halftime, familiar Wilmer Cabrera tactics saw the club sit back on its lead for the majority of the second half and as a result Minnesota United FC was able to win 3-2. In the loss, Cabrera had some players not available and he opted to rest others such as DaMarcus Beasley and A.J. DeLaGarza in favor of Chris Duvall and Sam Junqua. While the elimination is unfortunate, looking ahead to the Dynamo’s next opponent, the Portland Timbers, it will be good to have some players rested and not playing on a short turnaround.

There are a number of players that are with their national teams including Alberth Elis, Romell Quioto, Maynor Figueroa, and Darwin Cerén. According to Wilmer Cabrera in the Open Cup postgame press conference, several other players were not with the first team as well including Adam Lundqvist, Mauro Manotas, and Memo Rodríguez.

Who starts up top will be a difficult question to answer with Elis and Quioto definitely out, and Manotas and Memo possibly not available. I think, depending on the availability of Manotas and Memo, we’ll see Tommy McNamara start on the left wing with Marlon Hairston on the right and Ronaldo Peña as the center forward.

In the midfield, I’d except to see Tomás Martínez as the central attacking midfielder with Matías Vera and Oscar Boniek García behind him. Juan David Cabezas could get the start over Boniek, but I think Cabrera goes back to his pairing that had showed some success prior to Cabeza’s return.

The Defense might be the area of the field that’s easiest to predict. DaMarcus Beasley and A.J. DeLaGarza are both available and rested. They should be expected to start at left back and right back respectfully. Against the Loons we saw Alejandro Fuenmayor and Kevin Garcia paired together. Kevin Garcia has actually showed very well in the US Open Cup, but I think Kiki Struna retakes his starting role as does Joe Willis in goal.

My Projected Starting Lineup:

So who do you want to see starting against the Portland Timbers? Let us know and please share your selections in the comment section below.