Pick the Starting Lineup for the Dynamo vs. the New York Red Bulls

It’s been a rough stretch lately for the Houston Dynamo. They’ve been on the road, have had several double game weeks, and have had players missing due to injury or international call-ups. And the results haven’t favored them very well during that stretch. It gets a little easier in their next matchup – in part due to Head Coach Wilmer Cabrera resting players last weekend to some degree. This will be yet another midweek match, but this time the Dynamo will take on the New York Red Bulls.

I was more than a little critical of last Saturday’s performance against the New England Revolution. The starting lineup appeared to gloss over the immediate game on the road and instead focus ahead to our home match against the Red Bulls. With the loss and the Dynamo’s recent form, a win at home is as close to a must-win as you can get.

For Wilmer Cabrera, he’ll have reinforcements back and will want to deploy them in the friendly environment of BBVA Stadium. That means a stacked top line that utilizes Romell Quioto on the left wing, Mauro Manotas at center forward, and Alberth Elis on the right side.

In the midfield Tomás Martínez came off the bench on the late side against the Revs so I would expect him to regain his role as the number 10/most attacking midfield player. Just behind him Matías Vera should be expected to start. He didn’t play in the midweek while Juan David Cabezas went the full 90. Since JDC did go the full match, I’d also expect Cabrera to pair Vera with Oscar Boniek García even though I anticipate Cabezas displacing Boniek in the future.

Defensively we saw DaMarcus Beasley leave the match against the Revs with an injury. It’s unlikely Cabrera puts Beasley back so soon given his age with the recent injury so we should expect Adam Lundqvist to start at left back. In central defense we’ve seen a lot of Kevin Garcia and Alejandro Fuenmayor lately due to the call-ups. Even though I don’t think either have been especially poor, they haven’t been quite the tandem that Maynor Figueroa and Kiki Struna have been. Both Figueroa and Struna have proven themselves to be excellent distributors from deep which has helped the offense. Chris Duvall started at right back Saturday, but I would think A.J. DeLaGarza is back in his rightful position for this one with Joe Willis in goal.

My Projected Starting Lineup:

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