Pick the Houston Dynamo lineup against the Colorado Rapids

Houston Dynamo FC are back in action following a midweek 1-0 win over Sporting Kansas City which also resulted in Tab Ramos being ejected from the game. The win was the first since the season opener against the San Jose Earthquakes and the team now travels to Dick’s Sporting Goods Park to take on the Colorado Rapids.

The Dynamo haven’t adjusted their starting lineup too much this season – hardly at all honestly – but with the third game in a week’s time will we see some variation against the Rapids? My guess is probably not too much. Marko Marić, the Dynamo Man of the Match against SKC, is set to start in goal. Expect Adam Lundkvist (check out our great piece on him) to start at left back with Zarek Valentin on the right side of defense. Tim Parker is a lock at starting in central defense so the question is who is his partner? Oscar Boniek García has largely been the experiment partner, and while he hasn’t been too poor, the veteran Maynor Figueroa did take over at halftime in the midweek game. I’d wager Figueroa starts, but I’ve been wrong on this front pretty often so it could go either way.

In the midfield Derrick Jones has emerged, at least from his last performance, as a reliable ball winner that can push up the field. I disagree with Ramos that he needs to be pigeon holed into the defensive midfield position when Matías Vera already does that job so well and isn’t as good getting forward. I think both these players will start and likely in the same positions they did against Kansas, but they’ll be flexible enough with their movement to allow Jones to push up and Vera to keep back at times. The other midfielder has to be Joe Corona. Corona has really shown his intelligence on the field with his passing and also the timing of his passing. He’s great at releasing forwards with long passes, but also at slowing the pace to control the tempo of the game.

Up top, barring injuries, I think we see the same front three again in Memo Rodríguez, Maxi Urruti, and Fafà Picault. There needs to be more chemistry developed between them, but there is quality there. The Dynamo have proven that they do struggle up top to score goals, but they haven’t been poor enough in competition to require an overhaul in lineup selection given their modest record especially coming off a win.

My Projected Starting Lineup:

This is just the lineup that I think we’ll see, but what do you think we’ll see? What should the starting XI look like in the Dynamo’s game against the Colorado Rapids? Let us know in the comments below!