Crew-Dynamo Preview
The Columbus Crew and Houston Dynamo are engaged in a tight race in the Eastern Conference, and the importance of each matchup down the stretch isn't lost on them.
They'll meet Saturday night in Houston as the Dynamo look to gain some ground on the Crew.
Columbus (9-9-9) is holding on to the fifth and final playoff spot in the East as it owns the second tiebreaker - goal differential - over Philadelphia.
The Crew have won three of four after beating Chivas USA 3-0 on Sunday at home. Justin Meram had two goals and Bernardo Anor capped the scoring for Columbus, which now looks to get something going on the road. It's gone 1-5-5 away from home after winning its first two road games.
"Now's the fun part of it," coach Gregg Berhalter told the club's official website. "We worked hard to get ourselves into this position and these are big games. We basically have seven six-point games coming up. I'm excited. I think the guys are excited and looking forward to it."
Columbus' remaining matches are against East foes. The Crew are three points behind third-place New England, with ninth-place Chicago seven back of Columbus.
"It's pretty crazy how you're playing all those teams that are right there," Meram said. "One loss puts you out of the playoffs, one loss puts you into the playoffs, that's how tight it is. Like I said on Sunday after the game, it's six points a game here on out. You just have to take every game as a final."
The Dynamo (9-13-4) are five points behind the Crew with one game in hand, and they've won two straight and three of four after last Saturday's 3-2 victory over last-place Montreal.
Houston fell behind by a goal in the 55th minute, but Giles Barnes scored his second of the game in the 62nd and Ricardo Clark scored three minutes later.
"There's only X amount of points and only X amount of things you can do. We responded well," midfielder Brad Davis told the club's official website. "We got scored on, big deal, it's going to happen again - so how are we going to respond to it?"
The Dynamo pulled out the victory despite missing striker Will Bruin (right foot sprain) and defender Jermaine Taylor (concussion). Both will be out for this game as well.
Bruin scored in a 1-0 win over visiting Columbus on May 7, then Meram had a goal and an assist in the Crew's 3-0 home victory Aug. 23.
Columbus is 1-3-5 all-time in Houston.
"It's a very important game with the (way) results are going," Davis said. "This is definitely a game that is very important to keep us tight. It's not going to get us over the red line but it's going to keep us close and on the verge of doing that.
"We're stepping on the field taking this mindset right now of absolutely having to walk away from these games with the full points."