Timbers-Dynamo Preview
The Houston Dynamo and Portland Timbers in many ways resemble one another, especially now that each club seems to have broken free from their respective slow starts.
Among the two promising rosters, the edge in Saturday night's tilt may go to Houston since Portland has never managed to win there.
The Dynamo (3-4-4) snapped a disappointing two-game skid with Sunday's 2-1 win in Toronto. Boniek Garcia and Will Bruin each scored and Houston withstood a late rally from the Eastern Conference foe in a win captain Brad Davis believes can revive the season.
"I hope it's a turning point," he said. "We now know that's a standard that we can play to, and it's continuously doing that week in and week out. We can't have these up-and-down type of weeks. We now have a good opportunity at home, at our own place to go out and put a team under pressure."
Houston has been one of the strongest teams at home over the past several seasons, ranking fourth in MLS with 42 victories since 2011.
This season, though, that momentum has slowed with a 2-3-2 record and consecutive losses to FC Dallas and San Jose. Another defeat Saturday would mark Houston's first three-game home losing streak since Sept. 5-Oct. 10, 2010.
"Portland at home becomes the biggest game of the season, and we have to be ready for that," coach Owen Coyle said. "We have to bring the same intensity and quality we brought to Toronto."
The Timbers (3-3-4) are also fresh off a victory after beating Montreal 2-1 last Saturday, rebounding from consecutive scoreless showings against Seattle and Vancouver.
Portland had only one goal over its previous four games before a strong performance against the Impact which moved the Timbers just three points behind third-place Seattle.
"It's fantastic, and it's something we've talked about for so long: having faith in our group and understanding that the goals will come as long as we continue to do the right things," said Nat Borchers, who scored his second goal of the season. "The Montreal game was a validation of that."
Diego Valeri netted a highlight winning goal in his first start this season since returning from knee surgery and has tallied double-digit goal totals in each of his last two years with Portland.
"He's a special player," Borchers said. "And you could see it the very first day he came back into training. He's kind of like instant offense for us, and his ability to get the ball and make defenses have to make difficult decisions just opens up so much space for us."
Houston is 2-1-2 all-time against Portland with one win and two draws at home.
Davis could return for the Dynamo after missing last week's win with a hamstring injury. The sixth-time MLS All-Star and member of the 2014 U.S. national team leads Houston with three assists.