What You’ll Watch

The Seattle Sounders return home for a Saturday night clash with the Houston Dynamo. The Sounders will look to win their first game since beating Toronto FC 3-2 on April 13. Houston will be looking to win their third straight match. This is the first of two meetings between the two clubs.

Seattle currently sits in fourth place in the Western Conference standings with a record of of 5-1-4 (19 points in 10 games played; 1.9 ppg) and Houston sits in third place with a record of 6-1-1 (19 points in eight games played; 2.38 ppg). Last time out, Seattle earned a 1-1 draw on the road against Minnesota, while Houston defeated FC Dallas 2-1.

This will be the 29th all-time regular season meeting between the two clubs. Seattle has an overall record of 8-4-6 with 26 goals scored and 19 conceded. At home in nine games played, Seattle is 7-0-2 with 15 goals scored and just three conceded.

Tale of the Tape

Seattle

Last Five: W-L-T-T-T

Leading Goal Scorer: Jordan Morris, four goals

Assist Leader: Nicolas Lodeiro, six assists

Houston

Last Five: W-W-L-W-W

Leading Goal Scorer: Mauro Manotas, five goals

Assist Leader: Alberth Elis, five assists

Injury report

Seattle Sounders

• OUT: M - Gustav Svensson (left hamstring strain)
• QUESTIONABLE: D - Chad Marshall (right knee inflammation)

Houston Dynamo

• OUT: M - Eric Bird (left ankle injury)
• OUT: D - DaMarcus Beasley (left knee surgery 3/20, out 4-6 weeks) - REPORT
• OUT: F - Ronaldo Peña (left knee injury)
• OUT: M - Marlon Hairston (right hip injury)

Match Officials

REFEREE: Alex Chilowicz

AR1: Eduardo Mariscal

AR2: Chris Elliott

4th: Elvis Osmanovic

VAR: Alejandro Mariscal

AVAR: Joshua Patlak

What to Watch

• It may come as a bit of a surprise, but the Houston Dynamo have the best points per game record in MLS. That’s right, not LAFC (2.18), not the LA Galaxy (2.0), but the Dynamo at 2.38. Sure, they’ve played a league-low eight matches and have only left the friendly confines of BBVA Compass Stadium for two of them, but still — that’s pretty good!
• Historically, the Dynamo are not very good away from home. Under Wilmer Cabrera, they are just 3-19-12. Including playoffs and U.S. Open Cup, they are 0-9-3 all-time against the Sounders on the road. The Dynamo’s hot start aside, this is a game the Sounders should win, but they’ll need to be careful about some things.
• The main thing the Sounders need to worry about is a very explosive front line of Mauro Manotas, Alberth Elis and Memo Rodriguez. The trio have combined for 13 goals and eight assists, while attacking midfielder Tomas Martinez has chipped in with two goals and one assist. But that’s it. Those are the only four players who have scored for the Dynamo. No one else is even averaging as many as 1.5 shots per game. This is not exactly an offense with a ton of variety.
• Defensively, though, Houston is very strong. They’ve given up just six goals to opposing offenses — their other three goals conceded are own-goals. Even though they’re giving up a pretty pedestrian 13 shots per game, no one is forcing a higher percentage of shots to come from outside the penalty area than the Dynamo.

How to Watch

Date/Time: Saturday, May 11th @ 7:00 PM PT

Location: CenturyLink Field — Seattle, WA

TV: JOEtv

Streaming: YouTube TV (Washington state), ESPN+ (affiliate link, rest of US)

Radio: 950 KJR AM (English), El Rey 1360AM (Spanish)

Sounder at Heart has affiliate partnerships. These do not influence editorial content, though Sounder at Heart may earn commissions for products purchased via affiliate links.