The Seattle Sounders visit the Houston Dynamo on Saturday at 5:30 PM. We asked Dustyn Richardson of Bayou City Soccer to share some insights.
Notable absences
Captain and midfielder Artur is still out with a knee injury he suffered in preseason. Center back Lucas Halter is out with an injury and fellow center back Erik Sviatchenko is out serving a red-card suspension.
Team form
The Dynamo have been in solid form at home, playing three of their first four matches this season at Shell Energy Stadium and winning two of them. They’re coming off a loss to FC Dallas in their first road match of the season where they took a 3-2 lead but ultimately fell 4-3 after Sviatchenko was sent off in the second half.
Key players
Guilherme is the star man for the Dynamo so far this season with 4 goals and 3 assists in his first 4 games in MLS. There were a lot of questions this offseason when he was signed as a Designated Player but he has proved the doubters wrong early on. If the Dynamo can get him on the ball in dangerous areas, their offense can be dynamic (no pun intended).
One thing opposing fans should know
The Dynamo have undergone a pretty big tactical shift this season, moving to a back 3/5 with wingbacks. This has caused a lot of players to switch roles like Lawrence Ennali and Duane Holmes playing as the wingbacks and Jack McGlynn dropping deeper in the midfield. Houston is undergoing some growing pains with the new look but they’re hoping it continues to unlock some things offensively while shoring up the defense.
Projected lineup
3-4-2-1: Bond; Andrade, Antonio Carlos, Resch; Ennali, Herrera, McGlynn, Holmes; Guilherme, Bogusz; Ponce
