On Wednesday, a pair of sides in the mix for an MLS home playoff game will meet for the final time in the 2023 regular season as the Houston Dynamo entertain the Vancouver Whitecaps at Shell Energy Stadium.
The Dynamo were minutes away from defeating St Louis City this past weekend but ultimately had to settle for a 1-1 draw, enabling the Caps to move a point above them for fourth in the Western Conference, with Vancouver coming back to defeat Toronto 2-1.
Match preview
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After a near-perfect month of August for Orange Crush, in which they won all three of their domestic encounters without conceding, Ben Olsen's men have slipped up a little in September.
Last Saturday was the first time this season that the Dynamo had failed to claim three points at home in an MLS encounter when leading in the second half.
Although defeating the top team in the Western Conference last weekend would have given the Dynamo a psychological boost, Houston have experienced many more highs than lows to this point of the campaign, when compared to some of their woeful seasons in the recent past.
With 40 points after 28 league fixtures in 2023, the Dynamo have already equalled or beaten their totals from each of their previous five regular-season campaigns, and with six matches remaining, they have a chance to set a new club record for points in a single season, with their best MLS mark being 53, set in 2012.
More importantly, though, they are well-positioned to make the postseason for the first time since 2017, currently five points above that line in the West, while they have won more games domestically this year (11) than in any of their previous three campaigns and are on track for their first winning season since 2017.
The Dynamo are unbeaten in six successive domestic affairs, their longest MLS run without a defeat since 2020 (six), while they have claimed maximum points in nine home fixtures, one fewer than what they wound up with in 2019.
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In Vancouver, the good times kept rolling last Saturday as the Whitecaps picked up another three points away from home.
With 16 points in their last seven domestic fixtures, the Caps are tied with Orlando City as the most in-form side in league play since May 31 and are just a point behind Los Angeles FC for second in the Western Conference.
Their victory over Toronto was the fourth for Vanni Sartini's men away from home over this domestic campaign, which is as many as Vancouver were able to collect in their previous two regular seasons combined.
Lately, the Caps have earned their points the hard way, faced with a second-half deficit in back-to-back contests but finding a way to claim a result, with seven points accumulated in the 2023 regular season when trailing in the final 45 minutes.
They are only a dozen points away from equalling their MLS single-season record from 2015 (53), are six points above the playoff line at the moment and have scored the second-most goals in their conference (45).
Vancouver have not won a match played in Houston since 2018 (2-1), though they have emerged victorious from an encounter played in Texas in each of their previous two campaigns, while also winning the last two regular season fixtures in which they faced the Dynamo.
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Team News
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Houston will be without two key players for this midweek encounter as Adalberto Carrasquilla and Franco Escobar will both be unavailable due to yellow card accumulation, while Tate Schmitt and Ifunanyachi Achara missed their previous encounter because of knee injuries.
Corey Baird notched his third goal in his last three games on Saturday, while Steve Clark was just a few minutes away from picking up a sixth successive domestic clean sheet before Klauss equalised for St Louis City in minute 87, though the Dynamo shot-stopper is still tied for the league lead in that category alongside Stefan Frei and Jonathan Sirois (11).
Baird has a goal involvement in two of his last three encounters versus the Caps, as he and Amine Bassi found the back of the net when they were beaten handily by Vancouver earlier this season (6-2).
On Saturday, the Caps were missing Sam Adekugbe because of right patella tendinitis, Thomas Hasal remains sidelined with patellar tendinopathy, Luis Martins is still recovering from a left calf strain and Junior Hoilett was on the bench and is not expected to make his debut until the end of the month.
Tristan Blackmon notched his second goal of the regular season last weekend and his first since March 18, Ryan Gauld picked up his 18th goal involvement in MLS since May 31, more than any player in the league over that span, as he set up Brian White for his 11th of the campaign, putting the American just three behind Hany Mukhtar, Giorgos Giakoumakis and Denis Bouanga in the Golden Boot race.
Gauld and White had a goal and an assist each in their meeting against the Dynamo earlier this year on a night when former midfielder Julian Gressel picked up a brace, while Pedro Vite and Sebastian Berhalter also found the back of the net.
Houston Dynamo possible starting lineup:
Clark; Dorsey, Sviatchenko, Micael, Smith; Herrera, Artur; Caicedo, Bassi, Quinones; Baird
Vancouver Whitecaps possible starting lineup:
Takaoka; Laborda, Veselinovic, Blackmon; Cubas; Brown, Berhalter, Schopf, Vite; Gauld, White
We say: Houston Dynamo 2-1 Vancouver Whitecaps
That lopsided defeat that Orange Crush suffered versus the Caps earlier this year seems like the perfect motivation for them heading into this encounter, and when you put that together with their solid form and stingy backline at Shell Energy Stadium, it feels as though it might be too much for even a resilient Vancouver side to overcome.
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