Houston Dynamo Come to Town

By: Chris | June 4th, 2011

San Jose and Houston meet for the eighth time since the teams split in 2005. Each team has won 3 times and tied once. But the Quakes come into today’s match with a better record in the 5 previous MLS games. San Jose’s record is 2-2-1 (W-D-L) and Houston’s is 0-3-2. Each team has had players called away for international, Gold Cup, duty, but many will see San Jose’s loss of Wondolowski as the more dangerous loss.

The Earthquakes are missing Wondo and Johnson, both received call ups to the USA and Jamaican national teams, respectively, for the Gold Cup. Houston are missing Andre Hainault to Canada and Jermaine Taylor and Je-Vaughn Watson to Jamaica. Houston will also be missing Kofi Sarkodie through suspension. Houston’s missing players are key for their defensive efforts and the Quakes can take advantage of a weaker Houston back line tonight. The Quakes will be concerned that their offensive capabilities are limited with Wondo off with the US. McLoughlin has stepped up in recent games and could play as Wondo’s replacement while he’s gone.

Ampai has played well on the right when he’s been playing. Last week Ampai got the assist on both goals, the first from a corner and the second from the right corner of the 18 yard box. Convey and Corrales switched places last game, with Convey taking over as left back and Corrales moving up to left mid. I think Convey is better in the middle than on the defensive line, but the pair played well on the left side last game and Yallop will likely keep these two in the same positions since he doesn’t like tinkering with a lineup that is working.

The Quakes need to work on keeping their defense tighter once they’ve gotten a lead. In the USOC game, they let Chicago come back to tie the game on 2 soft goals, and they let Chicago tie them in their MLS match due to poor marking. Corrales was quoted last week saying he wasn’t sure if the mistakes were mental or physical, but that the team needs to focus more when they hold a lead late in the game.

The Quakes went unbeaten in MLS play during May, posting a 2-2-0 record. In those four games all of the Quakes’ goals have come in the second half, along with their opponent’s goals. The team needs to apply the attacking tactics in the second half that they do in the first half. This will ensure more goals which will hopefully bolster the scoreline and provide a buffer for potential opposition goals. It will also be more entertaining, and that’s what we want to see right? An entertaining win for the Quakes!

I think the Quakes can attack Houston’s weak back line and come away with a victory tonight. I think the defense will buckle down and play better than the last few games. It’s going to be a rainy evening and I think the Quakes will play as well as they did against Real Salt Lake in the opener, except the Quakes will win 2-0 tonight.

GO QUAKES!