The Houston Dynamo and Portland Timbers hope they’re back on the right track as they try to stay above the playoff line in the MLS Western Conference.
The clubs meet Saturday night at Providence Park in Portland.
The eighth-place Dynamo (6-6-3, 21 points) snapped a three-match winless streak with a 3-1 victory Wednesday against visiting Colorado.
Amine Bassi, Latif Blessing and Sebastian Kowalczyk scored for Houston, and goalkeeper Andrew Tarbell made 10 saves, tying the single-match franchise record held by current Dynamo general manager Pat Onstad. Tarbell was making his second start of the season in place of the injured Steve Clark.
“This is a team that is always thinking to go forward,” said Dynamo assistant coach Juan Guerra, who filled in Wednesday as head coach Ben Olsen was suspended due to accumulated yellow cards.
“We’re very focused on playing attractive possession-style soccer to go forward and be able to create opportunities. On (Wednesday), it went in, and I hope it keeps going in, starting with Saturday,” Guerra said.
The ninth-place Timbers (5-7-4, 19 points) have won three of their past four matches following a nine-match winless streak.
They defeated host Austin FC 2-0 Wednesday as Evander scored on a free kick in first-half stoppage time and Jonathan Rodriguez converted a penalty at the 66-minute mark. James Pantemis made three saves, including one on a penalty kick, to post Portland’s first shutout of the season.
“There’s a good cohesion to the team and a good structure. The players are now doing their jobs and doing it to the ability that you expect,” Timbers coach Phil Neville said. “The last two or three games, we’ve seen a continuation of the work we’ve been doing. We knew we had a lot of work to do to change things here and that it would take time, and I’m super proud of them all.
“If we really believe in what we’re doing and have confidence to be the team that we can be, then we have to go again on Saturday. There’s no looking back and resting on your laurels. You’ve got to be ruthless and got to be relentless.”
The Dynamo defeated Portland 1-0 on March 16 in Houston as Ibrahim Aliyu scored in the 43rd minute and Clark made four saves to blank his former club.
–Field Level Media