Houston, TX – The LA Galaxy take the to the road tonight to play the Dynamo at BBVA Compas Stadium at 4pm PT on Unimas. Houston leads the overall series 9-7-5, scoring 25 goals, to 20 in the series. In Houston the series is also to the Dynamo 6-3-2 scoring 15 goals to LA Galaxy’s 8 goals. The last time they met on July 25, 2015 Houston won 3-0, making last year’s series 1-1-1. The May 22nd match at Stubhub where LA won 1-0 was the first league victory against the Dynamo since May 25, 2011.
In the last Dynamo match, Houston tied Seattle 1-1, when Giles Barnes was left unmarked in the penalty area in the 35th minute. Chad Marshall then tied it up deep into stoppage time. That left the Dynamo tied for 8th place with five points from five matches. They were heading to their first win since the 5-0 mauling they handed FC Dallas in the Texas Derby on March 12. The former Wigan manager Owen Coyle is 1-1-1 against Los Angeles in his career in MLS.
Los Angeles is coming off their second straight draw, after playing in that heated 1-1 match against Portland last Sunday evening. The Galaxy are sixth in the Western Conference with eight points from five games. The Timbers took the lead in the 52nd minute with Fanendo Adi, but six minutes later Nat Brochers dove to knock the ball away from Sebastian Lletget’s shot. Borchers hit the ball in his own goal. Bruce Arena for his career has coached fifteen matches against the Houston Dynamo’s, winning six, losing seven, and tying two.
In the draw last weekend, the LA Galaxy dropped points for the first time at StubHub Center. They’ve scored all eight of their goals this season in Carson, only allowing three, with two coming in the 80th minute. The last win in Carson was against San Jose in the Cali-Clasico when the Galaxy put three goals across the goal line, only conceding one.
Houston lines up in a 4-2-3-1: Joe Willis, Jalil Anibaba, David Horst, Raul Rodriguez, DaMarcus Beasley, Alex, Richardo Clark, Andrew Wenger, Cristian Maidana, Giles barnes, Will Bruin.
Los Angeles lines up in a 4-4-2: Brian Rowe, AJ DeLaGarza (if healthy, in place of the injured Robbie Rogers), Daniel Steres, Jelle Van Damme, Ashley Cole, Mike Magee, Baggio Husidic, Steven Gerrard, Sebastian Lletget, Gio Dos Santos, Gyasi Zardes.
The clubs have a storied history facing each other. They met in two MLS Cups over a four year span, with the Galaxy winning both 2011, and 2012 which were all in Carson. The referees for the match are Mark Geiger, Matthew Nelson, Logan Brown, and the 4th Nima Saghafi.