May 19, 2013
99
Games Today




Pregame Facts and Info - RSL at Houston

September 6, 2012 - Major League Soccer (MLS) Real Salt Lake

Pregame Facts and Info - RSL at Houston Dynamo - Sept. 6, 2012

Real Salt Lake carries three-game unbeaten and shutout streaks across all competitions into Thursday's match. The streaks date back to RSL's 2-0 CONCACAF Champions League win over Tauro FC on Aug. 21, continuing with Aug. 24's 0-0 draw at Philadelphia and last Saturday's 1-0 win over D.C. United at home.

RSL has never won in Houston, posting a 0-7-1 all-time record against the Dynamo in the Bayou City. Though the Claret-and-Cobalt has never won in Houston, they've always played the Dynamo relatively closely, with all seven losses coming by just a one goal margin.

The Claret-and-Cobalt has actually never even won in the state of Texas, going 0-17-3 across all competitions in the Lone Star State.

Real Salt Lake will be without four key players on Thursday night due to international call ups and suspension. Captain Kyle Beckerman (U.S.), leading scorer Alvaro Saborio (Costa Rica) and regular MF Will Johnson (Canada) will all miss the game while with their respective national teams and usual left back Chris Wingert will be out due to a yellow card accumulation suspension.

RSL DF Chris Schuler will make his long-awaited return to the field by starting for Wingert at left back on Thursday night. Schuler - who last played on May 12, when he came in for 70 minutes off the bench in RSL's 1-0 win at Seattle - was out for nearly four months with a stress response in his left foot.

A RSL win on Thursday would allow the club to become just the second in MLS history (non-shootout era) to win 15 league games in three consecutive seasons. The 2005/06/07 D.C. United squad is the lone MLS club with that accomplishment, although this year's L.A. Galaxy needs just two more victories this season to reach the milestone.

A Claret-and-Cobalt victory would also end Houston's home unbeaten streak at 21 games - one game shy of Columbus' 22-game home unbeaten streak and eight short of RSL's MLS record 29-game home unbeaten run. The Dynamo has never lost a competitive match at BBVA Compass Stadium, going 8-0-5 since the building opened on May 12.

A RSL win on Thursday would equal the club's all-time high of five MLS road wins in a season achieved in 2011. A road victory would leave the team one point shy of team-record 19 road points set in 2010 and 2011 with three regular season away games left in 2012.

Like RSL, Houston will be without four regular players on Thursday. The Dynamo will be missing all four due to international duty, with Designated Player Boniek Garcia (Honduras), DF's Jermaine Taylor (Jamaica) and Andre Hainault (Canada) and MF Je-Vaughn Watson (Jamaica) all with their respective national teams.

The Dynamo has struggled a bit recently, going 1-2-3 in their last six games across all competitions dating back to Aug. 10.

Houston has been particularly poor in the league as of late, winless in their last four MLS matches. The Dynamo last won a league game just over a month ago, beating New York 2-0 at home on Aug. 3.

• Discuss this story on the Major League Soccer message board...
• Digg this story
• Add to Del.icio.us


Major League Soccer Stories from September 6, 2012


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.