MLS Betting Preview
Columbus Crew at Houston Dynamo
Saturday, 8:30 pm Eastern –
FOX Soccer Channel
Two second place teams meet on Saturday as the Houston Dynamo host the Columbus Crew in MLS action. This is the second meeting between the two teams this season. Both teams are coming off road wins, as Houston won at D.C. United while Columbus won at Colorado.
Houston comes into the game with 23 points, tied with Los Angeles for second place in the West, four points back of Real Salt Lake. They won against D.C. United last weekend and then on Tuesday defeated Pachuca CF of Mexico 2-0 in the SuperLiga semifinals. Houston will now face New England in the Final of the SuperLiga next Tuesday at New England. Houston may get some help on Saturday as they picked up striker Kei Kamara from the San Jose Earthquakes for a first-round pick in the 2009 SuperDraft and allocation money.
Columbus is coming off a big 2-0 win at Colorado that put them within two points of New England in the East. Will Hesmer was superb in goal as the Crew was actually outplayed for much of the game. "We were fortunate," Crew head coach Sigi Schmid said. "Colorado threw everything that they could at us. Soccer's a funny game. It makes up for playing at home against New England and dominating the game and losing 1-0 on a late penalty. We dominated San Jose, and we lost 2-0. In the game today, we got dominated, and we came out with a win. That's just the way it goes." It was the fifth shutout of the season for Columbus. “We talked a lot about defense this week. To be a championship team we need to learn to defend better. Then to come up here tonight and a get clean sheet tonight with all the pressure we did receive. Will Hesmer was phenomenal tonight and came up with some big saves," Schmid said.
Columbus has been a good road team this season and could give Houston some trouble. "This team is fine going on the road and playing," Crew midfielder Eddie Gaven said. "We don't really look at it too much differently than playing at home. We just keep going out and playing the same style of soccer. That's what we did (Sunday) although we had to play a little more defense than we have in past games on the road."
Here are the betting stats for Saturday’s game. The teams have met five times in their history with three of the matches ending in draws and each team notching a win. At Houston the teams have met twice in their history and both matches ended in draws. This is the second of two meetings between the teams, the only one to be played at Houston. Earlier this season the Crew won at home 1-0. The game's lone goal came in the 22nd minute on a rebound shot by Alejandro Moreno.
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