Dynamo begin USOC title defense: What to watch for
(image via Billy Mears)
The Houston Dynamo begin defense of their Lamar Hunt US Open Cup championship tonight as they enter the 2024 edition of the tournament in the Round of 32. Detroit City FC of the USL Championship is the Dynamo’s opponent for this round. Detroit advanced to this round after defeating the Michigan Stars 1-0 last month. The Dynamo are coming off a 0-0 draw against St. Louis in MLS play on Saturday night. Detroit also played a league match on Saturday, and also drew 0-0 against Loudoun United.
When: Tuesday, May 7 | 7:03 PM CT kickoff
Where: Shell Energy Stadium; Houston, Texas
TV/Stream: USSoccer.com and MLSSoccer.com
Run It Back
The Dynamo lifted the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup in 2023 after beating Inter Miami 2-1 in the final. There were some questions over whether the Dynamo would get to defend their title as MLS wanted to pull all of its first teams from the tournament because of schedule congestion. After some months of negotiations, MLS decided to keep the best eight teams from last season who weren’t in the Concacaf Champions Cup in the tournament, and the Dynamo as defending champions. Houston will now get the chance to lift the prestigious trophy again and for the third time in club history. If the Dynamo win tonight they will hit the road for the Round of 16, either against San Antonio FC or Indy Eleven.
Goose Eggs
Can a rotated Dynamo lineup be the key to finally scoring a goal? I feel like a broken record putting this in the preview every week but it has now been three straight shut outs by the Houston attack and no great chances to show for either. With tonight’s match sandwiched between two MLS games, we are likely to see some fresh faces in the lineup. Gabe Segal should feature after not playing for Dynamo 2 Friday. Segal scored in his home debut for the club but has fallen out of favor lately. This could be a big chance for him to earn more minutes and help the Dynamo break their goalless drought.
Motor City Mirror
Tonight’s opponent, Detroit, comes into this match off a good start to their USL Championship campaign. They won their first five matches of the season but are winless in their last two, a loss and a draw. They still sit in third place in the USLC Eastern Conference and mirror the Dynamo in some ways. Detroit have just 10 goals scored in 7 games, a little over the one goal a game average that Houston dipped below this weekend with now 9 in 10 games. Detroit’s defense however, has been solid, allowing only 6 goals against them in 7 matches. The Dynamo are on a very similar pace, allowing 10 in 10 games. Detroit are also one of the higher possession teams in the USLC, holding onto the ball more than 53% of the time. Houston is second in MLS at 58.8%. This should be a good clash of styles between two games, even with the gap in league level. And, it’s the Open Cup, anything can happen!
Houston Dynamo – No Availability Report Available
Detroit City FC – No Availability Report Available
Predicted Lineup
