Dynamo host Rapids in regular season home finale: What to watch for
(image via Houston Dynamo FC)
After clinching a playoff spot Wednesday, the Houston Dynamo return to Shell Energy Stadium tonight to take on the Colorado Rapids in the regular season home finale. The Dynamo are coming off a 1-1 draw in Montreal where they gave up an equalizer at the death. Colorado was supposed to play in Frisco Wednesday but the game was postponed due to weather. The Rapids last played a week ago, beating Austin FC 1-0.
When: Saturday, October 7 | 7:39 PM CT kickoff
Where: Shell Energy Stadium; Houston, Texas
TV/Stream: MLS Season Pass on Apple TV - Free
Radio: ESPN 97.5 FM (English), TUDN Deportes Houston 93.3 FM (Spanish)
Finish strong
The Dynamo will not only be looking to finish the regular season strong to improve playoff seeding, but they’ll want to work on finishing games as well. Houston conceded with the final kick of the draw against Montreal and will rue their missed chances in the second half that could have put the game out of reach. “Looking back at the Montreal game for a second, we rotated the squad and had plenty of chances in that game to see it out, and we didn't,” head coach Ben Olsen said Friday. “They threw the kitchen sink and they got one. The message after the game was about us finishing teams off. That’s the next level for us.” The Dynamo defense has been strong this season but they can’t afford to let up late in games now, especially with the playoffs on the horizon.
Playoffs…but not yet
Wednesday’s draw combined with LAFC beating Minnesota put the Dynamo into the MLS Cup Playoffs for the first time since 2017. Winning the Open Cup and making the playoffs in the first year under Olsen and a revamped roster is an impressive feat, but the Dynamo aren’t ready to celebrate just yet. “We haven't talked too much about playoffs right now, other than we want to get in,” Olsen said. “Now it's about the next stage here trying to win this next game and put ourselves in the best position to get home field advantage or stay out of the Wild Card round. When it's playoff time, we'll dive into that.” A win at home tonight would go a long way in avoiding the Wild Card match and helping secure home field for the first round best of three series.
Winners mentality
This offseason, the Dynamo brought in a number of players with a winning pedigree. It’s paid off in helping the team achieve what they’ve done this season. 2023 has been a season that not many could have expected in Houston, but winners are never happy with one, they want to keep going. That mentality is within this team and they know they want to push for more. “We have to make decisions collectively of who we want to be,” Olsen said when talking about keeping the team from being complacent. “Do we want to be the team that says, ‘Okay, we won the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, and we made the playoffs. Great. We checked off two big time boxes for the club.’ Is that who we want to be? Is that our DNA now, that we’re okay with that? Can we now have the right mentality to go for it and take advantage of it? The group we have at this moment is a good one, and we all understand that. We don't want to undersell ourselves. It takes the right mentality to seize moments like this weekend. Then there's new objectives once we get to the playoffs. What’s our mentality there? That’s the journey that we're on. I get a sense that the team is relieved that we're in the playoffs because we preached about this the second we got together as a group, but with the understanding that there's a lot of new opportunities for us that are greater than the ones that we've achieved up to this point.”
Availability Report
Houston Dynamo – Out: Ifunanyachi Achara (knee), Tate Schmitt (knee)
Colorado Rapids – Out: Moise Bombito (yellow card accumulation), Alex Gerbach (lower body injury), Aboubacar Keita (lower body injury), Jack Price (Achilles), Sidnei Tavares (illness), William Yarbrough (lower body injury), Max (removed from team activities)
Predicted Lineup
