Central Texas will host a clash of teams in the middle of the Western Conference standings when Austin FC hosts the Houston Dynamo on Wednesday.
Dynamo (5-4-2, 17 points) is in seventh place among the 14-team Western standings, while Austin FC (4-4-4, 16 points) is eighth.
The teams played in Houston on April 20 with Austin FC coming away with a 1-0 win with an 86th minute goal from Emiliano Rigoni off an assist from CJ Fodrey.
The loss was the first of three consecutive games in which Houston failed to score. But the third of those was a goalless draw against St.
On Saturday, Houston earned a 2-1 road win over Sporting Kansas City that was the club’s first win since April 13. Hector Herrera scored in the first half for Dinamo and Ibrahim Aliyu fired home the game-winner in the 78th minute. Aliyu leads Houston with four goals.
Herrera’s first of the season came from the left corner of the penalty area and into the right corner of the goal. It was just Herrera’s fourth game since an injury earlier in the season.
“The goal is gravy for him,” Houston coach Ben Olsen said. “We didn’t sign him to score that kind of goal. He’s there for pace and leadership. Then he can certainly be a provider as well. It was just a really class goal.”
Not only does Austin FC hold a 6-3-0 lead in the all-time series against the Dynamo, they have also won each of the last four meetings between the teams in Austin.
Austin FC’s recent 4-1-1 run ended with a 2-1 road loss against FC Dallas on Saturday. The club saw midfielder Sebastian Driussi end a four-game goalless streak with a goal.
Now Austin FC heads into their second straight game against an in-state opponent.
“They’re very fluid in what they’re doing,” Austin FC coach Josh Wolff said of Houston. “Where they may not have gotten the results they wanted, they certainly are in all these games. We know they will come in extremely motivated.”
Driussi ties Diego Rubio for Austin’s three-goal lead.
