Columbus Crew V Houston Dynamos
After gaining a brief spell of momentum with a couple of wins on the spin the Crew have now lost two in a row and eight of their last eleven going into this encounter. Included in that run was a 3-1 reversal when these two squads last met in August. They currently sit eighth in the Eastern Conference and are eight points off New England Revolution who hold down the final playoff spot at this time. Captain and main goal-scoring threat Federico Higuain who jointly leads the team in goals with nine and is the assist leader outright with six will still be missing as he completes the second and final game of his ban for his sending-off against Real Salt Lake in their 4-0 defeat.
After being played off the field against the Eastern Conference leaders Montreal in a 5-0 loss it looked that they were heading for back-to-back losses until Adam Moffat claimed a late equaliser against Chicago in their last outing. Although they are still sixth in the standings it moves them level on points with the New England Revolution trailing only by that fact that they have one less victory to their name.
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Seattle Sounders V Chivas USA
With all the fan-fair that surrounded the Clint Dempsey signing the Sounders have done well to be able to take care of things on the pitch. Only a 3-1 loss in Houston last month has derailed them in anyway as they have five wins and draw either side of that defeat. They currently occupy the third spot in the Western Conference and are eight points behind the leaders Salt Lake City. The two games they have played against Chivas this term have also being very fruitful. The first time they met was in California back on the opening day of June and they left the field that day having secured a 2-0 victory. In their previous encounter here at the end of July they again collected the points this time winning 2-1. Leonardo Gonzalez who was dismissed at the weekend in their single goal success in Columbus will be suspended for this game and will have an anxious wait to discover if any more games are to be added by the disciplinary committee if they deemed it more serious that just the one.
Chivas may only just now be getting over the heartbreak of their last game as they were moments away from a victory in Vancouver which would have seen them registering back-to-back wins for the first time since way back in March, when incidentally their opponents in their second game then was also the Whitecaps. The one thing going for them when they enter the field at the moment is their is no presure on the them, unlike mostly ever other team who has something to gain, so they will be a dangerous side to face coming down the Stretch.