Following its first win of 2016 against New York City FC, Columbus Crew SC welcomes the Houston Dynamo on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. for a chance at back-to-back victories at MAPFRE Stadium.
Defender and captain Michael Parkhurst says he hopes the 3-2 victory over NYCFC was a turning point for the Black & Gold.
“We only have one win from six, so it’s not like we’re thrilled that now we’ve got five points,” he says. “But hopefully we can use this momentum and keep it going.”
Both Crew SC and Houston share a 1-3-2 record, but the Dynamo have been on a skid as of late. The Western Conference side has lost three of its last four matches and has conceded 10 goals in that stretch. The club has not won since its 5-0 rout of FC Dallas on March 12.
Despite Houston’s recent results, Parkhurst stresses his team cannot underestimate the visitors.
“The commitment and the effort we brought on Saturday has to be brought every game,” he says. “Hopefully we don’t get too complacent with the first victory and don't look over Houston with a tough road game behind that.”
The Black & Gold will head to Seattle on April 30 before returning to MAPFRE Stadium for two straight home matches against the Montreal Impact and the Colorado Rapids on May 7 and 14.
It’s in those home matches where the Black & Gold hope to make up ground in the Eastern Conference standings.
“That’s where we can count on our fans to be there for us and lift us,” Parkhurst says. “Hopefully we give them a lot to cheer about again [on Saturday].”
Putting high pressure on the Dynamo defense will be a focus for Crew SC this Saturday, midfielder Justin Meram says.
“It is very important,” he says. “As you saw in our first goal this past weekend, it went from pressure to Wil winning the ball in the middle of the park, one pass from Pipa to me and we got a chance. We’re going to create chances with our pressure, so we really need to focus on that again.”
Speaking of pressure, Houston’s attacking duo of Will Bruin and Andrew Wenger has put a lot of it on its opponents this season. The forwards have produced five of the Dynamo’s 13 goals this year.
Meram says the Black & Gold defense will have to be on its toes.
“They’ve got a good attack and they go quickly, so we need to really focus on their threats,” he says. “We need to get in behind and stretch them as well, like we did with New York City.”
Houston has scored 13 goals, but it has conceded just as many. With Crew SC looking to attack at home, Meram expects an open game on Saturday.
“They might leak goals but they’re going to score,” he says. “It’s going to be that they want a transition game, where we really need to control the tempo for ourselves and take advantage of the overloads.”
The last time the Dynamo came to town in August 2014, Crew SC did control the match and defeated the visitors 3-0. Over time, the Black & Gold have done well against Houston at home, boasting a 5-1-4 record against the Texans at MAPFRE Stadium.
Parkhurst hopes Crew SC can continue that trend and carry its momentum into upcoming matches.
“We want that positive run and if you can string together a few wins, bounces start to go your way, confidence in the group grows, goals start to come, and you even enjoy training more,” he says.” It would be a good step for the team to build off and hopefully we are able to do that.”
