While Toronto FC has reason to feel good about its current form, the Houston Dynamo are again looking for any way to produce a win.
Jul 17, 2019; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto FC and their escorts during the anthem before a game against New York Red Bulls at BMO Field. Toronto defeated New York. Mandatory Credit: John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports
TFC eyes a third consecutive victory while trying to extend the Dynamo’s single-season, club-record road losing streak to nine games Saturday night.
From May 8-July 4, Toronto (8-8-5, 29 points) managed just one victory over an 11-game span. Since, TFC won 2-0 at rival Montreal on July 13 and 3-1 over the New York Red Bulls on Wednesday. Jozy Altidore, Alejandro Pozuelo and Ashtone Morgan each had a goal against New York as Toronto won its second straight at home.
Pozuelo and Altidore have combined for 16 of Toronto’s 35 league goals.
“A big thing in this league is about momentum,” Morgan, who scored just his second career MLS goal, told Toronto’s official website. “We’re picking some steam up, we’re just going to (try to) continue.”
That’s quite possible against the Dynamo (8-9-3, 27 points), who have fallen below the playoff line in the Western Conference while mired in a 1-7-1 stretch. Houston might have bottomed out while dropping its third in a row, 5-0 at Atlanta United FC.
A sixth-minute red card to frustrated standout forward Alberth Elis (seven goals) for making contact with referee Chris Penso ultimately doomed the 10-men Dynamo at Atlanta. Houston has been outscored 20-4 during an eight-game slide away from home that followed the 4-1 victory at Colorado in its season road opener.
“Now, I apologize to the fans, the city of Houston, because this is not the team that we have to present,” Dynamo coach Wilmer Cabrera said after the embarrassing defeat. “Now, we have (some time) to gather together and put ourselves together and to start looking to change our mentality and our future.”
Perhaps the announcement Thursday that Houston Rockets star James Harden has joined the ownership group of the Dynamo will provide a spark for this desperate club. Houston is 3-1-1 over the last five meetings with Toronto.
—Field Level Media