Houston, TX (SportsNetwork.com) - The Houston Dynamo will be looking to exact a little revenge on Toronto FC when the two sides meet at BBVA Compass Stadium on Saturday.
The two clubs squared off against one another last weekend, and it looked as if the Dynamo were destined to claim their first league win since May 17.
Houston was two goals to the good inside the opening 30 minutes, but Toronto stormed back with four unanswered goals to take all three points with a 4-2 victory.
The result was a tough pill to swallow for Houston, and the club will be hoping to snap a seven-game winless run while giving TFC a taste of its own medicine.
"There's obviously a bad taste in our mouths from the way things went," said goalkeeper Tally Hall. "Being 2-0 up away from home, we're thinking this is a good start, let's keep going and really we felt like we deserved to be 2-0 up and we thought we were going to deserve to win the game. And then it's not good enough, so we're chomping at the bit to play because we wanted to win that game and now we have an opportunity on Saturday ... to make three points."
Houston owns the league's most porous defense as its 38 goals conceded is highest total in MLS. But the Dynamo will be buoyed by the possible return of Corey Ashe, who has been struggling with injuries to his left knee.
"Anytime you can get veteran guy back there and back on your back line," midfielder and captain Brad Davis told MLSsoccer.com, "me and him playing together with the partnership we have and all our guys back in their right positions, is a good thing for our team."
Toronto, meanwhile, is on short rest after playing to a 1-1 draw with Vancouver Whitecaps FC on Wednesday.
While the Reds were unable to claim all three points, head coach Ryan Nelsen found a silver lining in the combination play between midfielders Collen Warner and Michael Bradley.
"Warner was the best player on the park," Nelsen said after the match. "He was absolutely fantastic. The amount of work he did without the ball, and his passing, which was fantastic - in all honesty, I think he was head and shoulders the best player on the park."
"Michael did great," Nelsen added. "I think there's still that kind of feeling each other out in a way. With how the team is going we kind of had this rhythm and now Michael's in and it's the first time he's played with Collen properly. Now he's back and we're just getting used to each other. The great thing is, the more he plays and trains with the team, since he was away for so long, the better the chemistry will be."
Toronto has held the edge over Houston in recent meetings between the two clubs - the Reds are 1-0-3 in their last four games against Houston. The Dynamo's last win against the Canadian side came on July 28, 2012.
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