Major League Soccer returns this weekend with a full slate of fixtures as we dive into yet another set of high profile clashes. We’re still in the early stages of the campaign but we’re starting to get a feel for how a few teams are approaching the season, even though there’s still a long way to go. Today, we’ll be taking a look at what should be a fun game between Minnesota United and Houston Dynamo.
Minnesota Form GuideOne of the big problems for Minnesota United in recent years has been consistency - with last season serving as a shining example of that. They finished down in 11th place in the Western Conference, and while the stats suggest they weren’t too far away from a place in the playoffs, they really wouldn’t have deserved to make it there based on the quality of their play.
Minnesota managed to string together a nice run of results at the start of the season with wins over Austin, Orlando and Los Angeles to run alongside a 1-1 draw with Columbus. They’ve struggled since then, though, falling to a 2-0 loss against Philadelphia and a 1-1 draw with Salt Lake.
Houston Form GuideHouston Dynamo had a pretty strong end to the season last year and as such, were able to vault their way to fourth spot. In their three-game series with Real Salt Lake, they were taken to penalties on two occasions. They came out on top, went on to defeat Kansas City in the conference semi-finals, and ultimately ran out of gas in a 2-0 defeat to Los Angeles FC.
After a 1-1 draw with Sporting KC and a 2-1 defeat to NY Red Bulls, Houston were able to rattle off three nice wins over Portland, Colorado and San Jose. Last weekend, however, they fell to their first defeat in a month as they lost 2-1 to Chicago.
Match PredictionWhile Minnesota and Houston are both doing well in the conference, either have been blowing pundits away with the quality of their games - at least, not in comparison to those around them. We’re intrigued to see what comes of this game but in terms of a prediction, we’ll have to shoot for under 2.5 goals scored.
