Houston Dynamo vs Pachuca Prediction (03.08.2023)

With Major League Soccer and Liga MX on hold, we continue to roll through the enthralling Leagues Cup tournament featuring the very best from both Mexico and the United States. Today, we’ll be looking at an encounter in the round of 32 stage as Pachuca and Houston Dynamo prepare to collide.

Consistency was the key for Pachuca last season as they came 4th in the Apertura, and 5th in the Clausura. They’re well known within the landscape of Mexican football for their passionate fanbase and heritage, and in a competition like this, they’ve got a wonderful platform with which they can show that off to the world - and we sincerely believe they have a chance at going far.

The frankly outstanding news for Pachuca is that they’ll come into this feeling pretty fresh, given that they were allowed a bye into the round of 32. They need it, too, given that after three games in the Liga MX, they’ve failed to win a game up to this point.

During their first two seasons of existence, Houston Dynamo were able to win the MLS Cup. While they’ve enjoyed sporadic success since then, it hasn’t really been on the same level as they were once at. They can’t seem to get on the same level as some of the truly elite teams in the West but this season, they’ve done a passable job of turning their ship around, and they aren’t far off the playoff picture.

After a hard-fought 1-1 draw with Orlando in their first game, Dynamo fell short on penalties in a 5-4 defeat. They did, however, earn that win back in the second game, as they drew 2-2 with Santos Laguna before managing to best them 5-4 in the shootout.

Despite some of the excitement we’ve seen in the air from both of these sides, we think there’s going to be a little bit of trepidation - alongside some tired legs - as we rapidly approach the knockouts. Our prediction is going to be under 2.5 goals scored, which we don’t think is unfair given the circumstances.