On Saturday night, the Houston Dynamo welcome the San Jose Earthquakes to Texas’ gulf shore with a chance for the home side to move even closer to the final Western Conference MLS Cup playoff spot.

That ninth spot in the standings is currently held by San Jose, but three teams are three or less points behind the Earthquakes. This match-up features two sides looking for consistent performances to close out the end of the regular season.

For Houston (7-11-8, 29 points), a win on Saturday puts them in a tie with San Jose (8-11-8, 32 points) in points, but the Earthquakes’ +3 goal differential means a likely tiebreaker to San Jose with Houston’s -9 differential.

However, the Dynamo are on a competitive streak of late after losing five of seven matches played between late May and mid-July. Since the downturn in form, Houston has three draws in a row, each coming against clubs ahead of them in the standings.

Most recently, a 1-1 draw in Vancouver featured club captain Artur scoring a dramatic match-tying goal in the first minute of second-half stoppage time when the Brazilian hit a one-time laser from 25 yards out.

“In the last two weeks, we saw some personality and some reactions that I think makes me really optimistic about the next eight games and going forward,” said head coach Ben Olsen.

San Jose is on a downward trend of their own with five points in the last seven matches. On Sunday, the Earthquakes welcomed San Diego FC and fell 2-1, but young midfielder Noel Buck, who followed Bruce Arena to San Jose when the former national team head coach was hired nine months ago, made his second appearance since missing 13 matches.

Within two minutes, the 20-year old made an impact with his first assist for San Jose. Despite the loss, Buck is confident in his side’s chance of keeping a playoff spot.

“I think we have a really good team,” said Buck. “The issue is getting over the line, keeping the winning lead. It’s unfortunate, but I know we will keep the belief of making playoffs and win our next games. With the quality we have, we should be able to do that.”

These two sides met on May 24 in a dramatic 3-3 draw where the lead yo-yoed between the sides until Houston’s Griffin Dorsey scored a late stoppage time goal of his own to steal a point in San Jose. Preston Judd scored twice in that contest for the Earthquakes.

–Field Level Media