The Houston Dynamo will hope to parlay their solid play at home to break a two-match losing streak when they host long-time nemesis Sporting Kansas City on Saturday in a Western Conference match.

The Dynamo (8-9-3, 27 points) have gone 7-1-1 at home this season, compiling 22 of their points from contests on the home pitch to move into seventh place in the West standings. But Houston has lost — and been held scoreless in — its past two outings, both on the road at Austin and Seattle, respectively.

“We’ve had another full week in between games, which has been nice to get back into some normal rhythm and training sessions and work on some things,” Houston coach Ben Olsen said.

Houston goalkeeper Steve Clark made four saves in the loss to Seattle, on the same night he became just the 12th goalkeeper in MLS history to play in 250 regular-season matches.

Three of the Dynamo’s next four matches are at home and the fourth is at struggling Colorado, making this a stretch where Houston can make some hay in its push to return to the playoffs for the first time since 2017. Houston has outscored its opponents 17-3 at home in MLS play.

Sporting KC (6-10-6, 24 points) head to the Bayou City on the heels of a 3-0 win at home over Vancouver on Saturday. Remi Walter, Alan Pulido and Erik Thommy scored Kansas City’s goals in the win, which was its first clean sheet since May 13 and snapped a three-march winless stretch.

Pulido’s goal was his seventh goal in a torrid six-game stretch.

“That’s the version that we strive for every week as a group,” Kansas City coach Peter Vermes said after the win. “The game plan was very good, but it doesn’t mean anything unless you execute on it. The guys were very in tune and then they came out and executed today very well.”

A win for Sporting KC on Saturday would pull the visitors into a tie with Houston in the West. Kansas City has captured eight of its 13 matches (with two draws) against the Dynamo since 2018.

–Field Level Media