The Houston Dynamo look to get back on track when they visit D.C. United on Saturday.

The Dynamo (3-3-3, 12 points) have dropped each of their past two games by a 2-1 final score, with the defeats coming after a 3-0-2 unbeaten run.

Despite the pair of setbacks, coach Paulo Nagamura is confident his club can get back to the play from the previous five-game stretch when they scored 10 goals while conceding six.

“In the last two games, we lost by one goal, but if you analyze all the games that we’ve had this year, you can say that we are in there,” Nagamura said. “We could have tied, or we could have won, it would not be an unfair result.

“I give credit to our players, they are fighting, they are being disciplined and most importantly they are playing better than they have in the past.”

Houston has enjoyed success against D.C. United, bringing a five-game unbeaten run (2-0-3) against them into Saturday’s matchup. The Dynamo haven’t lost to D.C. United since a 3-1 defeat at Houston on Oct. 12, 2014. Their last loss in the nation’s capital dates to May 21, 2014.

D.C. United (3-5-0, 9 points) are looking to find their way under interim coach Chad Ashton.

Spurred to a win against the New England Revolution in Ashton’s April 23 debut, D.C. United couldn’t maintain the success last week, falling 3-0 to the Columbus Crew.

At issue was the team’s struggles against set pieces, a problem that has been plaguing them throughout the early season.

“It’s definitely our kryptonite,” D.C. United defender Brendan Hines-Ike said, according to the Washington Post. “The effort is there that we put in in the week, but there seems to be a problem in games where we do turn off. It has to change. Now it’s eight games in, and it’s cost us a lot of points.”

D.C. United has been outscored 13-6 in its past six games, going 1-5-0 during that stretch. All of their goals during the stretch have come in the first half. D.C. has scored two second-half goals all season, the fewest in MLS.

–Field Level Media

The New York Red Bulls are ascending to the top of the Eastern Conference standings behind their play on the road, with a chance Saturday to fix what ails them at home.

With a visit to the first-place Philadelphia Union looming, the Red Bulls seek their first home win of the season Saturday night when they host the Portland Timbers at Harrison, N.J.

The Red Bulls (5-2-2, 17 points) began the week one point behind the Union, who are visiting Los Angeles FC Saturday. Of New York’s 17 points, 15 are from five road victories and the Red Bulls have 13 of their 15 goals in those games.

At home, they are 0-2-2 so far winless in their past five regular-season home games (0-2-3) since a 1-0 win over CF Montreal on Oct. 30 of last season.

The Red Bulls last appeared in front of their home fans on April 16 when they had six of 21 shots go on target in a 0-0 tie with FC Dallas. They return home after victories over Orlando City and the Chicago Fire.

After earning a 3-0 win at Orlando on April 24, New York got a strong performance from Patryk Klimala in last week’s 2-1 win at Chicago. Klimala scored in the 75th minute and on a penalty kick in the 91st after torrential rain forced an 81-minute delay in the first half.

Heavy rain is also predicted for most of Saturday in the New York metropolitan area.

“I think we can see steps being made in maturity and closing out games from last year and the year before, which is good,” Red Bulls captain Aaron Long said. “It just shows steps in maturity from the group to be able to close out these games.”

Portland (2-3-5, 11 points) is visiting the Red Bulls for the first time since 2018 and is hoping to end a lengthy scoring drought.

The Timbers are on a three-game winless skid (0-1-2) since a 3-2 win over Vancouver on April 9 and their goalless drought is at 282 minutes since Yimmi Chara scored in the 78th minute against the Whitecaps.

Portland began its skid with consecutive 0-0 ties against Houston and Salt Lake. Last week, the Timbers took 11 shots and conceded 17 in a 2-0 loss at Colorado during a game when they held a man advantage for more than 30 minutes.

“You have to have the mentality to be strong and go over those hurdles,” Timbers coach Giovanni Savarese said. “We were scoring goals at the beginning of the season, but these last three games, we’re creating but just not putting one in the net.”

–Field Level Media

Sporting Kansas City will get another chance to figure out their road woes Saturday when they hit the East Coast to face New York City FC.

Sporting KC (2-6-2, 8 points) will be looking for their first road point this season after they have been outscored 12-3 in their five away contests. The club has been without two of their designated players and top offensive threats with Alan Pulido and Gadi Kinda lost to season-ending knee injuries.

“I don’t know any team in the league that when you lose two of your three (designated players) you’re not going to be affected,” SKC head coach Peter Vermes said. “That’s not an excuse, that’s just reality.

“When a team is not getting a result, you look at the vibe of the group going into the game. Our guys are top-class in that. Have they had their moments of faltering or failure? Yeah, so have the coaching staff. But everybody comes back the next day driven to try to be better. Their effort has been tremendous.”

Daniel Salloi and Johnny Russell, the club’s top two scorers from last year, have combined for just four of the team’s eight goals thus far (two apiece).

NYCFC (4-3-1, 13 points) is 4-1-0 at home and have outscored their opponents 18-7 in those games. Four of the seven goals allowed came in a 5-4 victory over Toronto FC on April 24.

NYCFC is led by Valentin Castellanos’ five goals, while Thiago Andrade has four. NYCFC’s plus-9 goal differential is the best in the Eastern Conference and third best in MLS.

Even though NYCFC looks like a heavy favorite, head coach Ronny Deila will proceed with caution.

“You can never underestimate a team like Kansas (City),” Deila said. “They are a big club, they are used to winning, they have a strong squad and a great history with being in the playoffs many times.

“We know that they’re going to start winning again soon and so we have to do what we’ve been doing by preparing really well focusing on the small details. It’s about what we put in during training, how we take care of ourselves, and how prepared we are tactically and mentally for the game.”

–Field Level Media

Atlanta United return home to play the Chicago Fire on Saturday, with both clubs intent on rebounding from disappointing stretches.

Atlanta (3-4-2, 11 points) has managed only one point from its last four games, while Chicago (2-3-4, 10 points) was winless in five April games with three losses and two scoreless ties.

Atlanta is 2-0-2 this season at home, which has historically been a tough place to play for Chicago. The Fire have failed to record a point in any of their four previous visits while being outscored 11-2. Chicago is 1-2-1 on the road this season.

Atlanta fell 2-1 to CF Montreal last Saturday, surrendering an 82nd-minute goal that cost the club a much-needed road point. Coach Gonzalo Pineda reaffirmed his team’s defensive plan and how it has let them down repeatedly.

“The way we try to defend is not conceding a lot of set pieces and having the ball a lot on the opposite half,” Pineda said. “But the few we are allowing every game become at times dangerous, like in this case.”

Chicago fell at home last Saturday, 2-1 to the New York Red Bulls. The Fire conceded in the 75th minute to level the game, then had Jhon Duran and Rafael Czichos sent off within three minutes of each other before giving up the decisive penalty in injury time.

Chicago snapped a 385-minute goal drought when Xherdan Shaqiri scored early, but the Fire’s offense is one of the worst in the league, tallying only six goals through nine games.

During the week, Chicago made two moves to address its scoring issues. Jairo Torres arrived Monday morning after being acquired from Atlas in Liga MX in February.

The Fire also acquired former Orlando City SC forward and Chicago-area native Chris Mueller from Hibernian in the Scottish Premier League on a free transfer.

Fire coach Ezra Hendrickson could use both new players Saturday, with Torres definitely in the plan at some point.

“He’s here to play,” Hendrickson said. “He just played on the weekend. He’s traveled, went through his medicals and all that stuff. So, we’ll see how that goes but the plan is to give him some minutes on Saturday. So be ready.”

In Mueller’s four seasons and 126 appearances in all competitions with Orlando, he scored 21 goals and added 19 assists. He also had two goals for the United States Men’s National Team in a 2020 friendly vs. El Salvador.

–Field Level Media