Houston Dynamo will be looking to claim their third successive MLS victory in the Western Conference when they play host to San Jose Earthquakes at the Shell Energy Stadium on Thursday.
The visitors, meanwhile, are seeking to extend their unbeaten run to six matches and could climb to the top of the table with a win in Texas.
Match preview
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For the second time in four days, Houston Dynamo came out on top against reigning MLS champions Los Angeles FC, following up a thumping 4-0 home win a week last Sunday with a slender 1-0 away victory last Thursday.
Despite having only 29% possession, a first-half strike from Brazilian defender Micael – his first senior goal for Houston – secured maximum points for the visitors to end their eight-game winless MLS run away from home.
Following back-to-back 13th-placed finishes in the Western Conference, Ben Olsen's side find themselves sitting sixth in the table this term, just three points behind Thursday's opponents San Jose in fourth and five points adrift of league leaders St Louis City.
Houston will welcome a return to the Shell Energy Stadium where they have enjoyed a strong run of form so far this season, winning eight and drawing one of their 10 home matches in all tournaments – a narrow 1-0 loss to Seattle Sounders in May being the only blot on their copybook.
The Orange Crush also boast an impressive home record against San Jose, as they have won each of their last six home meetings by an aggregate score of 16-7.
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San Jose have fluctuated between a draw and victory in each of their last five matches, with their latest outing ending as a goalless stalemate with Portland Timbers on Sunday.
The Quakes lacked a clinical edge in front of goal, striking only two of their 12 shots on target, and Luchi Gonzalez's men have now failed to score in two of their last three MLS matches.
Nevertheless, nine points accumulated in the last five fixtures has helped San Jose climb to fourth in the Western Conference, and a victory on Thursday could see them move to the summit if other results were to go their way.
San Jose have struggled to grind out positive results away from California so far this season as they have won only one of their nine away games and have picked up just six of their 27 MLS points on the road.
The Quakes have lost two of their last three encounters with Houston, including a 4-3 defeat in their last visit to the Shell Energy Stadium in April last year, but they did come out on top in their most recent meeting with the Orange Crush, securing a 2-1 home win in April this year courtesy of a brace from Cristian Espinoza.
Team News
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Houston duo Ifunanyachi Achara and Tate Schmitt both remain sidelined with knee injuries, while Adalberto Carrasquilla is away on international duty with Panama at the CONCACAF Gold Cup.
Franco Escobar is available to return from a one-match ban and the left-back could be recalled at the expense of Griffin Dorsey, with Daniel Steres moving over to the right side of the back four.
Mexican midfielder Hector Herrera is set to continue alongside Artur and Luis Caicedo, while Ivan Franco and Corey Baird will be pushing to start ahead of Nelson Quinones and Ibrahim Aliyu respectively in the front three alongside top scorer Amine Bassi, who has netted seven MLS goals so far this term.
As for San Jose, their only injury concern is with defender Nathan who is set to miss the rest of the season with cruciate ligament damage, while USA's Cade Cowell, Ecuador's Carlos Gruezo, Peru's Miguel Trauco, Equatorial Guinea's Carlos Akapo and Cape Verde's Jamiro Monteiro are all away on international duty.
Paul Marie and Tanner Beason are expected to start as full-backs in the absence of Akapo and Trauco, with Jonathan Mensah set to return to the first XI to play alongside Rodrigues at centre-back.
Judson and Michael Baldisimo are the most likely candidates to replace Gruezo and Monteiro in centre-midfield, while the absence of Cowell could see Benji Kikanovic operate on the left side of a front three including Cristian Espinoza and Jeremy Ebobisse, who have scored 15 MLS goals between then so far this season.
Houston Dynamo possible starting lineup:
Clark; Steres, Sviatchenko, Micael, Smith; Artur, Herrera, Ulfarsson, Bassi, Quinones; Baird
San Jose Earthquakes possible starting lineup:
Daniel; Marie, Rodrigues, Mensah, Beason; Yueill, Judson, Baldisimo; Espinoza, Ebobisse, Kikanovic
We say: Houston Dynamo 1-0 San Jose Earthquakes
Both Houston and San Jose have shown their defensive resilience in recent weeks, conceding just four goals across the last seven fixtures combined, and a tight affair between two evenly-matched teams could be in store on Thursday.
However, Houston seem to have the edge in the final third at present, and we believe that the hosts will come out on top with a narrow victory.
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Top tip
Oliver Thomas
