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Toronto FC-Dynamo Preview

Sep 17, 2010 - 5:00 PM By SANTOSH VENKATARAMAN STATS Senior Writer

Toronto FC (7-10-7) at Houston (6-12-5), 8:30 p.m. EDT

Nick Dasovic's first game in charge of Toronto FC didn't go so well, but he's hoping for better results against an opponent that has been similarly inept of late.

Two of the worst teams in the league meet in Dasovic's first MLS game as coach Saturday night when Toronto FC visits the Houston Dynamo.

Toronto FC (7-10-7) fired coach Preki Radosavljevic and director of soccer Mo Johnston on Tuesday, with the team going 1-6-3 in its last 10 MLS matches. Dasovic was appointed interim coach with six games left in the regular season.

The club is five points behind Seattle for the league's final playoff spot, and has been outscored 7-1 during a 0-4-2 stretch in MLS play.

"I'm looking forward to the change and looking forward to pushing this team to the playoffs," said Toronto midfielder Dwayne De Rosario, who played for Houston from 2006-08. "Preki definitely ran a tight ship and I don't think a lot of the players adapted to that."

The timing wasn't ideal since Toronto began this road trip at Real Salt Lake on Wednesday in a CONCACAF Champions League match. Maicon dos Santos gave the visitors the lead in the eighth minute, but Toronto eventually lost 4-1.

"We left Toronto with all the turmoil of the coaching changes and we didn't have a lot of time to prepare for stuff but that is not an excuse because we have been together for a while," Dasovic said.

Houston (6-12-5) owns the second-lowest point total in the league with 23, and the Dynamo are 1-5-4 in their last 10 matches.

It's clear that Houston is looking ahead to 2011 after it traded one of its best players - Brian Mullan - to Colorado for Colin Clark in a swap of midfielders Wednesday.

Clark is out for the season because of a torn left ACL, an injury sustained Aug. 7 against San Jose. He also tore an ACL in August 2009.

"With our training staff, we did our follow-up with the doctors and trainers to see how his progress is going and find out all we can about him," coach Dominic Kinnear said. "They came back with all positive news."

Mullan will likely be replaced by Danny Cruz in the lineup.

Houston leads the series 2-1-4, and one of the draws was a 1-all tie in Toronto on July 1. Brian Ching gave Houston the lead before Dan Gargan equalized for Toronto.

De Rosario scored in a 1-all draw last year against Houston, and has failed to score in the other two meetings since being traded to Toronto.