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Houston seeks win to close gap on Philadelphia

Aug 5, 2011 - 11:42 PM Chester, PA (Sports Network) - The Houston Dynamo faced the Philadelphia Union in the first match of the 2011 Major League Soccer season, with Philadelphia claiming a 1-0 win over Houston at Robertson Stadium.

The Union have marched on since that match, spending the majority of the season in first place in the Eastern Conference before being recently replaced by the Columbus Crew. The Union now sit in second place with 32 points.

The Dynamo are close on the tails of their Saturday night opponents with 27 points on the season, as they sit just five points behind the Union in fifth place in the East.

"It's not like we're worried about them catching us," Union striker Sebastien Le Toux told MLSsoccer.com. "We just want to keep space between [them and] us and maybe try to make it bigger."

In its last home match, Philadelphia suffered a 2-1 defeat to the Colorado Rapids, but its most recent outing, a 1-1 draw with the Chicago Fire at Toyota Park, saw the club extend its road unbeaten streak to four games.

Houston is coming off of an impressive home match against Seattle Sounders FC, as the Dynamo defeated the Sounders 3-1.

"I told them afterwards I think it's the best we have played this year," Dynamo head coach Dominic Kinnear said. "Energy was good, enthusiasm was excellent, and we scored a couple good goals in the beginning of the game, which gave us some energy and some confidence."

The only sour note coming from that match was an injury to Will Bruin. The forward sustained the injury in the first half and has since undergone surgery to repair the lateral meniscus in his left knee. He is expected to miss 4-6 weeks.

The Union will also be without one their key strikers, but on a permanent basis.

After a week of speculation, Philadelphia officially transferred Carlos Ruiz to Mexican club Veracruz on Friday. Ruiz tallied six goals in 2011 to lead the team in scoring.