The Houston Dynamo and Montreal Impact both stumbled into the playoffs. For the Dynamo, this is nothing new. They have made a habit of turning things on in the playoffs after a lackluster regular season, but the Impact are in the postseason for the first time and nobody knows what to expect from them. All we do know is that someone has to win, and whoever does gets a conference quarterfinal tie with the New York Red Bulls, while the loser's season is over
MLS Playoffs 2013: Dynamo vs. Impact lineups
Someone is going to earn a date with the Red Bulls and someone is going home.
Thomas Campbell-USA TODAY Sports
Odds are, this isn't going to be an especially entertaining match with both teams coming in sans momentum, their notoriously ugly styles and a lack of game changers for both sides. Even Marco Di Vaio, MLS's leading scorer, is a poacher in the truest sense of the word, and won't be the one who changes a match by himself.
Dominic Kinnear has gone with his tried and true 4-4-2. That doesn't surprise anyone, nor does Montreal's starting XI, but seeing Andrew Wenger get the nod over Felipe Mertens is a bit of a shock. Wenger did give Houston problems off the bench when they played last month, though, so the Impact may be hoping that he can give them the same impact over a longer period of time tonight.
Houston Dynamo: Tally Hall; Kofi Sarkodie, Bobby Boswell, Eric Brunner, Corey Ashe; Oscar Boniek García, Warren Creavalle, Ricardo Clark, Brad Davis; Giles Barnes, Will Bruin
Montreal Impact: Troy Perkins; Jeb Brovsky, Matteo Ferrari, Nelson Rivas, Hassoun Camara; Hernan Bernardello, Coleen Warner; Andrea Pisanu, Andrew Wenger, Justin Mapp; Marco Di Vaio
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