The Houston Dynamo have been Sporting Kansas City's kryptonite. In each of the last two years, Sporting have been the Eastern Conference's best or second best team, but come playoff time, they have fallen to the lower seeded Dynamo. It's like clockwork so when Houston upset the New York Red Bulls to book their spot in this year's Eastern Conference final, Kansas City could not have been excited.
Houston Dynamo vs. Sporting KC: Lineups
Can Dominic Kinnear best Peter Vermes again?
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Now the two teams are set to meet again. A spot in MLS Cup is on the line and Sporting are hoping that their two regular season win over the Dynamo this year can break the hex Houston has had on them.
Just as was the case in the conference semifinal, Peter Vermes is going more defensive for the first leg away. Paulo Nagamura and Benny Feilhaber are both getting the nod in the midfield, pushing Graham Zusi higher up the pitch, where Teal Bunbury and Jacob Peterson will also be. That leave Vermes the options of Claudo Bieler, C.J. Sapong and Soony Saad on the bench if they need goals later in the match.
Dominic Kinnear also had a decision to make up top and he's opted for the red hot Omar Cummings over Giles Barnes. It's a change from his regular team, but Cummings scored two goals in the conference semifinal, including the tie-winner, so it's hardly a crazy decision. Another change is Mike Chabala in the starting lineup, but that was made necessary by Corey Ashe's suspension.
Houston Dynamo: Tally Hall; Kofi Sarkodie, Bobby Boswell, Eric Brunner, Mike Chabala; Oscar Boniek García, Warren Creavalle, Ricardo Clark, Brad Davis; Will Bruin, Omar Cummings.
Sporting KC: Jimmy Nielsen; Chance Myers, Aurelien Collin, Matt Besler, Seth Sinovic; Oriol Rosell, Paulo Nagamura, Benny Feilhaber; Graham Zusi, Teal Bunbury, Jacob Peterson.
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