Winless Dynamo not discouraged as they take aim at Crew

The Houston Dynamo and host Columbus Crew aim to bounce back from disheartening losses in different competitions when they play Saturday.

For the Dynamo (0-2-0, 0 points), a chance to compete with one of the best teams in MLS fizzled in a 4-1 loss to Lionel Messi-less Inter Miami last Saturday.

Yet Houston coach Ben Olsen is not discouraged heading into the match against the Crew.

"The loss hurts, but we'll keep moving forward," he said. "If we stop shooting ourselves in the foot, we'll be a competitive team. There's still good in this, and we have a good team.

"We're going to get some new additions and figure out what the best version of this group is. It is on me to pinpoint how we can be more competitive to put ourselves in better positions to win."

While the Crew are one of five perfect teams (2-0-0, 6 points) in league play, they were beaten 3-0 at Los Angeles FC on Tuesday in the first leg of the CONCACAF Champions Cup Round of 16.

How that affects the lineup Saturday is to be determined. The Crew would need a miraculous comeback at home against LAFC in the return match of the total goal series on Tuesday, so coach Wilfried Nancy may opt to play most of his regulars vs. the Dynamo in the third of four matches in an 11-day span.

"We have a game against Houston, then after that we'll focus on the second game," Nancy said.

Nancy subbed several players after LAFC went up 2-0.

"I decided to rotate the group because we have many games coming," he said. "This is about rest and to take care of the players."

The Crew are getting a lot of air miles but not a lot of practice time.

They won 1-0 at New England last Saturday in sub-freezing conditions and then went directly to Los Angeles. After the next two games in Columbus, they go back to California to meet San Diego FC on March 15.

"This is a difficult stretch but we can control only what we can control," Nancy said.

Jacen Russell-Rowe scored Columbus' game-winner against the Revolution, his second goal of the season. Amine Bassi and Nicolas Lodeiro are the only Dynamo players to score so far this season.

--Field Level Media