Struggling sides Houston, Chivas square off at StubHub
Carson, CA (SportsNetwork.com) - A pair of struggling sides get together at the StubHub Center on Saturday when Chivas USA takes on the Houston Dynamo.
Both teams are in the midst of lengthy winless streaks, and both are having trouble finding the net lately, making the two teams eager for a breakout performance.
After winning its opening match of the season, Chivas is winless in its last seven games after a 1-0 defeat against the San Jose Earthquakes last time out.
Houston, meanwhile, brings a six-game winless skid into Saturday's contest following a 1-1 draw with the Portland Timbers.
Will Bruin had Houston in front after 16 minutes, but the Dynamo failed to hold the lead and Gaston Fernandez equalized before halftime for the Timbers.
The match with Portland marked Houston's third game in the span of eight days, and it did nothing to help the Dynamo's struggles in front of goal with the team having scored just three goals in its last six games.
Winger Andrew Driver believes the trouble in front of goal will dissipate if his side just stays persistent.
"We've just got to keep at it, to be honest," Driver said following the draw with Portland. "We've had a lot of chances, just not really converted many, which obviously is unlike this team, but I think we've just got to keep going. We're having a decent amount of shots, we just need that little bit of luck to get one and I'm sure once we get a couple it'll start flowing from there."
The Dynamo should have a good chance to break their scoring troubles against Chivas, which hasn't kept a clean sheet in any of its eight games this season.
To make matters worse for the Goats, the club has failed to score more than one goal in any of its last seven matches, with forward Erick Torres providing six of the team's eight goals is season.
Despite these negatives, defender Carlos Bocanegra feels his side isn't that far from getting results, and that Chivas just simply needs to put together a full 90 minutes.
"For whatever reason, we've been playing pretty well, but we just can't put an entire game together offensively and defensively for 90 minutes," Bocanegra said. "We're close, but we have to put full games together."