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Dynamo, United Renew Acquaintances In League Action

POSTED: 3:27 pm HST July 22, 2008

(Sports Network) - The Houston Dynamo and D.C. United will play a makeup Major League Soccer fixture on Wednesday after having their regularly scheduled game rained out last month, and postponed again Tuesday.

The teams will be very familiar with each other after just playing on Saturday in the SuperLiga fixture that saw the Dynamo top United, 3-1, eliminating the Washington, D.C. squad from the North American club tournament.

"Tuesday is a different game," Houston defender Bobby Boswell said. "It's a league game, it's not the same competition. It's a whole different level. Glad that we got the game [Saturday] and moved on to the next round in this tournament but the league game on Tuesday means something different. We have to hopefully keep this run going."

"We are going to make sure that we do all the things to make us successful after the bad streak at the beginning of the year," D.C. coach Tom Soehn said. "I am concerned about a couple of guys. But as I said, I learned a lot [Saturday] about some of the players. So hopefully this all takes us to where we were."

United (7-7-1) will be without starting midfielder Marcelo Gallardo and defender Gonzalo Peralta because of hernia surgeries last week, meaning they will be shorthanded for their first league fixture since a 4-1 win over the Los Angeles Galaxy on June 29.

"We have a lot of injuries; so many guys are putting a lot of minutes," Soehn said after Saturday's loss. "In the long haul it hurts. But we have to look at the pros of [Saturday's] game, so when we come back to work on Tuesday, we can continue that."

Before the extended break, United had won five of its last six MLS fixtures, but it finished SuperLiga play 0-3, being bounced after the group stage since then.

"We just have to get back to the league and try to start winning again," United defender Marc Burch said. "It's tough to take three losses but we'll learn, we'll move on. We're in a good place in the league right now and if we beat [Houston] on Tuesday it's a more important game."

The Dynamo (4-4-8) will be aiming to repeat Saturday's performance while not overusing their stars ahead of next Tuesday's SuperLiga semifinal.

"It looks easier if we consider that we can be confident about those guys in the bunch," Houston coach Dominic Kinnear said. "We have a very complete team, it's a luxury, so we can play with the substitutions. To have those guys available, Dwayne De Rosario, Brian [Ching] and Eddie [Robinson], outside the field, and ready to play, makes you a better team."


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