The Los Angeles Galaxy and Houston Dynamo finished tied with the best record in the Western Conference a year ago, and both teams are off to strong starts in 2010.
The Galaxy will look to start a season with three wins for the first time since 1998 when they visit the Dynamo on Saturday night in a rematch of last year's thrilling conference championship.
Los Angeles (2-0-0) and Houston (1-0-1) both finished with 48 points last year, and their showdown at the Home Depot Center for the conference crown showed how evenly matched the clubs were. The match was scoreless after regulation before Gregg Berhalter and Landon Donovan scored in extra time for the Galaxy.
Houston played over 300 minutes against Los Angeles and did not score in 2009, losing 1-0 on the road and playing to a 0-0 draw at home in the regular season.
"We've been waiting for this moment from last season to try and get ourselves right," defender Mike Chabala told the Dynamo's official Web site. "It was disappointing the way it finished, but it's a new season, a new start, and we want to get off to a good start."
Houston is playing its first game since star forward Brian Ching went down with a strained left hamstring in last Thursday's 2-1 win over Real Salt Lake in the home opener. Ching, who scored the last Dynamo goal against the Galaxy on Oct. 18, 2008, is expected to be out four to six weeks, and could miss the World Cup for the United States.
The Galaxy expect to be challenged in their first road match of the season even with Ching unavailable.
"It's early to be looking at the standings but (Houston is) always one of the teams at the top and if we're going to win this conference again this year we're going to have to go through them," defender Todd Dunivant told the Galaxy's official Web site. "This is our only time going there so we have to take full advantage of it."
Edson Buddle has a team-high three goals for the Galaxy, scoring twice on assists from Donovan in a 2-0 victory over Chivas USA last Thursday. Buddle is closing in on his total of five goals last year, when he was hampered by foot and calf injuries.
"We need to be making sure that we're communicating and paying attention to players when we do have the ball, so that when the ball does turn over, we're in good spots to keep Landon and Edson in front of us," Chabala said. "As long as we keep staying together as a tight group, we'll be fine."
Brad Davis, last year's MVP for the Dynamo, scored both goals on penalties in Houston's win over RSL.
