HOUSTON – The Houston Dynamo got a traveling buddy when they were relocated to the Western Conference, and it just so happened to be the club that they’ve had some of their fiercest matches against in recent years.
Sporting Kansas City have brought more intensity out of the Dynamo during the last four seasons. Regular meetings in the playoffs, red cards, villains and heroes have made their clashes must-see TV.
With a new season have come new faces, styles and a conference switch for each of them. Saturday will mark their first Western Conference clash (8:30 pm ET; MLS LIVE), but will the new blood live up to the old rivalry?
“Look I don’t like to lose to Kansas City and I like to get a result against them," Dynamo mainstay Kofi Sarkodie said. “They’re a good team and they play us well and when we play against them it’s a good match. It’s fun. It’s like a boxing match really.
“That’s a great example. [Former Sporting KC center back Aurelien Collin] was every game like elbow, chest, pushing guys and it just kind of brought the heat. Will [Bruin] and Aurelien were just like boom, boom, boom and so you had those two going and [head coaches Dom Kinnear and Peter Vermes] going so I think that definitely created that dynamic. It might change now that there’s different players in the mix. The teams have definitely evolved so we’ll see on the weekend how much of a rivalry it still is.”
The storylines wrote themselves after many of the two club’s matches. Kinnear and Vermes’ history and friendly rivalry was always good backdrop, and you could always count on Collin, now with Orlando, setting himself apart.
While the teams have changed, many of the combatants remain and that familiarity hasn’t lost any of its intensity.
“Our history with Kansas City is we’ve always played them in big games … now that we’ve both moved to the West I think it’s great we can keep this rivalry going,” said goalkeeper Tyler Deric. “I think Kansas City’s a really competitive team and they give everything every game and you’ve got to respect them for that and that’s the same that we do from our sideline.
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“I know we’re not going to give anything away cheaply, we’re not going to give away easy plays and we’re going to be upset if we do give away something cheap and easy to them.”
The goalkeeper got a taste of the feud the last time the two teams met in August 2014, coming on for the injured Tally Hall to see out a 3-1 win. Deric claimed the Dynamo's No. 1 spot in that game and has yet to let go, the latest storyline in an eventful rivalry.
“It was one of those moments where I was behind Tally for three years and that was the one moment I was called upon so I was proud of my preparation for each game,” Deric said. “I just had to be aware of what the situation was and I thought as a team we defended really well that game.”
Sure, when the two teams meet it will be just another regular season game and they’ll give 100 percent like they do every week. But games between the two clubs always have a way of raising the intensity level.
Whether in the West or the East, new faces or old, the expectation is that it’ll be another hard fought battle when they lock horns on Saturday.
Darrell Lovell covers the Houston Dynamo for MLSsoccer.com.
