Orlando City vs. Houston Dynamo: How to Watch, TV Info, Live Stream, Lineups, Open Thread and More

Welcome to your open thread for tonight’s match-up between Orlando City (4-4-8, 20 points) and the Houston Dynamo (4-8-5, 17 points). It’s the only scheduled meeting this season between the two teams from opposite conferences. The Lions will complete the Texas two-step this week, after facing off at FC Dallas on Monday (the less said about that the better, let’s move on).

Orlando is 1-0 in the series after posting a 1-0 victory in Houston last season. Dynamo goalkeeper Tyler Deric — under extreme pressure from Pedro Ribeiro — punched the ball into the back of his own net for the only goal of the match. So, when you combine that own-goal with the two Dallas results so far, you could say the Lions have yet to score a goal against a Texas team. A better way to look at it is that Houston is the team against which Orlando City got its first MLS victory. Coincidentally, the Orlando Pride also got their first win against the Houston Dash, which in this context means absolutely nothing, but it is interesting.

This will be the first match in the post-Adrian Heath era for Orlando City. Heath and assistant Mark Watson were both let go on Wednesday and the club will be managed in the interim by Assistant Coach Bobby Murphy, with assistance from Orlando City B Head Coach Anthony Pulis. A trusted source told me yesterday that the club's goal is to have a new head coach in place by the time the team returns from its three-game road swing so that the New England match on July 31 will be under the new boss.

Kaká once again is not healthy enough to play, after being subbed off at halftime Monday against FC Dallas. The Lions’ skipper aggravated a calf injury and came out early in hopes that he could recover in time to play at home tonight but said yesterday that he would not be available and that he’s shooting for Wednesday at NYRB. Right back Rafael Ramos (hamstring) and Ribeiro (back) are not available. And this just in: Tommy Redding will miss approximately two weeks with a hamstring strain suffered Monday at FC Dallas.

Here’s your mandatory content for tonight’s match:

• Austin Siegel’s got your match preview and prediction.
• Our Intelligence Report features a bit of a scouting report from Derek Stowers of SB Nation’s Houston blog, Dynamo Theory.
• This week’s PawedCast also features Derek as well as our key match-ups and more score predictions…and hear us find out about the Heath firing in real time.
• Wade Williams has your weekly staff roundtable discussion about tonight’s match.

Official Lineups:

Orlando City (4-2-3-1)

Goalkeeper: Joe Bendik.

Defenders: Luke Boden, Seb Hines, David Mateos, Kevin Alston.

Defensive Midfielders: Cristian Higuita, Harrison Heath,

Attacking Midfielders: Brek Shea, Kevin Molino, Darwin Ceren.

Forward: Cyle Larin.

Bench: Earl Edwards Jr., Conor Donovan, Devron Garcia, Antonio Nocerino, Servando Carrasco, Julio Baptista, and Hadji Barry.

Houston Dynamo (4-1-4-1)

Goalkeeper: Tyler Deric.

Defenders: DaMarcus Beasley, Raul Rodriguez, David Horst, Jalil Anibaba.

Midfielders: Collen Warner; Oscar Boniek Garcia, Alex Lima, Ricardo Clark, Giles Barnes.

Forward: Will Bruin.

Bench: Joe Willis, Agus, Sheanon Williams, Andrew Wenger, Cristian Maidana, Erick Torres, Mauro Manotas.

Referees

Ref: Fotis Bazakos.

AR1: C.J. Morgante.

AR2: Adam Wienckowski.

4th: Ted Unkel.

How to Watch

Match Time: 8 p.m. (ET).

Venue: Camping World Stadium — Orlando, FL.

TV: UniMas, Univision Deportes.

Radio: 104.1 FM Real Radio (English), La Grande 1030 (Spanish).

Streaming: MLS Live, fuboTV.

Twitter: For rapid reaction and live updates, follow along at@TheManeLand, as well as Orlando City’s official Twitter feed (@OrlandoCitySC).

Match Thread Rules

This is your live thread for posting comments on the match. So use our comments section below to talk about the game in real time with other supporters. If you're new, welcome to our happy home! While you're here, please observe a few basic rules:

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• Keep it somewhat clean and fair when criticizing players / officials. You never know who might be reading.
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