Houston Dynamo head coach Ben Olsen insisted that he is optimistic about his team’s future despite missing out on the playoffs.

The Dynamo’s hopes of qualifying for the postseason were ended after a 4-2 defeat to San Diego FC last time out, leaving them four points behind the play-in spots going into the final game.

Houston will be hoping to end their season with a win when they travel to face Sporting Kansas City, who are currently 14th in the Western Conference.

Despite admitting their quality this season was poor, Olsen believes there are plenty of reasons to be positive when looking ahead to next season.

“It been a whole season of us just not being good enough,” said Olsen after their defeat to San Diego FC.

“There are a whole bunch of reasons why we are in this place of not being in the post-season, so now it’s about finishing the season in the right way with pride.

“[We want] to go to Kansas City and try to get a result, but there is no sugar coating it, we were just not good enough.

“We will have a lot of time to dissect it and grow from and learn from it and fix it. I’m very optimistic that we will fix it as we have a pretty clear idea of what went wrong this year.

“And it was not one or two things. When you have these types of seasons, it is a collective. It just has not worked this year.”

Kansas City have lost each of their last five games in MLS heading into this match, while also being defeated in 10 of their previous 12 matches.

Their most recent win did come at home, however, defeating the Colorado Rapids 4-2 at the end of August.

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Sporting Kansas City- Dejan Joveljic

Eleven of Dejan Joveljic’s 18 goals this season have come at home, the most home goals by a Sporting KC player in league play since Dom Dwyer’s 12 in 2014.

The only player with more than 18 total goals in an MLS regular season for the club is also Dwyer, who had 22 in that 2014 season.

Houston Dynamo – Sergio Santos

Sergio Santos came off the bench to score for the Dynamo in their last match, his 12th career regular-season goal as a substitute since entering the league in 2019.

The only MLS player with more regular-season goals off the bench in that time is Anderson Julio (15).

MATCH PREDICTION – DRAW

The Dynamo have 12 road league wins since the start of 2024 – more than their total from 2019-2023 (10). A decision day win would give them five or more road wins in consecutive regular seasons for the first time in club history.

Kansas City have conceded 70 goals this season, the most in MLS, and the most ever conceded in a regular season by the club. They are the 11th team in MLS history to concede 70 or more goals in a single season.

Sporting KC have earned at least a point in eight of their last nine league meetings with Houston (W5 D3), including a road win earlier this season. A Kansas City win would give them their second-ever regular-season sweep of Houston, having also done so in 2018.

In their last six league matches, Sporting KC have won one and lost five. Houston, meanwhile, have won two, drawn one and lost three in their last six.

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

Sporting Kansas City – 36.9%

Draw – 26.3%

Houston Dynamo – 36.8%