Houston Dynamo head coach Ben Olsen described his team as “fragile” after they lost all three of their Leagues Cup matches.

A 2-1 defeat to Pachuca saw them become the only MLS side in the tournament to not earn a single point, while they are now winless in their last six matches in all competitions.

Despite their recent struggles, Houston are 11th in the Western Conference and just three points off the play-off places with a game in hand. They face in-form Austin FC on the road in their next match.

Olsen said his Dynamo team are hurting after their losses, but are determined to reach the post-season.

“A little bit of the same story with us at the moment. Some good performances, some not so good,” Olsen said after the Pachuca defeat.

“We let ourselves down with the goals. Again, poor, kind of naive in the moments. We weren’t killers in front of goal. We have two really good breakaways in the first half; we have to clean that up and put it in the net.

“We’re a little bit of a fragile group at the moment. It was a group of players who don’t play with each other much. I’m mixing things up so I take some blame for that, in that they are not always necessarily set up to succeed when you are trying to win a game but you also have an eye on the future. [You look] At the last 10 games, that is where we are at now.

“The message [to the team] is we put this tournament to bed. We learned a little bit about ourselves, and we saw some things we wanted to see. We didn’t get the results we wanted but I think we are better for going through this.

“Now it is about the last 10 games and seeing what we can do to get into the post-season. That has been our goal.”

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Austin FC – Myrto Uzuni

Myrto Uzuni has stepped up for Austin in the absence of top scorer Brandon Vazquez.

The forward has scored three goals and provided one assist in his last four matches in all competitions.

Houston Dynamo – Ezequiel Ponce

Ezequiel Ponce has been the most prolific player for Houston, netting on seven occasions, including three match-opening goals.

He scored in each of the Dynamo’s last two wins, including a brace against conference leaders San Diego FC.

MATCH PREDICTION – AUSTIN FC WIN

Austin have lost only two of their last 13 matches in all competitions (W5 D6) including winning the last two. Austin have avoided defeat in all seven home matches in that span (W3 D4), including a US Open Cup win over the Dynamo in May.

However, Houston have won each of their last two regular-season road Texas derbies, including a 1-0 win at Austin in their last league visit to Q2 Stadium in September 2024. The Dynamo had been winless in 19 consecutive in-state regular-season road matches dating back to 2013.

Hosts Austin have four wins, five draws, and two losses this season in 11 MLS contests on home soil. They have a five-match MLS home unbeaten streak dating to May 15 against Atlanta United.

In their last six league matches, Austin have won four, drawn one and lost one. Houston, meanwhile, have won two, drawn one and lost three in their last six.

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

Austin FC – 46.2%

Draw – 26.6%

Houston Dynamo – 27.2%