The newest addition of Houston Dynamo, Ondrej Lingr, described himself as a “warrior” after completing his move to the Western Conference Club of Slavia Prague.
Lingr was unveiled on Friday as the latest designated player of the Dynamo and ended his time in the Czech Republic with 41 goals and 12 assists in 162 performances in all competitions.
He is the newest recruit in the rebuilt midfield of the Dynamo, next to the international Jack McMlynn of the United States, which was taken from the Philadelphia Union.
Lingr joins the club that are currently the lowest scorers in the division and hopes to have an impact on the Portland Timbers this Sunday.
“I am a more direct attacking midfielder,” Lingr explained. “I like to be in the 18, be around the opportunities, scored goals. Also help the team with the pressing.
“I am an aggressive, urgent type of player. I have a fighting spirit, so I will do the best on the field I can do. It's funny, but I am a warrior. I will die for my team.
“For me it is a very big chance. I spoke with my family, with my wife and I think I should go for this chance. It's a real, really great chance.
“I am really, very enthusiastic to make a new step for me, and I hope we will achieve the best results with Houston and win some cups. I hope I will be an important player for the team.”
Welcome to season 20, Ondrej pic.twitter.com/6lvq3xhzfy
– Houston Dynamo FC (@Houstondnamo) March 28, 2025
Meanwhile, Portland wants to build on their impressive 3-0 win over the Colorado Rapids, with that result that they are picking up their second victory of the season.
They are now unbeaten in their last two MLS matches, after they also held the La Galaxy against a 1-1 draw, and head coach Phil Neville praised his players for their recent improvement.
“We are really looking forward to it. We have to get used to these Sunday games. It is a big game on Sunday evening and all eyes will be us on us,” said Neville.
“We came in very confident the week the week, but we still have a lot of work to do, and we are still building. In terms of the group we look much healthier.
“The good thing we have seen this week is that the players under the starting line-up who have played in the past two weeks have been fantastic, and they urge to start games and get games because there are many competitions.”
Players to watch
Portland Timbers – Antony
Antony has only scored six goals for the entire last season and the campaign started with two goals in five performances, and he will be happy to kick this weekend.
The Brazilian ended the 3-0 victory of Portland on Colorado and created two chances, a total that was only improved by David Costa (four).
Indeed, with strikes from Antony and Kevin Kelsy Last Time Out, 54 of the last 56 ml objectives of the Timbers (excluding own goals) were scored by players from South America, where only the American Eryk Williamson and Portuguese Costa also score for Portland since mid-April.
Houston Dynamo – Ibrahim Aliyu
Houston needs goals after stuttering in the last third so far this season, and they will be looking for last year's joint-top scorer Aliyu to find his shooting.
He scored last campaign against Portland in a 1-0 win and never lost against the wood in the three games he played against them (W2 D1).
Match -Forecast: Draw
Houston is unbeaten in four consecutive meetings with Portland (W3 D1), although the last meeting in June 2024 ended in a 2-2 draw. The wood had won five of the previous seven meetings between the sides (D2) before the undefeated run of the dynamo of four games.
But Houston can now be won in club history for the third time without five games of a season (also 2008 and 2020). Their two points are the least in this phase of a campaign in club history.
In the meantime, Portland only achieved their second victory in 11 games that went back to the end of last season (D5 L4, including the play -offs) previous time -out. Since a point of three in June 2023, the Hout has not kept a consecutive clean sheets in competition game.
Opta wins probability
Portland Timbers – 38.4%
Drawing – 26.5%
Houston Dynamo – 35.1%
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