Reeling Houston Dynamo Turn to Open Cup for Reset Against Surging El Paso
(image via Houston Dynamo FC)
The Houston Dynamo begin play in the 2026 Lamar Hunt US Open Cup tonight against USL Championship side El Paso Locomotive FC. Houston is coming off a 6-2 loss to the Colorado Rapids on Saturday. El Paso won their last league match this past weekend, beating Hartford Athletic 4-0.
When: Wednesday, April 15 | 7:05 PM CT kickoff
Where: Shell Energy Stadium; Houston, Texas
TV/Stream: Paramount+
In An Early Hole
In the league losses to Dallas and Colorado, the Houston Dynamo went down 2-0 in each match before the game reached the 20th minute. Houston has conceded first in every game this season, forcing them to play from behind and never the chance to dictate the match. El Paso have scored 10 times in the first half this season, and 14 of their 20 goals have come on the road. They have scored first in their last 6 matches. All of this looks like a bad recipe for the Dynamo. If Houston can jump in front early, for the first time in 2026, they may be able to stymie El Paso and start to turn around their own fortunes.
Who Starts?
Usually, the big question for Open Cup matches is, what does the lineup look like? With the Dynamo coming into this match having lost four of their last five, change seems necessary. Head coach Ben Olsen spoke on Tuesday about balancing players wanting to shake off Saturday’s big loss with the need to rotate and get guys minutes who haven’t played much this season. One problem with heavily rotating the lineup, the Dynamo aren’t very deep right now, especially on defense. At least one of the center backs who started Saturday will have to start again tonight. We’ll also likely see one of Guilherme or Mateusz Bogusz in the attacking midfield spots. It will be very interesting to see who Olsen sets the team up.
Freight Train
Every Major League Soccer team in the Round of 32 was drawn against a team from a lower division side, mostly from the USL Championship. Unfortunately for the Dynamo, they got drawn with one of the best in El Paso Locomotive. El Paso is unbeaten in 7 matches across all competitions in 2026, with six of those being wins. They have scored 20 goals in those 7 matches, while conceding just 5. Locomotive will take on an in-state MLS opponent for the second straight year in the Open Cup. They jumped out to a 2-0 first half lead over Austin FC in this round last year but conceded 3 times in 7 minutes late in the second half to lose 3-2. Now off to the best start in club history, El Paso will get another chance to take down a MLS foe.
Houston Dynamo FC – Out: Artur (lower body), Lucas Halter (lower body); Questionable: Jack McGlynn (lower body)
El Paso Locomotive FC – none
Predicted Lineup
