Red Bulls Tonight at Houston

Following their 2-1 loss to Tottenham Hotspurs on Tuesday at Red Bull Arena, the New York Red Bulls take on Eastern Conference rival Houston Dynamo tonight at 8:00 PM ET at BBVA Compass Stadium in a battle between first and second place in the Eastern Conference (TV: NBC Sports Network; Radio: 93.1 FM).

The teams will play each other one week later on Friday, Aug. 10 at Red Bull Arena at 8:00 PM ET (TV: NBC Sports Network; Radio: 93.1 FM).

New York's play against the EPL club was disappointing, especially in the second half. The Red Bulls is a team in mid season form, while the Spurs were still training for their upcoming season. The English side not just controlled the match, but dominated the game.

Whether it would have made much of a difference if Thierry Henry and Rafa Marquez had played is probably doubtful. In any event, the 2-1 score was not indicative of which was the far better team.

Its the usual case of what New York team will show up from game to game.

True, head coach Hans Backe has been juggling lineups having to deal with so many of his starting players being absent for many games this season due to injuries. And yet, despite coaching a team with so many different lineups, new players added during the course of the season, and employing different systems, Backe has led the team to a first place conference position. New York even has a chance to win this year's Supporter's Shield for the MLS club with the best regular season record when league play concludes.

At the press conference following the Tottenham match Backe said he hopes he'll finally be able employ a firm lineup for the final seven games of the regular season (barring additional injuries, of course) to prepare the team for the MLS playoffs.

But for the moment, everything is focused on the big conference match tonight against Houston.

Neither New York (11-6-5, 38 pts), nor Houston (10-5-7, 38 pts), have lost a home match this season, with both sides posting 7-0-3 home records.

Tonight marks the MLS debut of Australia's Tim Cahill at center midfield who the Red Bulls signed last week. He's their third designated player and a former star and fan favorite at Everton.