The Dynamo are looking to regain their momentum after a road loss.
Real Salt Lake took steam out of club’s surge through May
The Dynamo had hoped to finish May unbeaten until Wednesday’s midweek loss to Real Salt Lake.
They will try to restart that streak in the second leg of their two-game road trip against the Montreal Impact on Saturday.
The Dynamo had gone 3-0-1 through most of May, earning decisive and comeback victories as their counterattacking offense found its rhythm despite injuries.
But Real Salt Lake took a firsthalf lead during the Dynamo’s first midweek game of the season, recapturing that lead shortly after the Dynamo tied the score. The Dynamo’s 75th-minute goal was the latest opening score for the club, which is tied for a Major League Soccer-high 27 team goals on the season.
“We didn’t have a very good start in the game,” coach Wilmer Cabrera said. “We started off a little bit lethargic. They scored once because they had more intensity, and in the first 20 minutes they were more intense than us and they gave more.”
Real Salt Lake (6-6-1) leapfrogged the Dynamo (5-4-3) in the Western Conference standings following its victory. Saturday, the Dynamo face a team that is further from contention in the Eastern Conference.
The Impact (3-10-0) have given up more goals than any other MLS team this season. They’re tied for the league lead in most goals surrendered on counterattacks (three) and top the MLS in goals allowed on set pieces (nine), two areas in which where the Dynamo excel.
Two recent additions, defenders Adam Lundqvist and Jared Watts, made their Dynamo debuts in Wednesday’s loss.
“I’m very happy to make my debut for this team,” Lundqvist said Wednesday. “It’s also a bittersweet feeling; I wanted a better performance for myself and for the team as well. In some part of the movement, the passing, but also defensively we need to be sharper. We can’t allow two goals, and it’s easier if we play better defense.”
The Dynamo are sixth in the conference with 18 points and the second-highest scoring differential (plus seven), but it’s not hard to imagine them being higher up the standings. Had the team not allowed goals in the final 10 minutes of games this season, it would be tied atop the Western Conference with 25 points.
“We have to regroup now and we have to look forward for the next game, Saturday against Montreal, because today was a day that we did not have the performance that we are used to having lately in all the games when we play away,” Cabrera said following Wednesday’s loss.