Confidence high after opening-game draw
Dynamo coach Tab Ramos approached his team’s season restart against Los Angeles FC as a test.
After more than 90 minutes and a 3-3 draw, his team passed, although late defensive lapses prevented a higher grade.
“Initial thoughts, I am happy for both teams,” Ramos said. “I think both teams gave everything, in particular, ours obviously. Happy to get on the field after four months of protocols and everything else. It was nice to be in a soccer game again.”
Ramos is in his first year in Houston. Some of the Dynamo’s most notable additions, including forward Darwin Quintero and defender Zarek Valentin, are too.
But in Monday’s game, Houston’s first in the group stage of the MLS is Back Tournament in Florida, it was homegrown forward Memo Rodriguez who lifted the team (0-0-1, 1 point) to an unexpected lead over LAFC (0-0-1, 1 point).
His ninth-minute attack exposed LAFC after his hesitation move sent Latif Blessing airborne. That cleared the path for Rodriguez to push forward and hook his right-footed shot into the left side of the net, slipping it past Dejan Jakovic and goalkeeper Kenneth Vermeer.
Ten minutes later, LAFC responded when midfielder Mark-Anthony Kaye found Blessing on the attack. Blessing danced past a Dynamo defender and shipped the ball out left as he broke into the area. Blessing connected with Diego Rossi, whose pass back inside allowed Bradley Wright-Phillips to poke the ball into the net for the equalizer.
“Going into the game, Tab wanted the midfielders to be a little aggressive in the attacking third,” Rodriguez said. “I think that was important in the first half that we didn’t do too much in the second half.”
In the 30th minute, Valentin
popped an irresistible pass into Rodriguez in the box. The forward ran onto the ball and fired a shot that was promptly saved by Vermeer, but the rebound spilled into Rodriguez’s lap as he slid into the back of the net.
In first half stoppage time, Alberth Elis headed a
Quintero free kick into the net for a 3-1 lead. The score was upheld following a review to determine whether Elis had been offside.
Had the game ended at halftime, the Dynamo would have earned a resounding, upset win that would have been Ramos’ first with the team.
Instead, over a 10-minute period, Houston eventually cracked under mounting pressure from LAFC.
Rossi trimmed the lead in the 63rd minute when he rifled a shot into the net. Forward Brian Rodríguez converted an easy opportunity and tied the match when Blessing’s 69th-minute pass gave him in open space on the flank.
The Dynmao on Saturday has a chance to take the group lead from Portland, which defeated the Los Angeles Galaxy 2-1 on Monday. Despite ceding their lead in their tournament opener, the Dynamo came away with a point and, perhaps
more valuably, confidence.
The team made a habit of attacking LAFC through long balls to Elis. One resulted in its second goal, after Elis’ pass to Valentin initiated Rodriguez’s 30th-minute attack.
The Dynamo’s defense also could be credited for the team earning any points at all. It repelled a series of second half LAFC attacks (23 total shots to Houston’s nine) and did so despite ceding 71.5 percent of possession.
“Honestly, we are very confident now and that says a lot since we have almost gone three or four months without a game.,” midfielder Oscar Boniek Garcia said. “Unfortunately, we let this slip away and had to settle for a draw, but I think you could see the positive attitude and the intensity out there. Now, for us the most important thing is to build on this.”