Fit to be tied, again
Dominating effort yields another disappointing result for Ramos
The third time looked to be the charm.
But in what amounted to Houston’s third opening day of the season, the result remained the same as the previous two in a 0-0 draw against FC Dallas in Houston’s return to BBVA Stadium on Friday.
“I think we did exactly what we wanted to do which was take possession away from them,” coach Tab Ramos said. “Overall, I have to say I’m happy with the team. (There’s) not much more I can ask of them.”
Still in search of his first win, Ramos was impressed by his team’s domination, but disappointed by yet another winless result.
Houston (0-2-4, 4 points) controlled first-half possession and earned eight shots to none for Dallas (1-1-3, 6 points) in the opening period. That momentum continued into the second half where it closed the game with a 17-7 shot advantage.
“I’m not okay with the result,” Ramos said. “I’m okay with the effort.
“I think the team was ready to play, I think they took the game to Dallas basically for 90 minutes.”
Friday, the Dynamo missed the opportunity to climb past Dallas and away from the early Western Conference basement where they currently reside with the LA Galaxy.
Forward Christian Ramirez made his first appearance since March and his first start since last October in place of Mauro Manotas, who missed the game with a thigh injury. Ramirez’s 27th
minute shot nearly found the top corner before a leaping Jimmy Mauer save.
In the 74th minute, Mauer made a more comfortable save after forward Alberth Elis burst through the defense and saw his close-range shot corralled. Midfielder Memo Rodriguez and Elis each failed to threaten Mauer on last-second shots in stoppage time.
“As a team we really dictated the tempo tonight,” Ramirez said. “We just have to continue to build off that and the goals will come.”
Ramos liked the way his team stretched Dallas offensively and remained organized defensively through most of the game. The latter helped Houston earn its first shutout of the year.
It came as Houston returned to BBVA Stadium competitively for the first time since its original season opener against the Galaxy in February.
Dallas entered Friday’s game having missed the MLS is Back Tournament because of an outbreak of Covid-19 cases on the team. It played Nashville SC in front of almost 3,000 fans on Aug. 12 as part of an effort to make up for those lost games.
Friday, the Dynamo played without fans at BBVA Stadium—a restriction they intend to enforce for the duration of the league’s Phase I schedule, which runs through Sept. 14.
Black section covers with advertisements for Audi and Adidas were draped over many of the orange seats on the first level of the stadium. And El Batallion’s drums and horns were replaced by ambient stadium sound, although several fan group’s posters and flags still hung.
Dynamo president John Walker said the team is in regular communication with city and county health officials, who advised against having fans during the first phase. He said the team hopes to have fans during the second phase if local health officials deem it safe.
If they do, he said social distancing restrictions leave space for about 4,000 fans—the stadium’s second level will be made available initially. The team’s close to 8,000 season ticket holders will have first access to those tickets and Walker said remaining seats would be available based on initial season ticket holder interest.
“We’re watching closely,” Walker said of the four MLS teams playing with fans. “We’ll learn a lot from their experience as well. Whatever the best practices people are coming up with this week, we’ll employ whenever we have the opportunity to have fans.”