After win, goal switches to building on it
When Dynamo forward Fafa Picault kicked in his team-leading eighth goal of the season Saturday night to snap the team’s 16-game winless streak, the team’s relief reverberated throughout BBVA Stadium.
Until that point, even a two-goal lead over Austin FC didn’t feel safe but with a third goal in the bag midway through the second half, Houston was ready to celebrate the end of more than three months of misery.
“We know that third goal solidified and supported everything we’ve been doing on the field and throughout our weeks,” Picault said. “I think we’re all in the same mentality that we didn’t want to let the gas off. We wanted to just keep going, and coach did stress that to us.
“Let’s not be comfortable with a 1-0 lead or even 2-0. The more goals you can get put up on the team, the better.”
It remains important for the Dynamo (4-10-10, 22 points) not to let off the gas because if they don’t follow the win with another positive result, the weekend’s euphoric feeling will quickly dissipate.
Houston can gain some momentum Wednesday night when it travels to the
West Coast to take on the LA Galaxy (11-8-4, 37 points).
It’s a tall task, especially considering the Dynamo have yet to win on the road (0-7-5), but there is not much more room for error if they want to make a late run to the playoffs.
“We have to be hungry. We won one game,” coach Tab Ramos said. “There’s really nothing we can say now about the win except just move on. We need to move on and we need to continue with our season.
“LA is a good team. They
have good players and one of the better teams in the Western Conference and it’s going to be difficult. We need to be taking steps forward.”
If Houston is going to take another step forward Wednesday, it will have to
do so without forward Tyler Pasher, goalkeeper Marko Maric and midfielder Adalberto Carrasquilla for sure. Ramos said forward Corey Baird remains doubtful. All four are dealing with injuries.
All four are starters when
healthy, so there are a lot of holes to will. One of those holes could continue to be filled by attacker Darwin Quintero, who got his first start on Saturday.
Quintero was out of Ramos’ favor early in the season and just as he was gaining favor, he got sick with COVID-19. Now he’s back and working to build his stamina so he can be a major difference-maker during the stretch run.
Quintero wasted no time making a difference against Austin. His shot from inside the penalty area in the first minute led to a rebound that Griffin Dorsey hit in for a 1-0 lead.
“Having Darwin in the lineup gave us a spark,” Ramos said. “Darwin’s been working really hard. He had already been doing that leading to him being sick right before this, and I thought he was a spark, obviously right from the first minute. So hopefully we can continue to build on that.”