Defense shines, but it can only do so much
A great game plan and one of the strongest defensive efforts of the season were not enough for the Dynamo to win Wednesday night.
A rarely used tactical approach by coach Tab Ramos made the Dynamo sound in the midfield and strong on defense, but they couldn’t capitalize on some quality chances in the attack and settled for a 0-0 draw against the Vancouver Whitecaps in front of 12,114 at BBVA Stadium.
Some big saves by Vancouver goalkeeper Maxime Crepeau kept the Dynamo off the scoreboard.
“I thought the team had a lot of energy today,” Ramos said. “We played very close to a perfect game for us. We gave them nothing and created a ton of opportunities. Unfortunately, the ball didn’t go in the goal. I know we’ve suffered a few of these this year, and today was certainly disappointing from that end because we created the chances for this to have been a 2-0 or 3-0 game.”
Ramos used his typical 43-3 formation in the first two matches against Vancouver — one win and one loss — and the Dynamo (5-1112, 27 points) limited the Whitecaps (8-8-10, 34 points) to two on-target shots combined in those games.
The Dynamo came out in a rarely-used 3-5-2 formation in an attempt to thwart Vancouver’s best attacking threat — service to dangerous forward Lucas Cavallini — and its speedy runs through the midfield.
It worked so well in the first half that the Dynamo held 64.5 percent possession and limited Vancouver to one off-target shot. They finished the game with 63.3 percent possession.
Their season-high possession before Wednesday was 54.3 percent. They had lost the possession battle 21 of 27 times before Wednesday.
The Dynamo also limited Vancouver to five shots overall and only one on target.
“(Having a lot of possession) is obviously a lot of fun, but you also have to be wary of what kind of positions you’re in and how vulnerable you are in them, so tonight it was a good day for us to have the ball,” Dynamo centerback Tim Parker said. “We were able to get more numbers than they were. We were able to outnumber them and play through them. It was a really good day on the ball for the team.”
Although Cavallini and fellow forward Cristian Dajome barely touched the ball in the first 45 minutes, the Dynamo didn’t do much to take advantage.
The Dynamo’s best chance came in the ninth minute when Fafa Picault got an open look from inside the penalty area and beat Crepeau with a low shot that bounced off the far post and directly back to Crepeau.
The Dynamo gave up a little bit of possession in the second half but not enough to make a big difference. They still created the more dangerous opportunities and had their best one in the 50th minute.
Sam Junqua hit a low cross within 10 yards of the goal and found Picault at the right post. Picault hit a first-time shot on target, but Crepeau dove to stop it from going in the bottom corner.
They had another good chance in the 78th minute when Tyler Pasher’s shot from outside the box was deflected on its way. Crepeau dove for another save and the ball fell in front of him.
Darwin Quintero got there an instant too late, and Vancouver hit it over the line for a corner kick.
The Dynamo are tied for 11th in the 13-team Western Conference. They are nine points away from the playoff line with six games remaining in the regular season.
The Dynamo are back in action at 3 p.m. Sunday when they travel to take on Sporting Kansas City.