THE RIGHT TOUCH
First-year coach Olsen has led surprising team to the Western Conference semifinal
First-year Dynamo coach Ben Olsen and his staff have asked a lot from their players this season, preaching playoffs since the first practice session in January.
Halfway through the MLS season, the Dynamo wanted to advance in a Leagues Cup featuring, as Olsen put it, a do-ordie nature. After reaching the round of 16 in that tournament, they continued pressing the gas in the U.S. Open Cup, beating six teams en route to their first trophy since winning the same competition in 2018.
The Dynamo returned to MLS play on the outside of the playoff picture looking in, pushing the gas again to sneak into the postseason. As soon as they clinched their first berth since 2017, they started pushing the gas yet again to get the highest seed possible.
The Dynamo advanced past the first round by beating Real Salt Lake on penalty kicks 4-3 after the teams tied 1-1 in Game 3 on Nov. 11.
Clearly, the Dynamo have responded to the prodding of Olsen and his staff, and they’re charged with doing it again versus Sporting Kansas City in a single-game Western Conference semifinal elimination match to be played Sunday at 6 p.m. at Shell Energy Stadium.
There hasn’t been a real low with this team, Olsen said, and because games have been so intense through the year, he wanted to ensure the rhythm of this week was a smart one.
“For the most part, I think I have a pretty good feel for that rhythm and when to step away. But this group, they’re a wild bunch. They have fun,” Olsen said. “They’ve showed me a day before a game where they’ve been super loose and we’ve had success. They’ve had times like the Open Cup where the intensity was really high and they’ve had success.
“There’s no real common theme there. At this point, they know how to prepare. They’re pros individually, and as long as collectively we give them the right information to prep, I think we’ll be at our best.”
Standing in the way of the Dynamo’s first appearance in the Western Conference finals since 2017 is a Kansas City squad that is also clicking at the right time as the No. 8 seed under 14-year coach Peter Vermes. It beat San Jose 4-2 on penalties after the teams tied 0-0 in the wild card round, then upset top seed St. Louis City 6-2 on aggregate in round one.
Olsen is looking forward to renewing a rivalry with Kansas City and facing someone like Vermes, for whom he has a lot of respect.
“I think he’s an incredible leader. He’s a visionary. I think what he’s created there at Kansas City is one of the great franchises and stadiums and kind of overall cultures in this country,” Olsen said. “He has a very large part in that at that organization. … Always have had good battles with him throughout the years, and we’ve both been around for quite a while, so we’ve had plenty of them.”
Houston is 1-1-1 against Kansas City this season. The teams met for the first time in the U.S. Open Cup competition on May 10, when the Dynamo advanced with a 1-0 home win. They drew 2-2 in regular-season play on July 8 in Houston, and Kansas City won its home game 2-1 on Sept. 23.
But Sunday’s game will be at Shell, where the Dynamo built the best home record in the Western Conference at 11-2-4 to go with a 16-3-6 record at home in all competitions. They are undefeated there since dropping a Leagues Cup game against Charlotte on Aug. 7.
Only two squads beat the Dynamo at home during the MLS regular season: Seattle 1-0 on May 13 and Minnesota 3-0 on July 12. KC, meanwhile, finished with a 3-8-6 road record.
The fans make the place feel full and have given the Dynamo the energy they need to win at home, Olsen said.
“They’ve been a big part of this year and the success,” Olsen said. “But the goal of the organization is to pack Shell Energy Stadium. This is just a normal process; it doesn’t happen overnight. I do want to make sure it’s clear that the fans that have been showing up for us this year have been incredible. It’s been great to get to know them, and hopefully, they’re happy with the product we’ve put on the field.”
Griffin Dorsey doesn’t think there are going to be any issues getting up for a game like this.
The defender called the match one of the biggest of his career.
“It’s a balance of understanding the moment and understanding how big it is for not only myself but also the club while also just taking it as another game,” Dorsey said. “I like to pride myself on preparing for every game like it could be my last game. Again, it’s a balance of understanding that this is a big moment, but also that it’s still 11 versus 11, with 22 guys out there on the field trying to win.”
Dorsey and the rest of the defense will need to keep an eye on a Kansas City attacking group that features four different postseason scorers, including Logan Ndenbe and Dániel Sallói, who have each scored two goals.
Overall, Alan Pulido leads KC with 14 goals and Sallói has 12 assists. On the other side, the Dynamo have three different postseason scorers so far: team goal leader Amine Bassi, team assist leader Héctor Herrera, and Corey Baird.
Kansas City is a complete team that doesn’t give up easy goals and can get you in different ways, Olsen said.
“They can build on you, but they also can go direct and have some real transition moments that are scary for teams, so we’ll just have to be at our best,” the coach said. “We played them before. We understand who they are. We’ll put together a good game plan for the guys and go after it.”
The Dynamo are in a good spot. Olsen understands that well.
“We should be appreciative of that moment and make sure that with that appreciation we also understand that we need to take advantage of it because it’s a good group,” Olsen said. “And as I’ve said many times, this doesn’t happen every year where you’re in good form, you’re playing a home one-off to move into the conference finals. I think we have a nice humbleness about us right now.”