Consistency remains goal

Rout of Toronto gives chance to build momentum

The Dynamo are aiming for their first winning streak of the season when they travel to TCF Bank Stadium to play Minnesota United FC on Saturday.

They are looking to build off of a 5-1 drubbing of Toronto FC last Saturday, although they faced a short-handed team that was preparing for a CONCACAF Champions League final against Mexican club Chivas.

The Toronto victory leveled the season record for the Dynamo (2-2-2) and provided a valuable three points. But coach Wilmer Cabrera, whose team is third in Major League Soccer in shots on goal (46), still wants to see more consistency from his team.

“It was a must for us because we have lost the past two games here. We needed this win badly,” Cabrera said after the Toronto game. “Overall, I think while it was for us important to get the three points, our performance wasn’t as good as the other ones. Our possession, our rhythm wasn’t as good, and I think we weren’t as sharp as we were in the past games, even with bad results. It could be the fact that we got two goals quickly. I think still we considered too many options for them that it shouldn’t happen today, so we have to continue working.”

Cabrera partially contributes that to their uneven schedule with international competition creating gaps and breaks between league games.

“Everyone has six, seven or eight games. We only had five games at this point, and those five games were every other week,” he said. “So that for sure is affecting us, and now what we need is get the rhythm of the games, get the momentum and start playing more consecutively because the games and the competition is going to be giving us that sharpness that we need.”

Plenty of positives

Still, the Dynamo have a lot to build off of from last week’s game.

Forward Romell Quioto, making his second consecutive start, had a goal and two assists. Defender Leonardo and midfielder Eric Alexander each scored their first goals of the season, and forwards Mauro Manotas and Al-

berth Elis each added to their season totals (four and three goals, respectively). Behind them, goalkeeper Joe Willis made his first start (he had six saves) as Cabrera looks to create internal competition at the position.

“I think my mentality is to stay sharp all the time, work hard in training and let the coaches make their decisions and be ready when you are called,” Wllis said. “I think not just the goalkeeper position but every position. Last year, I think you saw that there was a ton of rotation. So, you always need to be ready.”

Beasley is back

The Dynamo will need to continue attacking the way they have. Defensively, they still need improvements.

It helps that DaMarcus Beasley is back in the lineup, returning against Toronto after serving a suspension for his red card in a 2-0 loss to New England on March 31. And more help is on the way after the team added Swedish defender Adam Lundqvist on a transfer from IF Elfsborg on Thursday.

“It’s going to be a tough game because they attack wide a lot and they trust the ball a lot,” Cabrera said of Minnesota. “We need to be sharper and better doing that because against Toronto FC we suffered a little bit in that aspect. We need to be focused on that.

“Meanwhile, attackingwise we were good, and we have to continue with that intensity and that mentality as well as that type of mobility.”

Minnesota (2-5-0) has struggled, but it has its own new addition who’s fueled the team since his transfer from Club América in late March.

Forward Darwin Quintero has a goal and an assist through two games. He’s averaged 7.5 touches in the box per game for Minnesota — no other player on the team averages more than 4.2 touches in the box this season.

“Our focus is to get the three points on the road,” defender Alejandro Fuenmayor said, “We need to win away games if we want to get into the playoffs, which is our goal.”