Sunday, March 13, 2022

Houston Dynamo - Vancouver White Caps.

 

Pregame Talk:

There was some buzz pregame when starting 11's were introduced.  Fans have been waiting to see Coco Carrasquilla and Darwin Quintero in the starting lineup, and after two scoreless games Paulo Nagamura made the switch.  And while there was buzz around this, Pat Onstad also dropped a bomb during the pregame show.  When asked by Glen Davis about the GAM brought in by the trading of Derrick Jones:  "Yeah, we're looking to spend that right away. We have somebody lined up, hopefully in the next week or so.....we'll be able to announce.....in an attacking position. We need to get some more players in here I think to help the group. But what we are excited about is the group we do have. I think they work really hard defensively.  We gave up 59 goals last year, so far we've only given up one.  So that's good but on the other side, you know, we haven't scored yet. So hopefully we can go bang in a few against Vancouver."  It's an exciting time to be a Dynamo fan, this group is being aggressive as far as getting new guys in here.  No idea who Pat is talking about, but hopefully it's a 10 or a right-winger to help with the attack."  

While this statement perked up my ears, what happened on the pitch over the opening 30 minutes perked up my eyes.  Coco and Quintero didn't disappoint and did more for the attack in the first five minutes than the midfield has done all season. Coco's ability to break lines with lights out passing and Quintero's ability to....well....be Darwin freaking Quintero was a much-needed sight for La Naranja and Paulo Nagamura.  The game started off fast, the Dynamo came out aggressive early, and even though they fell behind 1-0 managed to battle back and take control of the game.  In a game that featured a lot of firsts, the 3 points were much needed, and hopefully there's more to come.



The first 30 Minutes:

From the opening possession of the game, the Dynamo held firm on the back two lines forcing Vancouver to play over the top.  Setting up in a 4-3-3 that played more like a 4-2-3-1, with Quintero really pushing high and playing in space behind Vancouver's midfield, the Dynamo were looking to play long balls through the lines to Quintero, Baird, and Fafa.  It returned immediate dividends. On their first possession, building from the back, Griffen Dorsey fired one down the right touchline to Sebastian Ferreira who one-touched it to a trailing Corey Baird. Baird fired it to Darwin about 30 yards from goal in the middle of the field.  After some quick combos from Quintero and Sebas, Quintero tried to play a through ball that just missed a streaking Sebas, but found Corey Baird trailing behind.  Baird fired in a near-perfect cross that just missed Fafa's head at the back post.  Quintero chased the loose ball down and fired a right-footed bender that goalkeeper Thomas Hasel just managed to get a hand on and knock over the net.  It was 1:30 into the game, but the Dynamo had let their intentions be known. 
Not only were the Dynamo pushing the ball with tempo and purpose, but they were also defending and pressing much higher than in the previous two games.  The first ten minutes saw the Dynamo look increasingly threatening, and the White Caps were barely able to get the ball across midfield.

5:00 - Quintero tries to play Fafa through, the pass is just a hair too long.
5:30 - Sebas puts pressure on Hasel, who hits one directly to Baird.  Baird heads it to Quintero, Quintero plays it to Vera, who hits one just over the crossbar.
6:30 - Dorsey dribbles through the entire Vancouver team, fires in a cross that gets deflected by Dajome, and ends up in the lap of Hasel. High pressing wins them a Throw-in deep in the final third. 
7:55 - Sebas finally gets the ball in a dangerous position with space, fires a shot that's deflected, and earns a corner.
9:30 - High pressing forces Vancouver to play the ball long from deep in their own third, Parker heads it to Coco who earns a foul. 
11:00 - Pressure once again forces a bad pass from Vancouver, Parker plays it to Baird who earns a foul.

That's when disaster struck. In really their first possession in some time that went into the attacking third, off a throw-in and after some quick combo play, Ryan Gaud laid a perfectly weighted pass to Cristián Dajome who was streaking down the sideline after throwing the ball in.  Dajome hit a pinpoint cross on the first touch, Lucas Cavellini found his way behind Daniel Steres and blasted it past Steve Clark.  Steres got too wide of the posts, Parker didn't get over in time, and Cavallini found the space and side-footed it to the near post.  It was the only threat Vancouver had had in the opening 15 minutes, and they found a way to capitalize on it.  
Although Vancouver broke through, it really didn't seem to phase the Dynamo or alter their plan.  They just went right back to it.

17:30 - Ball played up to Fafa, Fafa takes on Tristan Blackmon and wins a corner.
18:00 - Quintero fires in a corner that just misses Fafa, Coco chases down the ball and fires in a dangerous cross, but a goal kick is given.
18:30 - Fafa steals the goal kick, races past everyone and fires a cross to Sebas that Hasal manages to steal away.
20:00 - Dynamo take the ball away again in the attacking third, and after some excellent quick touch combo plays, Darwin corrals the ball and fires a shot that is deflected out of bounds earning a corner.
20:30 - Dynamo short play the corner, Coco fires in another cross that just misses Sebas' head, earns another corner.
21:42 - Dynamo take away a clearance at midfield, play it up to Coco who earns another foul.  After the foul, Darwin fires a great ball into the box, which is knocked away by Hasel.  Coco takes the rebound and fires a blast that is deflected, which Baird chases down and fires one wide.
25:00 - High pressure sees Quintero take the ball away from Leonard Owusu.  Quintero takes the ball and lobs a dangerous pass to a racing Fafa, ball ends up in Hasel's lap.
29:46 - After building from the back and switching field a couple of times, the ball finds Darwin Quintero on the right flank who chips a lob to Sebas, but Hasel goes up and gets it in front of him.
30:49 - The high press gets Vancouver again, as Baird forces a bad pass by Florian Jungwirth. Coco tracks the ball down and one-touches it to Sebas.  Sebas has Fafa wide open on the left flank, but tries to do too much with it had has the ball taken away.

The first 30 minutes were dominated by the Dynamo, they were by far the better team in every way except the scoreline.  Most of it was spent in Vancouver's half of the field with the Dynamo looking extremely threatening on the end of almost every possession.  It was an exciting, but frustrating start.  Things would turn however, over the next 15 minutes.

The Next 15 minutes:

After Vera won a foul at the edge of the attacking third at the 31:00 minute mark, the Dynamo quickly found Coco who carried the ball left.  He found Fafa ducking inside about 30 yards out, and cut back inside to his right.  Fafa laid it back to him, and Coco lobbed an unbelievable pass over the top to Baird who had found his way behind Vancouver's back three.  While their entire backline lobbied for an offsides call, Baird tracked it down and just managed to hit Darwin right in front of the net to level the score.  It was a really good play by Baird, but the Dynamo were helped out by Vancouver just giving up on the play.  Vancouver, however, started to find cracks in the Dynamo defense.  Lundkvists huge block on Cavellini in the 34th minute was one of several huge plays by Dynamo defenders on the night and helped save 2 points.  Moments after, Baird found Quintero just outside the box who fired a left-footer on target, but Hasel just manages to knock it away.  The last 15 minutes of the first half was much more even, and a lot slower paced.  The Dynamo got into the dressing room tied 1:1, but had really been the most dangerous team without question. 

The Next 15 Minutes:

The second half started much like the first half ended.  The opening 5 minutes was fairly slow-paced, back and forth and even.  When Lundkvist gobbled up a poor touch from Ryan Gauld in the 49th minute and fired it upfield to Coco, that turned quickly.  Coco took one good touch, and fired a laser to Sebas 30 yards downfield and just outside the box.  Sebas had two defenders on him and tried to cut back to his right with Florian Jungwirth charging hard. It's hard to tell if Sebas took a bad touch, fumbled under the pressure, or meant to pass the ball, but the ball wound up right at the feet of Darwin Quintero who scored a golazo from about 20 yards out.  The blast found the top right corner, clean past a diving Hasel.  

The next ten minutes was more back-and-forth action, as each team was really working the high press and spreading the field. Quintero just missed Sebas a couple of times.  And while both teams managed 1 more shot over this span (Dajome's 56th-minute scooter through a pack of players that went wide, and Vera's 60th-minute blast off a corner clearance that was blocked), neither team really managed anything of danger.

The Final 30 Minutes:

Minutes 70-90 belonged to Vancouver.  After Vanni Sartini subbed on Marcus Godinho and Deiber Caicedo in the 66th minute, the tide seemed to turn. From minutes 70-90, Vancouver managed 10 shots on goal, although only one was really close.  6 of those shots came in a 70th-minute flurry off back-to-back corners after Steres headed a Dajome cross out of bounds.  The first flurry saw a header hit the crossbar, and then Dorsey made a tremendous play going up and blocking Lucas Cavallini's header with his head from just inches away. Vancouver found the ball twice more, for two more shots inside the box that were both blocked by a wall of Dynamo defenders.  The second flurry had Caicedo miss-hit the corner (which was blocked by Parker) and Tristan Blackmon track that down and mishit one that Clark gobbled up.  Time and time again the White Caps threatened, and time and time again Dynamo defenders stepped in front of shots.  At the 75th minute, Paulo subbed on Memo, Thor, and Ceren for Quintero, Ferreira, and Carrasquilla, and the game settled back down a bit.  Thor had a great chance off an 82nd-minute set-piece that he just mis-hit into the ground, but it still managed to make Hasel dive to get the bouncer off the post. The Dynamo managed one more barrage of blasts in the 90th minute which saw Memo blast a free-kick off the crossbar that just missed the top left corner, which a defender tried to clear but it hit Darwin Ceren and deflected back in play.  The ball found it's way back to Thorinside the box, and he turned fired a left-footer that was saved by Hasal. 

Notables:

Coco Carrasquilla

Had an unbelievable night.  10 recoveries, 3 interceptions, 17 pressures, 236 Yards of progressive distance, 51/51 in targets received, 2 fouls drawn, 71 touches, 54/60 on passing, including 11/14 on deep balls, 1 key pass, and 4 through balls, and 6 passes completed into the attacking third.  He generated 5 shots and was part of both goals. He was all over the field and was instrumental in many of their chances and buildup play.  He and Quintero played off each other all night, and he got the ball to Baird, Fafa, and Sebas in areas where they could do something with it.  Was really nice to see this, and wish he would have been healthy from the get-go.

Darwin Quintero

Did what Darwin does.  63 touches (45 in the attacking third, and 5 inside the penalty box), his two goals don't tell the entire impact he had on the game.  He was breaking lines with the ball at his feet (4/5 in taking on defenders, 104 yards in progressive distance), he was dicing Vancouver up with passes (13 progressive passes completed, 2 key passes, and was trying to force-feed Sebas all night while still dominating the game), and he was actively defending in the attacking third (10 pressures in the attacking third, 5 recoveries.)  I know Darwin can't play 90 minutes a night 34 games a year, but here's to hoping he is making starts and playing 70+ minutes more often than not over the rest of the year.

Griffen Dorsey

Dorsey made a case for himself last night.  Defensively (9 recoveries, 2 tackles, 1 recovery, 2 blocks and an unbelievable goal-line clearance, 100% defending 1v1), Offensively (54/60 passing including 10/13 on deep balls, 4 passes into the attacking third, and 3 through balls completed) and in possession (173 yards covered with the ball at his feet, 43/43 in receiving targets), Dorsey played like a guy fighting for his job and didn't disappoint.  With Zeka still waiting to make his first start, Dorsey made a strong case to keep the job for now.

Sebas

The Dynamo were trying to force-feed Ferreira the ball last night, and the results were mostly disappointing. Not because he didn't score a goal, but because many times he was trying to do too much with it.  He got the ball taken away from him several times inside the box, he took too many touches often and missed open teammates.  He did (accidentally) notch the assist on Darwin's second goal, but he needs to relax and let the game come to him more.  He did manage 3 shots, but all were blocked.   

Corey Baird

It wasn't always pretty, but he got the job done.  Baird did a good job leading the defense, posting 2 tackles in the attacking third, both of which led to chances. He notched an assist on Quintero's goal and linked up with Quintero several times which led to a shot on goal. It wasn't always pretty, he gave the ball away too many times, but it was the most productive performance for Baird in a Dynamo uniform. 

Minor Notes:

  • Teenage Hadebe looked terrible in the minutes he got down the stretch. He mistimed a header badly right before blocking the second shot.
  • Adam Lundkvist also had a very quiet but highly productive night. Lundy had a big block in the first half and turned several Vancouver mistakes into counterattacks.  
  • I love the supporters' sections totally firing up the Orange Smoke.  We need more of it.  PNC should be covered in Orange Fog when tipoff hits. I want 360° of Orange hell when our starting 11 walks on the field.
  • The Dynamo now rank 1st in MLS in passing success rate (85.3%, slightly ahead of LAG) after ranking last for most of last season.
  • The Dynamo held 58.7% possession last night and now rank 11th in MLS with 54% on the season.
  • On the night of firsts: First Win, First Goal, Nagamura's first win as an MLS manager, First start for Quintero, First Start for Carrasquilla, the first appearance for Hadebe on the year, and first goal or assist for both Baird and Sebas in a Dynamo uniform. There's probably more, but those are just off the top of my head.

Next Up

Saturday, March 19th @ 7:30
PNC Stadium


Thanks again for reading, feel free to drop a comment.
Remember to #HoldItDown and stay #ForeverOrange
Brian

at
Labels: , , , ,

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)