Somethings old, somethings new: FC Cincinnati 2:1 Houston Dynamo

 

First Off

Nobody can deny that the presentation of MLS on AppleTV is gorgeous.  Besides the fact that for much of the first half it looked like we were wearing tiger stripes on my TV, the game was stunning.  All the content around the games is what this league has needed for decades, and I'm very glad AppleTV has made this happen. Being unable to hear Glenn Davis and Eddie Robinson call the game made my soul hurt, however.  This was one change I didn't want and don't like.  No disrespect to Calen Carr intended, he did a great job.  But Glenn is the voice of the Dynamo to me and always will be.

Enough about that....

Many of us have been eagerly anticipating the opening of the 2023 MLS Season.  This offseason was a season of change for Houston Dynamo F.C.  New Coach, new players, they changed up the front office, they changed up the stadium name.....they even changed up the seats!  They even (if you were paying attention) changed the club motto.  It's not #HoldItDown anymore.  I mean, with what we've seen in the past, we didn't really wanna hold that down anymore anyway.  Slightly, subtly, and probably accidentally, Ben Olsen changed the creed to weave a new mindset among players and fanatics.  #BringTheNasty has been our rallying cry leading up to this game, and will most likely be what we are yelling for every single night for the next 33 Match Days.  On a night that saw some things that looked all too familiar (inability to get Sebas involved, getting trapped in their own half for stretches, bad giveaways in bad spots), and some things that looked new (set pieces!) the game was a mixture of hope and despair that only #ForeverOrange faithful can understand.  The logical side of me says that FC Cincinatti scored two really difficult goals to beat us.  That their a playoff caliber team at home on the opening day of the season.  The #ForeverOrange fan in me says that this team is going to take that losing tradition of most of the last decade and #HoldItDown. Let's take a look at The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly from Match Day 1.

The Good:

Hector Herrera:

Hector played the full 90 minutes and led the Dynamo in....well...virtually everything. 112 touches, 74 passes completed, 13 passes completed into the final third, 12 Crosses into the box, 5 tackles+Int, he was dangerous on set pieces all night, and was all over the midfield.  HH was his usual self going forward: calm on the ball and pinging it all over the place.  He nearly found Ivan Franco on a low cross to level the score (34:50) and had several other dangerous passes into the box.  Placed a stunningly accurate ball on the corner that led to Schmitt's goal.  Defensively he was aggressive and active.  Hector was the highest rated player on the field by virtually every publication.  Was a solid start to the year by him.

The final 65 minutes:

The Dynamo dominated every statistical category over the final 65 minutes.  Even though they played to an even score, that had multiple chances to take a game against a very good opponent on the road. Possession: 65%-35%; Shots: 18-10, Corners won: 7-0; Key Passes: 11-4; Ground Challenges:57%-51%;  Passing Rate: 79%-68%.  While goals decide the outcomes of games, the stats back up what our eyes told us.  The Dynamo were more than equal to the task over much of the game. Although they could never get the second goal, they never stopped chasing it and had many opportunities they just couldn't bring home.   Sebastian Ferriera's only shot of the game (38th minute) was a point-blank left-footed volley that he just couldn't get on top of.  Coco had two tremendous chances, one he also got underneath, and another which took a really nice save by Roman Celentano to stop.  Thor had his first shot of the year come about a nanosecond after he checked in the game. A wide-open back post blast off a set piece just found the foot of an FCC defender and ended up with another corner. Ethan Bartlow had an absolute laser (85th minute) that was saved by Celentano. The Dynamo created tons of chances down the stretch, but as we've come accustomed to seeing, just couldn't find the back of the net.  

Set Piece/Corners

The Dynamo not only had plenty of them, but they also looked dangerous on them.  If anyone out there wonders why we needed HH at all, just watch our set pieces.  Not only is his ball placement and touch top-notch on corners, but his accuracy toward goal on spot kicks is tremendous.  The Dynamo have been abysmal on both of these for years, but yesterday they were much improved both in execution and tactics.

The Bad:

The opening 25 minutes:

The first 25 minutes of the game were rough.  Ben Olsen's crew didn't create a single chance, they were outplayed in virtually every area of the field, and couldn't get the ball across midfield for much of the time.  Due to Cincinnati sitting in a high block, the only available options for much of this time were either Artur (who played it back) or to try to bang a pass downfield to Sebas, Baird, or Franco (which was normally intercepted).  The few times they did break through the attack was too narrow, and nothing came out of it.  Cincinnati was by far the most dangerous team in the first 25 minutes.  Not only did Santos break open the scoring, 25 seconds later Brendan Vasquez almost go another one.  Santiago Arias had a really dangerous run behind not much later.  It wasn't until Coco finally broke through and got a left-footed shot on goal that the Dynamo finally began to figure things out.

Corey Baird:

Baird played 71 minutes and managed to do.......basically nothing.  He was 0/5 on challenges, 0/3 taking defenders on, 0 key passes, 0 Shot Creating Actions, 0 dangerous runs, 0 shots.  Baird had 33 touches on the game, lost 10 of them, and really only managed 1 cross that went directly to Matt Miazga's head.  That cross also happened in the first 10 minutes of the game.  Baird also managed to do nothing defensively, with 0 tackles, 0 interceptions, and the only challenge he went into was a sliding whiff that led to Álvaro Barreal chugging all alone down the left flank. Baird opened the second half with a tremendous chase down of a ball in behind (52:36), but instead of taking his man on decided to make an outside foot pass.....directly to his mark who had dropped off him.  After an encouraging end to last year, he had a very disappointing start to this one.

The inability to get Sebas involved.

35 touches, 2 in the box, 1 really dangerous shot that was blasted high.  That was the night for Sebas.  While the back 5 of Cinci did a good job bottling him up and taking his space away, the no one on the pitch could help him create any space either.  Just to put this in perspective, Ethan Bartlow (2) & Tate Schmitt (4) (two defenders) had more touches inside the attacking penalty area than Sebas did, and so did Thor (3) who only 13 minutes.  Granted, Ivan Franco took advantage of the attention that Sebas was drawing and took a team high 5 shots, but for much of the game Sebas was playing 1v3 with the Cinci backline. 

The Ugly:

The Give Aways.

The Dyanamo had some completely terrible mistakes in the passing game.  Franco Escobar had a terrible pass to Artur directly after Sergio Santos opened the scoring (19:53) that led to a Brandon Vasquez interception and a direct shot that went just wide and to the left.  

Teenage Hadebe (69th minute) had a pass that was picked off by Luciano Acosta which led to a flurry of shots directly in front of goal that the Dynamo back line somehow kept out.  While it was a giveaway, Hadebe put enough on the ball to complete it but Tate Schmitt didn't work back to the ball.  Acosta jumped it and found his way into the box only to have Clark settle it down.  The ball pinballed around for a bit before Barreal found the ball and put a shot directly to Clark. Ethan Bartlow had a lazy pass intercepted by Brandon Vansquez (74th minute) that also led directly to a shot.

It's very fortunate that none of these three led to a goal.  As much as we see that this game could have gone either way, it could have very easily been 4 or 5 to 1 as well. 

Finishing:

It's been the Dynamo's Achilles heel for years.  20 shots, 8 on target, 1 goal.  While Celentano had a good game (saved 7/8 shots), you've got to put more of these on target and more of these past the keeper.  

Final Thoughts:

While I'm not pressing the panic button just yet, there are some concerns.  The backline and midfield really struggled against the press at times, and for long stretches at that.  When they did get the ball to Coco or HH, they looked really dangerous going forward.  There were too many sloppy and lazy turnovers that led to really dangerous things going the other way.  It's hard to really tell how organized they were defensively because some of those turnovers came in areas where they had to scramble hard to recover.  Offensively we saw some of the same issues that have plagued this franchise for years: poor turnovers vs. the press, lack of creativity in the final third, and lack of clinical finishing. I know this is a work in progress and Match Day 1, but there's a corner of my brain that thinks that this team will be just a different version of what we've seen the last 2 years.  That being said, they fought to the final whistle and played with aggression and desperation from whistle to whistle.  

Next Up:

Hopefully Chris Penso doesn't ref this one........

Thank you soo much for reading. Until next time, remember to always #HoldItDown and stay #ForeverOrange,

Brian