Bring on the Smoke:
Right away you could see the two opposing styles begin to take place, with the Dynamo trying to hold possession, play deep and control the lines and Colorado coming out with setting in a mid-block defense, pressing the midfield, and looking to play the ball deep down the sidelines. Houston almost broke through early, after a decent buildup down the left side, Quintero found Baird just in behind the defense. Baird chipped in a fairly decent cross but Lalas Abubakar was the only one on the other end of it. Time and time again in the first ten minutes of the game, Houston gobbled up deep passes by the Rapids, built up play through nice combination work, and then lobbed a fruitless pass into the box. Colorado's backline of Aaron Trusty, Danny Wilson, and Lalas Abubakar was making anything into the box almost impossible to connect on. Fafa, Baird, and Dorsey all had crosses that went through the box without even a threat on the other end. Colorado in turn saw Barrios and Rosenberry both had crosses sail through the 6-yard box that had no one on the end of. At the 10:00 mark, Colorado nearly broke through. A terrific deep ball by Abubakar found Keegan Rosenberry in perfect stride. Rosenberry hit a perfect volley to Jonathan Lewis inside the box. Lewis cut back to his right foot and hit a nice strike that Clark managed to deflect away for a corner. Colorado dominated possession for much of the first 20 minutes, as the Dynamo set deep to look to protect. Barrios made a dangerous run tucked in behind Rubio at the 11:00 mark, only to see the ball be a step too long.
The first 15 minutes also saw Thor loosening up in a hurry, and it seemed like Sebas was going to take a very early seat. I never heard an explanation and they didn't mention it on the broadcast, but Ferreira wasn't moving very quick out there and had taken several awful touches just losing the ball. The game bogged down a tad from minutes 15-30, with Michael Barrios' right-footed blast off a nice turn in the penalty circle being really the only clear chance by either team. Michael Barrios fired another laser across goal that was just nicked away by Steres at the last second. Daniel Trusty flattened Fafa Picault on a run down the right sideline moments later, earning a yellow.
At the 40th minute mark, Colorado broke through. Seeing it live, we couldn't see how Mark Anthony-Kaye was unmarked at the back post for a sitter. Adam Lundkvist, Darwin Quintero, and Steve Clark were pleading their case to Nima Saghafi, and I thought it deserved another look to see if Kaye was off on the kick. End of the day Danny Wilson did a great job getting between Clark and the ball, and Griffen Dorsey lost Anthony-Kaye for a split second, allowing him to get the tap in. Colorado won the first half, earning 4 corners and firing off 6 shots to Houston's 3 (0 on target). They were definitely the most dangerous of the two teams. The Dynamo didn't have a decent crack at the goal and Yarbrough made it through the first 45 minutes of play without having to make a single save. Coming out of the half, when asked by Dany Rodriguez how to fix it, Paulo Nagamura said: "Stop giving the ball away at the middle of the field, as simple as that."
The Second half was a different story:
While there wasn't a big tactical change, the Dynamo came out playing much more "quick" in the second half. Lundkvist played a long ball into Fafa Picault on a sprint, Trusty was there to head it away, but Quintero nearly picked up the second ball inside the box. Although still sitting in a mid/deep-block, the midfield was playing faster and spraying the ball to the Center Backs or to Lundkvist on 1-2 touches. 3-minutes in, Carrasquilla took a pass from Lundkvist, pivoted, and fired a diagonal to Corey Baird about 20 yards out with Lundkvist looping down the left flank. Baird fired in a perfect cross to Sebas, who missed the ball with his head and it went off the back of his shoulder over the goal. Carrasquilla won a found a minute later, and at the 53-minute mark, Quintero dribbled through almost the entire Rapids defense, only to have it knocked away by Danny Wilson right in front of the goal. Colorado set in deeper, playing 5 across the back, bottling up both Quintero and Ferreira. The Dynamo just couldn't find that final pass for much of the second half but began finding cracks in the Rapid's fortified defenses and dominated the run of play for the better part of 20 minutes.
-59th Minute: Darwin Quintero gets knocked down (and commits a total handball that the refs missed), gets up, tracks the ball down, and fires a lofted through ball to Baird on a dime. Baird misplays the touch, and the ball gets knocked away.
-60th Minute: Thor makes a nice run down the left side, fires one across the box that is cleared by Wilson.
-63rd Minute: Baird wins a free-kick just outside the box. Quintero fires it into the wall. Baird tracks down the ball finds Lundkvist who fires a cross a foot too high for Fafa.
-65th Minute: after some deliberate buildup, Teenage fires a 40 yard pass on a rope to Thor. Thor takes a quick touch turn and fires a shot right at Yarbrough.
-69th Minute: Coco makes a nice 20-yard pass to Thor, who controls it and squares it back to a trailing Baird, Colorado manages to recover and the Dynamo win a throw in. On the throw-in, Coco one touches a pass to Quintero who fires a shot just high (Pasher and Zeka come on).
-71st Minute: Dorsey lobs a beautiful ball over the top to Vera, who heads it to Quintero inside the right side of the box, Quintero fires it wide right.
-75th Minute: After some slow buildup, the ball finds Zeka on the right side. Zeka fires in a cross which finds Thor's head, but Thor doesn't get enough of his head on the ball and it scoots wide left.
-75th Minute: The Rapids finally hit on a counter. After Tyler Pasher stumbles taking on 3 defenders and gives the ball away on the right side, Rubio finds Center Back Aaron Trusty on a beautiful run in between Steres and Hadebe, and behind Coco who is flying down the center of the pitch. Trusty is 1v1 with Steve Clark, but Clark reads it perfectly and takes the ball off Trusty's foot. The ball deflects away and Steres knocks it out of bounds.
-76th Minute: After a nice interception, Teenage brings the ball forward all the way into the attacking third and lays one off to Fafa. Fafa hits a cross, but it's blocked by the nearest defender.
-80th Minute: Quintero takes the ball away from Shinyashiki, taps it to Pasher, who combos it to a streaking Vera. Vera just looses his footing and the ball gets knocked out to Lundi. Lundkvist fires up the left sideline to Fafa, who drills in a cross for Thor that goes all the way through to Yarbrough.
-82nd Minute: Zeka chases down a loose ball and fires one up to Pasher. Pasher fires a side footer into the box that also makes it's way to the Rapids' Keeper.
It was at the 84th minute when Nagamura used his final two subs (Memo -> Quintero; Ceren -> Vera) that things turned fortunate. In the 65th Minute I looked at Baird struggling to get up and down the field and told Wade: "We're gassed. We need some fresh legs." You could see some of the guys were really puffing out there, and the transitions were getting slower. Pasher and Thor had turned the game with their energy. Memo and Ceren helped turn the tide. Colorado was struggling to simply get the ball across midfield for most of the second half, and while it was a complete unbelievably bad series of plays by Yarbrough that cost them two points, the energy of the bench made a huge difference in the game. It was a turnover that found it's way to Coco in the 87th minute that set up the series of events. Coco pushed it right down the middle of the field and had his choice of two wide-open teammates to choose from. With Fafa on his left and Thor on his right, Coco hit one about a yard too far out in front of Fafa. The stadium deflated, for about 5 seconds.
What happened next was soo quick, there wasn't much time to process it. Yarbrough lined up the goal-kick, and was watching the ref (while wasting as much time as allowed.) He then fired a pass directly to Memo Rodriguez standing all alone inside the midfield circle. The ball hit Memo right in the chest. 
Memo controlled it, with Pasher, Thor, and Fafa streaking to the goal. Thor's run down the middle drew both Wilson and Trusty. Abubakar stepped up to take Memo, leaving a gaping hole behind him. Memo fired a perfectly weighted ball his right and hit Pasher just in perfect time. Here's where things get really weird. Yarbrough had come up and out of the box. If Memo had hit it a yard further, Yarbrough snags it. Yarbrough can't make a play with his hands, because he's outside the box. When Pasher hits it, Yarbrough knee slides instead of getting wide. Pasher tucked one right past him and into the right side of the goal. 89:09 gone in the game, all the momentum was our way, and I actually though we might be able to sneak another one in.
The place exploded, but you could see the guys were pushing for a second. Steve Clark was yelling and waving the guys to get in place. Memo fired a 91st-minute cross into the box that got deflected and wound up in Yarbrough's lap. Colorado wasn't done yet either, however, as seconds later Jack Price squared one to a wide-open Bryan Acosta who fired it yards wide to the left. On the ensuing possession, Thor won a free kick in a dangerous area that Memo hit well but didn't have enough on it to get past Yarbrough. The whistle blew and you had to feel fortunate to get a point, but also a little disappointed we didn't get three. It's not a game we should have won, but it's one that could have gone either way. Landing the point at home was a testament to the team battling back, and stepping up to the challenge of playing a real quality Western Conference team. There's still a lot of room to grow, and a lot of season left, but it was nice to get a point regardless of how it came.
Will Sebas breakthrough?
It's not even about scoring a goal at this point, it's just about putting together a decent performance. Sebas has yet to impress in literally any facet of the game. His combo play has been a little off, his holdup play has been poor (dispossessed 9 times through 4 games, team-high), you can often see him watching the ball when he should be running to space (which he's having trouble finding). You can make a case that he's not getting good service, but you can also see that he's just not finding space to get the service. He doesn't really seem to make runs at all, and he's not using his body to shield off defenders. For most of the last two games, he's actually playing under Quintero instead of vice versa. Of the 7 shots he's managed this year, 1 has been on target and 6 have been blocked. He's also complaining to his teammates a lot and had some words for Paulo when he came off last night. I don't know what it'll take to unlock the guy we saw banging home goals in the pre-season, but Paulo needs to figure it out soon. With Ferreira being called up to Paraguay for World Cup Qualifying, it's a shame they don't have this time to work out some kinks.
Notables:
Teenage Hadebe:
Landed his first start of the season and put in 90 solid minutes. Had three interceptions, 7 recoveries, 8 clearances, was 100% in areal duals and hit 97.8% of his passes. Was stride for stride with Colorado's front line the entire game. He gobbled up Rubio and Lewis a few times and hit Thor on a laser to set up a chance late in the game. Wasn't his best performance, but was a solid one.
Thor:
Came on at 59:40. Played really physical, made several nice runs, a couple of dangerous crosses, and was extremely physical fighting for the ball. The tap and turn shot he took in the 65th minute was a veteran Center Forward type play. Yes, it was right at the keeper, but the touch and body control are something not a lot of guys in this league have.
Tyler Pasher
Only played 19 minutes, and was a little up and down. Had two plays after he first came on that were really rough. His taking on 3 defenders trying to cup back to his left foot led to a counter that should have put Colorado up 2-0. Lost the ball trying to cut back inside in the 77th minute too. But settled down and made a couple of dangerous plays late including the goal. Hit on 10/11 passes and drew a late foul. Oh, and this 👇
🇨🇦💰🐐. Enough Said. #HoldItDown @Typash pic.twitter.com/Eo1ysQh8cT
— Houston Dynamo Memes (@dynamo_memes) March 20, 2022
Memo Rodriguez:
Only chipped in 7 minutes but made the big play that earned the point, Also got the most laughable yellow card I've seen while still on the bench for throwing the ball to his teammate in the corner.
Coco Carrasquilla:
Was really good once again. Picked up 15 recoveries, and 2 tackles and 3 interceptions. Coco hit on 81% of his passes, but was under pressure every time he touched the ball. Had a bit of an up and down first half but adjusted nicely and really took it to Colorado's midfield in the second half on both sides of the ball.
Enjoy the break everyone! Thanks again for reading!
Remember to #HoldItDown and stay #ForeverOrange
Brian
