Stealing a point - Dynamo 1:1 Rapids

 

What a beautiful night it was at PNC.  The weather was terrific (70 degrees at kickoff), the crowd was fairly large (17,007 reported) and rowdy, and the Dynamo managed to eke out a point in the closing minutes of the game.  In a tough, hard-fought battle with lots to talk about the Dynamo managed to play toe-to-toe with one of the Western Conference's better teams.  It wasn't always pretty, and it didn't result in 3 points, but in the end, it was a workman-like performance that managed to do just enough.  

The starting 11 saw only one change from the previous game against Vancouver.  Teenage Hadebe got the nod over Tim Parker for his first start of the season.  Steve Clark, Daniel Steres, Adam Lundkvist, Griffen Dorsey rounded out the backline, with Coco Carrasquilla, Mattias Vera, and Darwin Quintero playing in front of them in the midfield.  Fafa Picault and Corey Baird provided the edge on the attack, with Sebas getting the nod again at striker.  With Colorado having an excellent defense (coming off back to back clean-sheets, returning most of a defense that ranked 2nd in the Western Conference in Goals Allowed in 2021), and having one of the more underrated midfield's in MLS, Colorado does a great job choking off the midfield and making teams play on the edge.  With Speedster's Michael Barrios and Jonathan Lewis at the top, they are always a threat on the counter. Paulo Nagamura's decision to go with a more attacking and creative midfield (over the conservative midfield we saw the first two games) and the more athletic Hadebe in the back was a risk-reward scenario that came out even.  A look at the night, the game, and a few of the highlights.

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

What team is this? Houston Dynamo 3:0 Austin FC

 

I've forgotten what that feels like.

:57 seconds is all it took.  :57 seconds for Griffen Dorsey to chase down a loose ball and bang it in the back of the net.  In a sequence that both jumped on you and seemed to take forever, the Dynamo outworked, outplayed and "out-wanted" Austin's Verde for the entire first half of the game.  Both of the opening goals for La Naranja were about effort and desire.  On this night, Houston just wanted to win. They wanted it worse than Austin did.  While many of the things we saw weren't that much different than what we've seen all year, on this night things actually worked out.  We can give credit to a Darwin Quintero start, we can attribute it to a new formation, but in reality, it just came down to putting the ball on target for once.  Desperate for a win, Tab pulled out some new tricks and the guys on the pitch rewarded him for it.  Whether this is a flash in the pan, luck, or a result from putting the right guys together, hopefully, we see more of this down the stretch.

The game opened with the Dynamo in possession.  It didn't take long to notice that Tab had them in a 4-2-3-1 with Quintero in the #10.  It also didn't long for Tab's side to go right after Austin FC:

• :10 seconds in - Adam Lundqvist turns the corner on the left flank and draws a foul.
• :36 seconds in - after a quick switch by Teenage Hadebe, Lundqvist goes directly at Pochettino again, winning a throw-in in the final third.
• :40 seconds in - Lundqvist finds Darwin Quintero in the middle of the box, Quintero wriggles in between two Austin FC defenders, fires a shot on target, Brad Stuver makes a tremendous save. Quintero nutmegged 2 AFC defenders on the play in an unbelievable effort in tight space.

:57 seconds in - Griffen Dorsey outruns the entire Austin FC defense, and despite being in the worse position to get the second ball, not only wins it but blasts one on target.  Stuver gets in position to save it, but instead knocks it into the corner netting.

It was a simply awesome start to the game.  We've seen this before (Coco Carasquilla vs. Minnesota), but with Austin FC's struggling attack you had to believe there was a real chance we could finish this game off.  Austin FC fired a warning shot in the 13th minute, which was from about 25 yards out and off to the left, but it was the first threatening possession Verde had.  Lundqvist immediately went back to work, completely turning Pochetino around before getting taken down hard and drawing a Yellow on the run.  Lundqvist was directly going after Austin's right flank early in this game, which was opening up Fafa and Quintero in the middle.  That's when things really opened up.  With Austin FC trying to build an attack and pushing numbers forward, Joe Corona managed to just knock a ball loose at midfield.  Teenage Hadebe one-touch blasted it deep downfield directly in between defenders Hector Jimenez and Julio Cascante.  Fafa Picault took off, and while his speed is what led to the goal, it was really just his effort.  Cascante took a lazy path to the ball, and instead of getting there and blasting it away, he tried to control it.  Cascante took a horrible touch and Fafa raced past him and took it directly off his foot.  It was really nice to see Fafa calmly split the two defenders and just punch it past a diving Stuver as many times this year he's been in this situation and tried to take extra touches or do too much with it.  It was simple, poised execution after a great effort play and it put the Dynamo up 2:0 twenty-four minutes into the game.

Austin spent much of the rest of the half holding possession, occasionally finding ways through, and every time they did they ran into Teenage Hadebe.  Hadebe made several sliding tackles inside the box that shut down Austin attacks.  The Dynamo were playing extremely compact, extremely organized, and weren't letting anything come easy for Austin.  Every time Austin seemed to find space for a shot, there was an Orange shirt in front of it.  4 of the 6 shots Verde had in the first half were blocked by Dynamo defenders, and Michael Nelson went into the half protecting a clean sheet without even making a save.  The backline did exactly what it's needed to do all season: Keep Nelson clean.  The second goal had also allowed the Dynamo to relax and pack in on defense.  In almost every game this year the Dynamo have had to chase a second goal.  Pressing high and chasing balls all over the field for most of the first half, combined with the ridiculous heat and humidity inside BBVA has usually lead to us being worn out by half-time.  The second goal let us back off and pack in early in the game, and save legs for the second half.  

The second half saw a continuation of this theme: The Dynamo packing in and allowing Austin to hold the ball with their backline.  With Austin trying to build attacks and find cracks in the midfield, but the defense was particularly stingy in this game. Making 2 substitutions coming out for the second half to freshen up the midfield, Josh Wolff's team opened the second half with possession.  The Dynamo extended their defense just enough to not let Austin FC play between lines and force them to place accurate deep balls down the sideline. No matter where Austin passed the Dynamo defense was set and waiting. After a couple of dangerous AFC crosses into the box that found no one on the other end, Austin FC seemed to catch a break as Jimenez punched one downfield and found a streaking Cecilio Dominguez one v. one with Teenage.  Teenage not only chase him down and made a tremendous diving tackle with his back heel, he then popped the ball up to himself and fired a left-footed pass 35 yards downfield on the money to Joe Corona.  Corona corralled it, turned, and fired an excellent weighted ball to Fafa streaking down the left flank.  Fafa took one big touch, cut back inside, and fired a shot to the back post that Stuver barely got his fingertips on.  At the 52nd minute mark, Austin FC fired their first shot on target of the game.  Wade was sitting next to me screaming to pick up the man in the middle of the pitch just as they found him.  Alexander Ring, who had been very quiet up to this point, fired a perfect shot to the back post upper ninety that found a stretched-out Nelson's right hand.  The ensuing corner found a wide-open Pochetino at the back post, who slipped and had the ball bounce off his face out of bounds for a goal kick.  It seemed to be a sure-fire goal, and the Dynamo were extremely fortunate.  The game somewhat bogged down for the next ten minutes as the teams traded punches at midfield.  After Griffen Dorsey found Memo on a really nice chip pass into the teeth of Austin's backline (on a shot that went wide), Sebastian Berhalter blasted a pass downfield to a streaking Rodney Redes. Redes raced past Lundqvist and placed a perfect low cross into Dominguez who had Tim Parker beat and Michael Nelson dead to rights.  Nelson managed to knock it away, and after a deflection off the crossbar, Hadebe chased it down inside the six-yard box, turned, and fired a 40 pass downfield to Fafa.  Fafa held off his defender, let it bounce past both of them, then turned and it was off to the races.  With a numbers advantage and Urruti (middle of the field) and Memo (back post) making runs, there was a multitude of options available. Urruti looped to the outside, Fafa cut back inside, and got the ball on his right foot.  He placed it perfectly in the back-post corner and the Dynamo went up 3:0.  The fact that a team with 33% possession managed to put up 17 shots (7 on target) while holding the other team to only two shots on target the entire game was a testament to how efficient we were last night.

BBVA exploded, and so did the guys on the field.  Hadebe sprinted to the sideline just to give Tab a bear hug soo big he picked him about 3 feet up off the ground.  Hadebe was hugging everyone like we'd just won MLS cup, and you knew at that point the game was over.  If stats from WhoScored.com are right, it was our first counterattacking goal of the season and it was a beauty.  The three points were much needed.  The fanbase has been soo down, soo frustrated, and soo cantankerous that I've gotten off of Dynamo Social Media.  This game gave us a brief glimpse of what this team could do, and gave us a week of relief before we take on Frisco next Saturday.  

Darwin's first start made a difference:

I'll be one of the first to say that Darwin has been disappointing this year.  He's still one of the most accurate shooters we have, and the only person on the squad capable of making dangerous passes into the final third with any sort of regularity.  Despite his struggles this year, his 5.74 shot creating actions/90 minutes greatly outpaces anyone else on the team and would be good for fourth in MLS.  While he has yet to register a goal or assist this year (he's only played 298 minutes), he's made a noticeable difference in the Dynamo attack when he's stepped on the field, especially over the last 3 weeks.  

Darwin has only managed 9 shots the entire season, and 3 of those came last night (all of them were on target).  He looked less frantic and much more relaxed and poised than we've seen him all year, and I'm hoping he can retain this spot for the rest of the year.  Tab and Brad Davis have both said recently that the problem with Darwin all year has been fitness, and it makes me wonder what's the issue's been.  Regardless, it was nice to see him play well last night.

For the Teenage haters out there, what are you watching?

If you wonder how good Teenage Hadebe is, just watch the games, please.  Watch him turn away attackers, watch him shut down dribbles, passing lanes, and areal balls.  Watch him fire left-footed bombs on a dime, and watch him stone an attacker only to turn and fire a laser between the lines. No, we haven't been winning, and no, it's not his fault.   He was ridiculous last night and has been almost all year.  He's been worth every single penny, he's 25, and we have him for 3 more years.  That's a good thing.

Urruti's struggles continue:

Urruti hasn't registered a goal or assist in his last 10 appearances (842 minutes) and has one goal in his last 12 appearances (1,042 minutes).  He hasn't put a shot on target in the last two games (10 shots in total) and four of his last five starts.  He had three really good opportunities last night, and only one of them was particularly close.  His breakaway in the 35th minute after another great Hadebe pass downfield found him one v. one with Nick Lima, he went right-footed, left post, and it went just wide. He's been outscored by Mattias Vera (3 goals) over this span, a player who entered the year with 0 career goals.  While people are constantly saying our defense is a failure, this season would be a different story if Urruti was finding the back of the net or even putting the ball on target with more regularity. His shots/90 (3.54) is the highest mark of his career, while his Efficiency rating (37.3%) is just above his career average and a significant drop off from his mark last year (54.5%).  Urruti had a good run in May and June, scoring 5 goals in 7 games, but has yet to find the back of the net since June 26th. Not only is he not scoring, but he's also not finding teammates either.  His 1 assist in 1700 minutes is also far off his mark as a regular starter.  Urruti has worked really hard this year, he's not afraid to press or trackback, and in no way can anyone question his effort.  He just needs to be much more efficient and composed on the ball.  

We are undefeated when:

Darwin starts, there are remnants of an NCAA game left on the field, it's low 80's at kickoff, and Fafa scores a brace.  If we can just make these things happen all year, we win out (sarcasm, relax Dynamo grumps.)

Final Thoughts:

There was a lot to take away from last night.  I found it weird that it seemed soo packed getting into the game, and the concourse seemed soo busy, yet it was a mostly empty stadium.  It was also somewhat embarrassing that Austin seemed to bring more fans than we did and their supporters section drowned out our entire crowd, even when they were down 3:0.  It honestly makes me a little jealous that we don't have a following like that in our own city.  Austin is a new club and has already built a fanbase that greatly surpasses ours.  I know how hard things have been here lately, but either we support this team or we don't.  We need more people to jump on the bus. With all the negativity on Dynamo Social media, our Supporters groups threatening each other on Twitter, the Jordan out crew, and the bag over their head wearers, at some point we just have to get together and actually support this team and this city. I know I'm a different kind of guy, but I'll show up and cheer regardless of who owns this team, who sits in the GM chair, or how good/bad they are on the field.  They're my team, they'll always be my team, and I could care less about every other team in all of the American continents and all except one in Europe.  Ted Segal's greatest challenge is building an actual fanbase. There were good crowds right after he bought the team that just disappeared. I'm hoping this city comes through.

There were some nice touches again last night.  I loved turning the field orange, that was pretty great.  Hopefully, we show out for FC Frisco this weekend.  There'll be plenty of Frisco Fakes in the stadium again, and it'd be nice to have a derby feel, and maybe the guys have put something in motion here.

Thanks again for reading,

#HoldItDown and remember to stay #ForeverOrange
Brian

International Break:Teenage Hadebe, and roster drama; The Dynamo need this week off.

 

After an up and down first 8 games to the season in which the Dynamo have played a fairly difficult schedule, they finally get a much-needed break.  There were some really good performances, a couple of really bad performances, and a few that made us go......"meh".  Tim Parker, Fafa Picault, Maxi Urruti, Joe Corona, and Tyler Pasher have proven to be good additions to the squad, we've seen some experimentation that has helped (Boniek at Central Defense) and some that didn't (the 3-4-3 against Colorado, Memo playing large chunks at the wing), and some moves that have us scratching our heads (the constant appearances by Lassiter, the disappearance of Darwin Quintero, There are a few items of business that Tab and his crew need to take care of over the break, we'll take a look at those and Teenage Hadebe in this week's blog post.

Teenage Hadebe (Rumor) could give us a dynamic backline.

Depending on which report you read, Hadebe is between 5'11 and 6'1'.  He's long, he's rangy, he has good feet, and is a tuff & aggressive defender.  He plays balls in the air well, and he does a really good job playing angles.  He could help at both CB and LB, and has been battle-tested against some really good clubs.  He started in the 3-0 win over Fenerbahce, started at LB versus Galatasary in a 0-1 loss, started at CB vs. Besiktas in a 0-1 loss, and started again against Galatasary in a 1-3 loss.  Yeni Malatyspor isn't a Turkish League powerhouse, their a lower table team in a decent league.  But those three teams are quality teams and he went the full 90 against Champions League and Europa League qualifiers.  He's a left-footed left Center Back, which we could definitely use.  The only one we currently have is Maynor Figueroa, and he's 38.  We'll see what happens when the transfer window opens there, while I'm interested in how this develops, we've been down this road before.  The transfer is reported to be about 1.8 Million, which makes me highly doubt the move will actually happen.

The most intriguing part about this rumor (and I'm not giving it any serious consideration until I see it happen) is that it tells me they've already decided Ethan Bartlow can't play.  Why make this move is Ethan Bartlow was the guy they think he is?  Hadebe is only 25, it's not like he'd be a stopgap.  So if this move actually happens it would likely mean we missed on a high draft pick and have no plans to develop him here.  I think we all know that Alejandro Fuenmayor isn't in any future plans and we need to find a way to move him.  This could all be wrong and just a transfer rumor, but we aren't involved in these very often and so I have to speculate we at least made a call to see what it would take to get him. 

The Dynamo really need Tyler Pasher to get healthy:

Pasher adds depth and a dimension to the attack which just can't be replicated without him.  Memo doesn't have the speed or playmaking ability, and Ariel Lassiter doesn't have the skill.  Pasher helps get the ball forward, whether he's the one doing it or not.  Tyler can actually take defenders on and get past them, something that Memo really struggles with (only 20 attempts in 8 games, with a team-low 40% success rate) and something Lassiter seems incapable of (0/3 on 81 touches).  Fafa has really improved in this area over the last few games, but the guys playing on the other wing are adding nothing.  The only way Tab has been able to get production out of both wings in the last few games is to switch Fafa sides.  Bajamich has actually done really well in his limited minutes (and I believe needs more time), but to keep teams honest Pasher is our best option.  He's an important cog in this machine.  The Dynamo have the 5th most attempts at taking defenders on in the league (141) and the 5th lowest success rate (54.6%).  Derrick Jones is actually fairly solid at this (68.8%), and of the midfield, he's by far the best (Joe Corona - 47%, Matias Vera only has 8 attempts in 7 games, at 50% success) but we need a wing player that can stretch the defense and open gaps up the middle.  Tyler (opposite Fafa) is the best option we have.  He's not going to post enormous stats, but he makes plays and does his job. There's no secret to that.

Dear Parker, Maric, Fafa, and Urruti don't get off the couch.

They've played a ton of heavy minutes, Tab basically has no options off the bench at these positions, and we need them to be as healthy as possible.  Wrap yourself in bubble wrap, prop your feet up, and crank out some binge-watching on Netflix.  Hit the cryo chamber and take a few ice baths.  Freshen those legs up and get ready for the next stretch.  I actually think that Parker should have replaced Aaron Long for the Nation's League roster.  I'd take him over Tim Ream or Mark McKenzie at this point, but I'm also glad that he's able to keep those legs fresh and possibly hang out with Woody a little bit. I don't really like Maynor and Boniek playing in these games, but of the two I'm glad Boniek wasn't in the starting 11 (selfishly) against USMNT.  While we actually have some depth in the midfield, the front and back lines are currently paper thin and as we can see with Pasher going down one injury can throw large kinks in our lineup.  Parker has been extremely reliable on the backline, he's helped transform this defense and is constantly in the right place at the right time.  While Boniek has done an admirable job back there this year, Parker doesn't have a reliable partner much less a backup.  He's completely irreplaceable.  Fafa has been the biggest threat going forward almost all year, and with Pasher out the only threat we have at the counter-attack.  Not only that, the work rate of both he and Urruti has led to the positive showings in the early going.  Fafa and Urruti are covering the entire field.  It's fairly regularly you see Fafa knocking away crosses into Maric's area, or Urruti tracking back to chase down oposing attacks.  Not only is their ability to press high vital towards Tab's tactics, but their willingness to work in the defending third helped secure points in all three games they've won.  That work comes at a cost, especially with the brutal Houston summer coming up.  Every chance we get to rest, we need to take it.

We have a fairly brutal & compressed schedule after the break:

June 19th - @ LAFC

June 23rd - Home vs. Portland Timbers

June 26th - @ Real Salt Lake

July 3rd - Home vs. FC Cincinnati

July 7th - @ Seattle Sounders.

Picking up 8 or more points from this stretch is hugely important to hold our current position in the table, and we'll need every healthy body we have to do it.

Thanks again for reading,

#HoldItDown and stay #ForeverOrange

Brian