Houston Dynamo 2, Vancouver Whitecaps FC 1: Rate the Players and Quick Thoughts

At the beginning of the year I introduced a new way for the Dynamo Theory community to be a part of Player Ratings. After matches everyone will get a chance to submit how each player did on a scale of 1 to 10 which will be averaged out in a later article. These ratings are interesting because we all view how players perform differently. Rating websites like WhoScored.com view things from an analytical perspective, but a statistic, even one as big as a goal, doesn’t quite tell the entire story as some goals are bigger and more important to a game than others. I think seeing how we as a community feel can create fun conversations. Of course, how we feel individually matters as well so please comment about player performances as you wish in the comments.

Quick Thoughts about the Game:

1) This was an interesting game how styles played out for each side. The Houston Dynamo rarely change who they are: a counter attacking team that gets numbers up the field in a hurry often at the expense of possession. The Vancouver Whitecaps really don’t have a quality playmaker like the Portlands or Torontos of MLS which is why they struggled to capitalize on a heavy possession advantage. Where Vancouver did create chances from was on set piece opportunities where they got 1 goal back and had a few other close calls. Both sides ended up playing very physically in order to break up the other side’s momentum. For Vancouver they needed to be rough in order to slow our counter attacks and for Houston we needed to stop plays in our half before they became dangerous.

2) Wilmer Cabrera managed things pretty well as the game went on and we had a 2-0 lead. He made a hybrid 4-4-2/4-3-3 (depending where on the field Alex was) and even got Memo Rodriguez some minutes. Although the Whitecaps got a goal back late in the game, I still think the Dynamo did well to sit a little deeper to protect the lead in the last few minutes (compared to the entire 2^nd half at Portland).

3) The goals were all unique in this game. Romell Quioto received a cross that was actually helped to him by a defender and Quioto floated another ball back to Alberth Elis who used his strength to get between 2 defenders and head home the opening goal of the game. The penalty – and it’s debatable that it was a penalty, was taken by Cubo Torres who has been perfect from the penalty spot this year. His shot sent David Ousted the wrong way and put the Dynamo up 2-0. Vancouver’s goal was actually pretty well defended as Brek Shea muscled his way through Andrew Wenger and Shea used his height advantage to get up and head one back for the Whitecaps. The defense could have been better on the play, but I won’t complain too much given the result.

4) The Dynamo now face a mighty road with 4 out of their next 5 away from BBVA Compass Stadium. Beginning next Wednesday they’ll head to Philadelphia to take on the Union before heading down to Atlanta to play expansion side Atlanta United. Houston has had a largely favorable schedule early in the year as we’ve played most of our games at home and now we need to use our momentum and see how it tests on the road.

Rate the Players: