Houston Dynamo Player Ratings vs. the Vancouver Whitecaps

With the 2-1 win over the Vancouver Whitecaps, the Houston Dynamo jumped to the top of the Western Conference and maintained their unbeaten run at home. Coming into the match, Vancouver had been a team hoping to improve its position on the Western Conference table with points at BBVA Compass Stadium. They had recently taken 3 points at Montreal and at Colorado, but they were unable to come away with a draw or win despite a late push towards the end of the game. The Dynamo on the other hand played their brand and were able to get the win thanks to goals from Alberth Elis and Cubo Torres.

While I largely agree with how the community voted, I think Ricardo Clark deserves to be among the top 5 best players for the Dynamo in this game. His 3 blocked shots and ability to pick out passes really helped this midfield both defend and connect with the offense. It’s also a little surprising to give the Man of the Match/have the highest voted player someone that came off in the 31^st minute, but he did score a nice goal.

The Top Performers:

Alberth Elis, Man of the Match, (8.4) – I’m not so sure Elis deserves to be Man of the Match and I’m not certain he should be in the top 3. Top 4 or 5 without a doubt, but 3? In the 31 minutes played by Elis he managed 3 passes total, 2 of which were completed, he didn’t contribute defensively, and he had just 1 shot which went in. This is pretty much what we expect from Elis. He likes to hold the ball and go at opponents, which is generally pretty successful, and he won’t defend because he’s needed to spring the counter attack. His goal showed us a lot of his strength as he jumped up and got to the ball through 2 defenders as he headed it into the back of the net. In summary, Elis was good, but I’m not sure he did enough other than score to be the top pick.

Romell Quioto (8.3) – The offense seems to work a lot better when Quioto is on the field. He provides technique, speed, and vision on the left side of the field which balances well with Alberth Elis on the right. Quioto took a beating in this game as he was forced off the ball and knocked around several times which likely led to his early exit in the 2^nd half. Quioto provided the assist to Elis and he nearly had another as he sent in a low cross to Mauro Manotas who buried the shot into the ground which bounced over the top of the goal. He did it from nearly point blank range too, it was a spectacular miss.

Alex Lima (8.3) – Alex continues to demonstrate his value as the versatile player that he is. Lined up as a left midfielder/left central midfielder, Alex’s true role is much more undefined. He does it all as he often carries the ball up with him, he defends well, passes the ball well in scoring areas, and likes to go for goal himself. Against Vancouver he provided 4 key passes which nearly led to scoring chances. Late in the game his role changed into a hybrid wide midfielder/forward which allowed the Dynamo to shift between a 4-4-2 and 4-3-3. This helped the Dynamo close out the game and take 3 points.

Head Coach Wilmer Cabrera (7.6) – Coach Cabrera opted to start Mauro Manotas over Cubo Torres to start the game which made sense: Manotas just had one of the best games of his career as he had 2 goals and an assist against Orlando City, and Cubo was returning from a concussion. Cabrera’s strategy largely worked against Vancouver. Attack fast and defend physically. I was also very impressed with his use of subs in the game which helped close things out well for the Dynamo. He took off Quioto fairly early, who had been fouled and knocked around often, to put on the defensive minded forward Andrew Wenger. Putting on Memo Rodriguez late in the game for Mauro Manotas also got another player behind the ball to defend the lead.

The Rest of the Starters:

GK: Joe Willis (7.5)

DEF: DaMarcus Beasley (7.4)

DEF: Leonardo (7.5)

DEF: Adolfo Machado (7.7)

DEF: A. J. DeLaGarza (7.3)

MID: Juan David Cabezas (7.6)

MID: Ricardo Clark (6.7)

FW: Mauro Manotas (6.9)

The Subs:

FW: Erick “Cubo” Torres (6.9)

FW: Andrew Wenger (6.2)

MID: Memo Rodriguez (6.1)