Houston Dynamo 2, LA Galaxy 2: 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 is an encouraging result even though a late equalizer by the Galaxy took the joy out of this game. The team has generally shown growth in their form on the road. A draw at FC Dallas, a narrow loss in Seattle, a win in the US Open Cup at North Carolina FC, and now a draw at the LA Galaxy is better from the Houston Dynamo. Of course, the Dynamo played better and deserved a win, but a road point and the satisfaction knowing that the home team won controversially after being outplayed is something.

2) The Dynamo on the road are typically conservative with their passing as they try to avoid risky or inaccurate passes to prevent turnovers and they often sit behind the ball and don’t support the forwards in fear of counter attacks. This was not that team. They were looking to unleash Alberth Elis and Romell Quioto on the counter with an over the top pass, they were pressuring defenders, and players were getting up the field to get involved in the offense. They switched off for about the first 10 minutes or so of the second half, but found themselves again. Some of that could be attributed to the double substitution at halftime with Elis and Oscar Boniek Garcia both coming in cold. Despite the disappointing result, knowing this team can play near their level at home is very good news.

3) I generally don’t like to bring up officiating because sometimes we benefit from inaccurate calls and sometimes we get hurt by poor decisions. It happens. For instance Tyler Deric probably got away with handling the ball outside the box. Even judging plays to the letter of the laws of the game can be an interpretation so I get that it isn’t easy and fans are often far too tough on referees. That being said I still don’t understand 6 minutes of stoppage time and I think that the late controversial equalizer by LA should have been spotted as an offside goal. The goal looked close in real time, but the AR should have ruled it offside. Maybe he couldn’t tell. But 6 minutes of added time with the equalizer scored in the 4^th? I just don’t know what to think about that.

4) Although the defense gave up 2 goals, one of which was offside, the defense looked pretty up to the task. The Galaxy’s first goal caught the Dynamo flat footed and were beaten with speed. This is the kind of goal that their system allows for because they have players higher up the field trying to score. Overall though they were pretty organized.

Rate the Players: