Houston Dynamo 3, Montreal Impact 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) Even without Romell Quioto and Alberth Elis, the Houston Dynamo were rolling at home amassing 19 shots with 10 on target – 3 of which went in. The team found ways to create opportunities to score from a variety of waves including free kicks, off corners, long shots, efforts around the 6 yard box, and from crossing the ball from wide positions. That’s very impressive and shows that this system works well regardless of personnel. Now start using it on the road Wilmer!

2) Alex stepped up his performance in a big way. The past few outings for the versatile Brazilian have been lukewarm. Oscar Boniek Garcia even began getting additional playing time as a result, but with Boniek away with the Honduran National Team, Alex took charge. Not only did he score a great goal, but his passing was also very good.

3) Mauro Manotas also had a solid outing from the wing as he was able to provide two assists while vastly improving his passing to nearly 90% accuracy. The first assist was a great cross to Andrew Wenger following a short corner. Short corners, which I typically loathe, when done right and look like a drawn up play work very well. This was one of those and it obviously was successful and caught Montreal flat footed. Mauro’s second assist found him coming into the center of the field with Alex rushing inside as well. Mauro picked him out perfectly and Alex took a few touches onto his left foot and put the Dynamo up 2-0.

4) Wilmer Cabrera’s decision to give significant minutes to his younger players was a great move. Of course the starters afforded him that luxury by going up 2-0, but Cabrera put trust in his players to win out the game. Memo Rodriguez returned the favor by blasting a goal from the top of the box to give the Dynamo a 3-0 lead. Jose Escalante saw some playing time with Joseph Holland making a brief cameo. It’s too bad the Dynamo couldn’t get the clean sheet, but it’s still good for the young players to see time with the first team.

Rate the Players: