Player Ratings: Houston Dynamo vs. the Vancouver Whitecaps

The Houston Dynamo were a little disappointed to not come away with three points after Mauro Manotas’s 90^th minute goal that put them up 2-1 on the road against the Vancouver Whitecaps. The goal was fortunate as the Whitecaps had looked the dominant team for most of the second half and it looked like the Dynamo would be able to steal one. Unfortunately poor set piece defense led to a stoppage time equalizer for the Whitecaps, but the result overall was probably one most fans would be satisfied with considering how many chances Vancouver had leading up to the final whistle.

The Top Performers:

Joe Willis, Man of the Match, (7.8) – Joe Willis was once again the man in goal for Wilmer Cabrera and although he only recorded three official saves, he was a very big reason the Dynamo walked out of BC Place with a road point. It’s debatable whether or not Willis could have saved the first goal, but I’d place more of the fault on the team being caught napping on a set piece which left Kendall Waston open to make the initial cross in.

Tomás Martínez (7.6) – Martínez was the game’s opening scorer and he did so in style. After Oscar Boniek García played a very nice ball to Alberth Elis from deep, Elis slotted a ball to Martínez who somehow was left open against a Vancouver side that had sat deep up until this point. Martínez took one touch and beat goalkeeper Brian Rowe in the lower left corner of the goal.

Alberth Elis (7.5) – The past few games it had been the Romell Quioto show with Quioto dominating opponents while setting up himself and teammates for goals. Against Vancouver it looked like the game plan was to go through Elis as he saw a lot more of the ball. Elis would be the one to set up Martínez for the opening goal and when Cabrera took Elis off the team lost one of its best attacking players.

Head Coach Wilmer Cabrera (4) – I don’t know how many times I’ll have to say it, but this team is not good at sitting back on leads. Vancouver nearly had several goals, but Joe Willis and some of our defenders bailed us out. The use of subs was confusing as he took off Martínez and Elis with nearly 20 minutes left in the game – two players who are supposed to be a big part of the identity of this team. They also were playing pretty well and when they were taken off Vancouver really began to increase their number of chances on goal.

The Rest of the Starters:

DEF: Andrew Wenger (6.7)

DEF: Leonardo (4.3)

DEF: Alejandro Fuenmayor (6.4)

DEF: Adolfo Machado (4.8)

MID: Darwin Cerén (5.5)

MID: Eric Alexander (5.7)

FW: Romell Quioto (7.3)

FW: Mauro Manotas (7.3)

The Subs:

MID: Oscar Boniek García (6.2)

MID: Luis Gil (4.9)

FW: Arturo Álvarez (4.8)