Player Ratings: Houston Dynamo vs. Minnesota United FC

The Houston Dynamo have not always looked completely in control of their destiny to return to the postseason, but they took a step forward with a commanding 3-0 win over the visiting Minnesota United FC this past weekend. The team now sits just one point outside the final playoff spot with plenty of season left to make up ground. In the 3-0 win Houston were convincing on both sides of the ball controlling the game on the offensive side while limiting the Loons on the other end.

Overall the player ratings averaged well although I would have had Joe Willis perhaps outside the top performers list due to the lack of pressure by MNUFC.

The Top Performers:

Philippe Senderos, Man of the Match, (9) – It was as complete a performance you could want from a center back who was able to collect two goals. Senderos has been a great influence on the defense since returning from his injury and has partnered well with Alejandro Fuenmayor in the center of the back line. Senderos provides quality distribution from the back that can quickly start counter attacks and he isn’t afraid to back down from a physical challenge.

Joe Willis (8.4) – While I would not have selected Joe Willis to be in the top performers section this week, I do think he had a quality performance. The primary reason I wouldn’t put him here is the midfielders and defenders did a great job of limiting the chances on goal. That being said he made an outstanding save against Christian Ramirez in the 8^th minute. Ramirez, who may have been in an offside position, was close to being 1v1 with Willis, but the #1 choice in goal for the Dynamo was able to make the save anyways to keep the score level early on.

Alberth Elis (7.6) – A common Man of the Match for Houston this season, Elis was very active on the offensive side of the ball as usual against the Loons. He scored the final goal of the match while also providing an assist to Senderos. Apart from those feats, his passing looked improved as he wasn’t far off from a 90% accuracy rating which is very good for an attacking player. Not everything came together for Elis whose touch at times betrayed him, but his natural speed and vision towards goal were on display again.

Head Coach Wilmer Cabrera (7.4) – It’s hard to judge how much of this performance should be based on Cabrera’s players playing well, the opponent not playing well, and Cabrera’s coaching, but we’ve seen this Dynamo team take leads and lose them. That was not the case this time with the Dynamo looking hungry for more goals throughout the 90 minutes and when that happens the team usually is successful. I’ll also give the defense plenty of credit which looked composed at disrupting the few chances MNUFC had and part of that has to do with Darwin Cerén making his return to the starting lineup as a central defensive midfielder.

The Crossbar (4.9) – I put this rating out to see how people would judge the crossbar that denied both Adam Lundqvist and Tomás Martínez and I think the rating is too high.

The Rest of the Starters:

DEF: DaMarcus Beasley (7.3)

DEF: Alejandro Fuenmayor (7.6)

DEF: Adolfo Machado (7)

MID: Darwin Cerén (7.1)

MID: Eric Alexander (6.2)

MID: Tomás Martínez (7.3)

FW: Romell Quioto (7.6)

FW: Mauro Manotas (6.4)

The Subs:

MID: Adam Lundqvist (7.3)

FW: Oscar Boniek García (7.3)

FW: Memo Rodríguez (6.4)