Dynamo vs Real Salt Lake - Player Ratings

After each game we’ll be handing out player ratings on a 1-10 scale. Sunday night’s 0-0 draw with Real Salt Lake didn’t have a lot to remember but there were some solid performances from the Houston Dynamo players. All stats referenced are from fbref.

Starters

Steve Clark – 7

Real Salt Lake had two shots on target and Clark made saves on both. His distribution was solid as well, either throwing out quickly to the fullbacks or connecting on all four of his launched (longer than 40 yard) passes.

Adam Lundkvist – 8

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Lundkvist was arguably the best player on the field for the Dynamo Sunday night. The Swede had two shots on goal, in one play, and had 7 of Houston’s 12 blocks in the game.

Tim Parker – 7

The captain had one of his best games in orange on Sunday. Parker led the team with 118 touches and 108 passes to go along with two interceptions and six clearances.

Daniel Steres – 6

Filling in for Teenage Hadebe, Steres had a decent game on the backline helping to contribute to the clean sheet. Steres was second on the team to Parker with 108 touches but was also shown a yellow card.

Griffin Dorsey – 4

Dorsey came off at halftime with what looked like a slight injury. He had some good runs down the right side into the attacking half but no real meaningful contributions overall.

Matias Vera – 6

The Argentine did what he does in the middle of the field. Vera led the team with four tackles and completed 88 percent of his passes to help move the play along. Vera isn’t flashy but he does the job most nights.

Darwin Ceren – 4

Ceren also came off at halftime, with the defensive midfield set up not working. He just didn’t do much defensively or offensively against RSL.

Memo Rodriguez – 5

Memo had a rough night passing, completing just 34 of his 53 attempts and came off for Darwin Quintero in the second half. The Dynamo are going to need more from their homegrown to help drive the attack.

Fafa Picault – 7

He didn’t score but Fafa was a pest for 90 minutes. Picault completed three of his four dribble attempts and got off three shots. His 0.2 xG was highest on the team (yeah, I know) and he even got a late yellow card to wrap up his evening.

Corey Baird – 4

After 80 minutes on the wing, you can look back at Baird’s performance as, not great. He had just 18 carries and was unsuccessful on his four dribble attempts. The Dynamo are going to need more out of the wing this season.

Sebastian Ferreira – 5

The man on an island. Good strikers need service and Ferreira didn’t get any on Sunday night. He had zero touches in the RSL box and attempted no shots. This isn’t all on Sebas, because of the supporting cast, so I won’t ding him too badly.

Subs

Darwin Quintero – 6

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The Scientist of Goals nearly created a moment of magic, smashing the crossbar from well outside the box to nearly win the game. Darwin had too many misplays where he gave the ball away or had poor touches, so he is going to need to clean that area of his game up.

Adalberto Carrasquilla – 6

Coco came on at halftime and controlled the ball well. He had almost no defensive actions but helped on the offensive end with four progressive passes and four progressive carries.

Zarek Valentin – 6

Valentin and Dorsey each played a half, keeping up their audition for the right back job (until Zeca arrives?) Zarek had a tackle and an interception to go with some solid passing numbers and two crosses.

Thor Ulfarsson – N/A

The Dynamo’s first round pick made his Major League Soccer debut in a ten-minute cameo. We’ll need to see more out of him before we can really judge him.