Houston Dynamo takes the win in a goal-fest with the San Jose Earthquakes

Houston Dynamo FC hoped to follow up their successful road trip when they bested Inter Miami CF when they returned home to PNC Stadium to take on the San Jose Earthquakes. In a game in which the defense was completely thrown out the window, the Dynamo were able to come up with another win, this time a 4-3 victory over the ‘Quakes.

The early minutes for both sides was played relatively quickly with little build up and a lot of quick passing to try and jump start the offense. The overall possession was a little sloppy with neither team really in rhythm during the first five minutes.

Tyler Pasher, who had gotten the start over Corey Baird, nearly forced an own goal following a throw in. He got free toward the end line and tried to play Fafà Picault a tap in, but it was put out of play by the Earthquakes’ defender for a corner. Following the corner, the Dynamo ran a set play and found Sebastián Ferreira who through traffic beat San Jose goalkeeper JT Marcinkowski to make it 1-0 Houston.

After the early goal for Houston, San Jose began to increase their possession as they pushed higher up the field forcing the Dynamo to defend their lead. Despite the increase in possession in the Dynamo defensive third, the defense and midfield were easily up to the task for reading passes and pushing the Earthquakes’ offense wide making it difficult to create a quality chance on goal.

Following a play where Marcos López was shown a yellow card for simulation, the Earthquakes would get back possession and Cristian Espinoza would pick out Cade Cowell who had entirely too much space on the wing. Cowell got his head up and played a ball towards the middle of the box to Jeremy Ebobisse who one touched it into the net to equalize the game.

Not much longer Espinoza was free on the wing and dropped the ball back to Ján Greguš. Greguš floated a ball into the box to Ebobisse who helped the Earthquakes first equalize and not much later take the lead on the road.

Since the opening goal, San Jose had done very well to increase their possession in the Dynamo half of the field which they’d been capitalizing on. Houston had tried to push them wide and force them to cross it into the middle, but the center backs and Dorsey had not done well with their marking assignments. San Jose had quickly capitalized on two occasions and were looking for more, but Houston had begun winning the ball more in the midfield.

In the 40^th minute the Dynamo nearly leveled the game up but weren’t able to find the net. Matías Vera played a great through ball to Tyler Pasher who didn’t strike the ball well and it went into the stands. Just 3 minutes later though the Dynamo would tie up the game. Darwin Quintero played a great through pass to Pasher who tried to go around the San Jose keeper only to have it knocked away. Quintero, who never gave up on the play, followed up the play and put the ball into the goal.

Both sides would head to their locker rooms tied at two goals apiece. The Dynamo had started out hot and that helped them net an early goal, but San Jose adjusted well. They increased their possession in the Dynamo defensive third of the field and even though they were often forced out wide, they took advantage of poor marking to end up with the lead. The Dynamo responded by winning the ball in favorable positions and quickly and accurately finding their speedy wings with Quintero at the end following up Pasher’s play to get an equalize before the half.

Ján Greguš tried his luck from distance for the visitors, narrowly going over the top of the crossbar above the outstretched hand of Dynamo goalkeeper Steve Clark. Sebas Ferreira tried to respond a few minutes later as he was put 1v1 on goal, but JT Marcinkowski read the play well and made a huge save to keep the game even.

In the 57^th minute Adalberto “Coco” Carrasquilla played a perfectly weighted through pass to Fafà Picault. Picault tried to beat his man, but his shot was deflected out for a corner kick. As the corner kick was sent in, it wasn’t cleared well and it fell to Teenage Hadebe who got free of his man Tanner Beason. Beason was caught ball watching and Hadebe put the ball in the net through traffic.

The Dynamo would increase their lead again in the 68^th minute after a great unselfish play by Fafà Picault. Picault had a lot of space and tried to take on the defense. As the defense collapsed around him, he poked it through to Sebas Ferreira who took a few touches and calmly beat the San Jose keeper to make it 4-2.

The goals weren’t down raining in at PNC Stadium with San Jose closing the gap with another goal. After a corner kick that wasn’t properly cleared, the ball fell to a wide open, unmarked Tommy Thompson who rifled the ball into the net to make it 4-3.

The sides exchanged salvos with Corey Baird trying to capitalize on a poor back pass to the Earthquakes’ goalkeeper, but he wasn’t able to convert with the ball getting stuck under his feet. Not long afterwards Ebobisse tried to head the ball into the net, but he wasn’t able to beat Steve Clark.

The final whistle would blow and the game would end 4-3 in Houston’s favor. Overall, both sides played a quickly paced game that attempted to bypass the midfield and slow possession in favor of getting the ball up top ASAP. The Dynamo pushed the San Jose forwards out wide, but their read on poor marking helped them stay in the game. Houston on the other hand was good at picking out passes and finding a lot of room in transition while making the best of those chances which helped them get the full three points.

The Dynamo are back in action next week when they take on the Portland Timbers at PNC Stadium on Saturday April 16^th at 5:00 PM CT.

Goals:

8’ HOU: Sebastián Ferreira (assisted by Adam Lundkvist)

25’ SJ: Jeremy Ebobisse (assisted by Cade Cowell)

28’ SJ: Jeremy Ebobisse (assisted by Ján Greguš)

43’ HOU: Darwin Quintero

57’ HOU: Teenage Hadebe

68’ HOU: Sebastián Ferreira (assisted by Fafà Picault)

77’ SJ: Tommy Thompson

Disciplinary:

18’ HOU: Darwin Quintero (yellow card)

20’ SJ: Paul Marie (yellow card)

22’ SJ: Marcos López (yellow card)

27’ HOU: Sebastián Ferreira (yellow card)

58’ HOU: Teenage Hadebe (yellow card)

63’ HOU: Fafà Picault (yellow card)

89’ HOU: Darwin Cerén (yellow card)

90’+1’ SJ: Jackson Yueill (yellow card)

90’+2’ HOU: Ethan Bartlow (yellow card)

Lineups:

Houston Dynamo (4-3-3): Steve Clark; Adam Lundkvist, Teenage Hadebe (88’ Tim Parker), Ethan Bartlow, Griffin Dorsey; Adalberto Carrasquilla (88’ Darwin Cerén), Matías Vera, Darwin Quintero (71’ Memo Rodríguez); Fafà Picault, Sebastián Ferreira (71’ Thorleifur Úlfarsson), Tyler Pasher (76’ Corey Baird)

San Jose Earthquakes (4-3-2-1): JT Marcinkowski; Marcos López (64’ Tommy Thompson), Francisco Calvo, Tanner Beason (82’ Siad Haji), Paul Marie (64’ Eric Remedi); Ján Greguš, Jackson Yueill; Cade Cowell (69’ Ousseni Bouda), Jamiro Monteiro, Cristian Espinoza; Jeremy Ebobisse