Second half collapse leads to Houston Dynamo loss to Austin FC

Houston is looking to rebound from a draw over the weekend with FC Dallas and now head on the road to take on another Texas opponent, the red hot Austin FC. Despite getting the game’s opening goal, the Dynamo struggled especially in the second half in their 3-1 loss at Q2 Stadium.

Dynamo Head Coach used a more reserved starting lineup given the short turnaround from the Dallas game, but the visitors were pushed up relatively high in the early minutes of the game at Q2 Stadium. Memo Rodríguez earned a free kick after getting an accidental elbow to the face, but his set piece intended to go back post to Tim Parker was cleared for a corner.

As soon as it looked like Austin had begun to settle things down, the Dynamo would open up the scoring with Adam Lundkvist picking out Adalberto “Coco” Carrasquilla on the left wing. Coco completely shook his defender Julio Cascante and lasered in a goal passed Austin goalkeeper Brad Stuver.

However, the lead would shrink with the home side taking advantage of a free kick on the edge of Houston’s 18 yard box. Diego Fagúndez stood over it and curled the ball passed Dynamo keeper Steve Clark.

Austin began to steal the rhythm and momentum of the game following their equalizer. Houston had come out the more aggressive side in the opening minutes, but Austin took their goal as an opportunity to increase their possession which limited the visitors to a more counter attack based offense.

Both sides exchanged some close opportunities to take the lead. Some crisp passing by the Dynamo out of the back while the home side pressed led to a counter for Fafà Picault, but Picault was ultimately ruled offside. Then on the other end of the field Žan Kolmanič whipped in a cross towards Sebastián Driussi, but his header was just too high and landed on the roof of the goal’s netting.

Héctor Herrera came on for the Dynamo at halftime, but the opening minutes still saw the home side controlling possession and looking more dangerous going forward, but a few quality defensive stands by Adam Lundkvist had the game level.

The increased pressure by Austin would pay off with former Dynamo player Maxi Urruti getting the lead for the Verde. Following what should’ve been a foul by Tim Parker at the top of the box, the center official played advantage as it came to Urruti on the outside edge of the box. Urruti curled one low and well placed back post around his defender Zeca and Steve Clark. 2-1 Austin.

Things would get worse for Houston with Austin capitalizing on another opportunity, this time coming in the 70^th minute. A quick counter by ATX put the ball out wide to Ethan Finlay. Finlay took a touch and got his head up before delivering a perfect ball across goal to the diving header of Alexander Ring to make it 3-1.

Austin continued to push for more with Ring finding Urruti, but his shot went just wide to deny him getting his second goal of the game. Moments later Griffin Dorsey would head an attempt off the line to keep the score at 3-1. The Dynamo had a golden chance to pull things back with Picault getting denied from close range before the effort was eventually cleared.

After 90 minutes and stoppage time the Dynamo would be defeated by Austin 3-1. Houston opened up the game the stronger side as they controlled possession well and quickly moved the ball from the back to the front while maintaining a high press. However, Austin was quick to respond and take control of the game and they never looked back.

The Dynamo will stay on the road this weekend when they travel to the west coast to take on the San Jose Earthquakes on Sunday, July 17^th at 8:30 PM CT.

Goals:

11’ HOU: Adalberto “Coco” Carrasquilla (assisted by Adam Lundkvist)

15’ ATX: Diego Fagúndez (free kick)

70’ ATX: Alexander Ring (assisted by Ethan Finlay)

Disciplinary:

14’ HOU: Teenage Hadebe (yellow card)

62’ HOU: Adam Lundkvist (yellow card)

66’ ATX: Nick Lima (yellow card)

80’ HOU: Héctor Herrera (yellow card)

Lineups:

Houston Dynamo:

HT Héctor Herrera on, Adalberto “Coco” Carrasquilla off

65’ Darwin Quintero on, Matías Vera off

78’ Sam Junqua on, Adam Lundkvist off

78’ Griffin Dorsey on, Zeca off

85’ Daniel Steres on, Teenage Hadebe off

Austin FC

22’ Nick Lima on, Hector Jiménez off

HT Daniel Pereira on, Owen Wolff off

81’ Felipe Martins on, Sebastián Driussi off

81’ Rodney Redes on, Ethan Finlay off

89’ Jared Stroud on, Alexander Ring off