Steve Clark, Coco Carrasquilla, Tim Parker, and Paulo Nagamura named to MLS Team of the Week

After a huge 2-1 win over LAFC on Wednesday night, four members of the Houston Dynamo have been named to the MLS Team of the Week for Week 28. Midfielder Coco Carrasquilla and goalkeeper Steve Clark were named starters and defender Tim Parker was named to the bench. Head coach Paulo Nagamura was named Coach of the Week.

Carrasquilla helped control the midfield against the league-leading LAFC and completed 34 of 38 passes. Coco also had 9 recoveries and was all over the field. Clark put in a performance that Dynamo fans will remember for some time. The Dynamo goalkeeper made 6 saves, including some world class stops on LAFC winger Gareth Bale. Clark lauded the whole backline after the match. “First, let me start off with how well we’ve defended as a group,” Clark said after the match. “Every player in the backline had a goal line clearance. That’s a very strong team. For me, like it’s the same thing. I’m out here grinding every day for these inches to get better and to win, you know, and to have that pay off today felt really, really good. It’s a credit to what we’re doing as a goalkeeping group and fighting every day to win and that’s what we’re doing. It’s a group that you all be proud of.” Defender Tim Parker was one of the players who had a goal line clearance to go along with 11 clearances and 4 recoveries.

Head coach Paulo Nagamura has been under fire from a number of Dynamo fans lately but he pushed all the buttons last night. LAFC had nearly 3 expected goals and 19 shots but the Dynamo held firm, even going down a man in stoppage time, to claim the three points. “Very good performance by the guys,” Nagamura said after the win. “We knew the quality LAFC was going to bring to our city. We managed the game really well. Defensively solid. Offensively, we created our chances. Of course, with the quality that LAFC have, they are always going to be dangerous and be around your box – but I think the players and team were really, really disciplined in the way that we want to approach the game and it’s a well-deserved win for everyone.”

The full Team of the Week is below.

This is the first time a Dynamo head coach has earned the honor since Week 9 of the 2020 season. Carrasquilla, Clark, and Parker all earned their second Team of the Week accolade of the season.