HOUSTON – Houston Dynamo head coach Wilmer Cabrera didn’t mince words about the Dynamo’s second-half performance against Austin Bold — and who can blame him.
After scoring three goals in the first half — and pretty much dominating the Bold — Houston entered the second half gassed, zapped of energy, and with a lack of focus.
Austin started the second half on the front foot and got a goal back in the 48th minute and a second in the 58th. But beyond giving up two-second half goals, Houston lacked any creativity or posed any danger in the second half.
“We cannot relax. We cannot stop playing and that’s what we did in the second half. We stopped playing. We didn’t show personality. We didn’t show character. We didn’t show anything,” Cabrera said.
“All the guys in the second half were terrible. All of them.”
While Cabrera despised his team’s performance in the second half, he praised the Orange’s first half but noted that it was a moot point because of how Houston played in the second half.
And while many raised their eyebrows at the U.S. Women’s National Team 13-0 drubbing of Thailand in the Women’s World Cup, Cabrera applauded them for their workmanship in finishing the game off.
“It was something that today was remarkable about the women’s national team, the professionalism that they showed — understanding that Thailand wasn’t good, but that’s not their fault,” Cabrera said.
“They were professional and disciplined enough to just go and show them. And that’s what you expect from your players. But we just played 45 [minutes] and then we stopped playing and that was embarrassing.”
Four-time World Cup veteran DaMarcus Beasley agreed with his coach.
“They go out there to win. That’s why they’re world champions. They go play the same way they would against Germany or France, or one of the top teams. They went out there and did their job. And you can always applaud a team that does that,” Beasley said.
“We definitely need to take, not even a page, a whole book out of their book, in how to finish games.”
And while the Dynamo edged out the win, Beasley, who was proudly wearing an autographed Alex Morgan jersey, took no pride in it. Adding that it seemed like if Houston forgot how to play soccer in the second half.
“It feels like a loss cause we played that bad,” Beasley said. “Give all credit to Austin. They came in and they bossed us. There’s no sugarcoating it.”
While the performance feels like a loss, it is a win. The Dynamo advance to the Round of 16 in the U.S. Open Cup and will know their next opponent Thursday.
Jesus Acevedo Jr. is the Editor-in-Chief of The Bayoucitian. He’s an award-winning bilingual journalist from Houston, TX. A graduate of the University of Houston, he has written for the Houston Chronicle, La Voz de Houston, MLSsoccer.com, and ProSoccerUSA.
Before becoming a journalist, Jesus spent his early 20s drumming his way across Houston with two bands — Shortcomings and InsertNameHere. The memories that Jesus made as a musician were the seeds that started the idea for the comedy, Houmans: The Series.