Houston Dynamo history was made Saturday night — the wrong kind.
The 3-0 loss to New England marks the first time Houston has lost its first two games to start a season. The loss was a far cry from the club’s strong showing against FC Cincinnati in a 2-1 loss.
After the game, Dynamo head coach Ben Olsen said despite the positives he saw from his team — the effort, the structures in the defensive end — this 3-0 loss hurts. Anything positive coming out of this game is overshadowed by the scoreline. Simple as that.
Houston did manage to get into the final third, but the trips failed to yield any dangerous scoring opportunities.
“I felt the first half was fine. I thought we were in good form and got into the final third enough. Transition stuff still is not clean enough for us,” Olsen said. “We did so much sort of winning the ball, connecting it, and putting them in advanced spots in transition. We just don’t reward ourselves.”
Dynamo attacker Ivan Franco echoed Olsen’s comments after the game. To the Paraguayan attacker, the Dynamo were missing that final touch.
“We’re a work in progress on the offensive end, for sure,” Olsen said.
On the other hand, New England took their opportunities and made them count.
The first Revolution goal came in the 42nd minute when New England winger Dylan Borrero got on Dynamo right back Griffin Dorsey’s blind side and beat him to a cross from the left wing.
“To give up the one [goal] late in the first half hurt us,” Olsen said. “They’re a tough team to chase.”
New England’s following two goals would also come via service from the right side, with Borrero and Revolution playmaker Carles Gil playing a significant role. Gil, in particular, found himself with space on the ball due to Houston coming out of their shape to chase the game. Olsen singled out his team’s lack of defensive bite and poor box defending.
Dorsey was a man of few words during the post-game conference.
“A 3-0 loss says enough,” Dorsey said. “Disappointing on all ends of the spectrum for us.”
Houston has a bye week before their home opener against in-state rival Austin FC on March 18.
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.