HOUSTON – During Houston Dynamo FC’s 16-match winless streak, the club never played a complete game. It would a play a solid 60 minutes, or 80 minutes, sometimes less, sometimes more, but the result was the same —a loss or a draw.
On Saturday, against in-state rival Austin FC, the Dynamo finally played a complete game from kickoff to the final whistle, and in doing so, the club was rewarded with their first win in 112 days. The 3-0 win was their first victory since May 22nd.
Houston took control of the game at the 48-second mark when Griffin Dorsey followed up on Darwin Quintero’s blocked shot to score his first goal for the Dynamo. It’s the third-fastest goal in club history.
Fafa Picault added a goal on either side of halftime to secure the three points and help Houston climb out of last place in the Western Conference standings.
How does Houston Dynamo head coach Tab Ramos feel after finally snapping the winless streak? In one word — relief.
“We knew it would be more special to the fans, and like I said before, I’m really happy for the players,” Ramos said. “At the end of the day, we sit there, and we work all week, and they continue to believe. All the work they have done, we deserve to put it all together in one game.”
Houston lost games it could have salvaged a point from and got a draw in games it should have won during its winless streak. Such is life when a team can’t cross the winning line. But against Austin FC, it took the reins of the game and never relinquished them.
“I think we finally got in there, and we put together one of our more complete performances of the entire year. Yeah, they get chances, most teams will, but the style we play sometimes we like to play further up on the field, and we might stretch ourselves, but we trust guys at the back and front to make some plays,” Dynamo defender Zarek Valentin said.
“There was a lot of relief but also kind of a reaffirming of the values and beliefs which we hold close to us. One of these things where we know that we focused on a lot of little details this week and tried to get those right, and we got a lot of those details right.”
Beyond the three points and three goals, Houston locked Austin FC and held them scoreless. It’s the club’s first clean sheet since July 31, and it’s something the club is proud of. Ramos said the team needed a clean sheet, especially the defenders, “because a lot of responsibility has fallen on them because of the moment they’ve had.
And those moments proved costly to Houston during the winless streak it snapped on Saturday, and for Valentin, they’re still on his mind. After the game, Valentine easily rattled off all the backline’s mistakes over the past couple of games.
“A lot of these things are stoppages of play in which the team might relax a little bit, and that is the worst time to relax,” Valentin said. “When the other team has the ball, you cannot, you have to be even more hyper-aware. I think we handled some of those moments a lot better today, and I think that again, the accountability was really good.”
Besides being more aware of these moments, the backline was aided by a couple of huge saves from Katy, TX native Michael Nelson. Nelson has stepped into the starter’s role with starting goalkeeper Marko Maric out with an injury over the past couple of games.
Against Austin FC, Nelson showed the bright future he has with two huge saves, one of which led directly to Picault’s second goal.
Ramos had no reservations about putting Nelson in that role, and the three-time American Athletic Conference Goalkeeper of the Year repaid his coach’s confidence. But Ramos isn’t the only one aboard the Nelson train.
“Mikey’s (Michael Nelson) been grinding here for years. He’s been here for three or four years now, and I’m really happy that he’s finally getting a chance to show his quality,” Valentin said.
“He made some really good saves tonight, bailed us out on one or two. He deserved a win and a clean sheet. That’s exactly the best way for him to get his first win as a pro. First of many and first clean sheet of many.”
The victory tasted sweet, but there’s plenty more work for Houston to do. While they may not be in the last place, they are still at the bottom of the Western Conference standings.
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.