HOUSTON – ‘Tragos de amargo licor que no me hacen olvidar’ goes the famous song from the Norteño music star, Ramón Ayala.
Loosely translated, the lyrics are ‘bitter shots of liquor that don’t make me forget.’ The song has recently become a staple at the last couple of Houston Dynamo games.
On Saturday, Tragos Amargos belted out from the BBVA Stadium speakers, and the 13,908 in attendance sang in unison as the Houston Dynamo trailed the Colorado Rapids 2-1 in the second half en route to a 3-1 loss.
The loss, the Dynamo’s third in a row, extends their winless streak to 12 games with their last win coming on May 22nd.
As the fans passionately sang Ayala’s song of an ex-lover gone, the parallels to the Dynamo’s current state of affairs are apparent. No matter how much drinking the Dynamo faithful do, it won’t make them forget about their club’s struggles this season, last season, and truth be told, for six of the past seven seasons.
“I feel a lot of pain for the fan base because it’s not a lack of effort from the players or the lack of care because everybody on that field, whether they play well, or they don’t, they leave everything out there,” Dynamo defender Zarek Valentin said.
“I understand their frustration because the results aren’t going their way. But I can promise you this, in that locker room, people feel it 10 times as much. People don’t sleep, coaches don’t sleep, we don’t feel well when the results are not going our way and that’s something that we have to live.”
Saturday’s 3-1 loss, in which the Dynamo conceded a goal in the 5th minute, is another game that got away from them. A game where the home side had opportunities to score and take the lead, but just couldn’t find the back of the net.
A common theme this season. Only Inter Miami, FC Cincinnati, Vancouver, and Austin FC have scored fewer goals than the Dynamo.
“I thought in general it was a sloppy game. When you look at the fact that we had somewhere around 25 shots for the game, you would hope that you could score three or four goals instead of just one on a penalty,” Dynamo head coach Tab Ramos said.
“So, chances were created, unfortunately, they weren’t put away and the final score is what it is.”
During the 12-game winless streak, the Dynamo’s depth has been tested and clearly failed to pass that test. Tyler Pasher and Ariel Lassiter were missing due to the Gold Cup while Maxi Urruti — the team’s leading scorer — has been dealing with an injury. The team traded for Corey Baird to bolster its attack but the former LAFC forward picked up an injury and is out.
With many of the attacking personnel out, does Ramos look to a player or two to make use of this opportunity and playing time?
“No, because that would be unfair to put the pressure on one player. We’re a team. We fight as a team. We win as a team and we lose as a team. Of course, we need to get better and of course upfront we have to put away our chances. But I think it would be unfair to put pressure on one person,” Ramos said.
“The pressure is only on me really.”
Ramos undoubtedly feels the pressure. Entering Saturday’s game, Ramos had the least points of any Dynamo coaches thru 41 games, with 39.
Ramos and Houston (3-6-9, 18 points) next opportunity to right ship comes in a matter of days as the Dynamo travel to Utah to take on Real Salt Lake on August 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.
How the heck is he pressure on Tab Ramos when the only common thread to the Dynamo losing seasons is Matt Jordan??