Mauro Manotas goal celebration
Mauro Manotas, center, celebrates after scoring the game tying goal against the Colorado Rapids (Courtesy of Houston Dynamo)

Mauro Manotas brace, in-game formation switch, salvages a point at home for Dynamo

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HOUSTON – With 16 minutes left in regulation against the Colorado Rapids, the Houston Dynamo were staring at their fourth straight loss at home. The next five minutes changed all that in large part due to Mauro Manotas and an in-game formation switch.

The Dynamo surrendered two first-half goals and found it difficult to break down the Rapids defense in the first half.

In the 56th minute, interim head coach Davy Arnaud brought on Christian Ramirez and switched the team from a 4-2-3-1 to a 4-4-2 with Ramirez and Manotas up top.

And while it took till the 74th minute for it to pay dividends, the shift in lineup paid off.

Adam Lundkvist sent a diagonal pass to a streaking Manotas who got behind the Rapids backline. The Colombian forward let the ball roll until he had to shoot. Once he did, he struck it forcefully sending it to the back of the net.

Four minutes later, Lundkvist sent a through ball to Tommy McNamara, who had entered the game in the 67th minute for Tomás Martinez.

McNamara sprinted towards the end line before cutting a pass back towards the box where Manotas struck it. His low shot sent Rapids ‘keeper Clint Irwin going the wrong way as the ball settled into the bottom left corner.

“I think Mauro’s [Manotas] two goals—he’s a goal scorer,” Arnaud said.

“And we understand that some of his movement in the second half again got better, some of his movement wasn’t as sharp in the first half so it’s something that we addressed at halftime specifically with Mauro and he responded like everybody else very well in the second half. That’s who we need. That’s the Mauro Manotas we need and that’s who he can be.”

Aside from salvaging a point at home, Manotas’ brace was noteworthy.

The two goals, Manotas’ 10th and 11th on the season, moves his to second place on the club’s all-time goals list across all competitions. He now has 59 goals for La Naranja.

Additionally, it makes him the first Dynamo player to score 10 or more goals in three consecutive seasons and only the second Houston player to have three seasons of double-digit goals.

“That’s why I put in the work, I want to leave a mark here at the club. And I want to thank God, my teammates, and the coaching staff that has given me the opportunity,” Manotas said. “And I’ve been following the [club’s all-time goal scored] list and I’m a bit closer to Brian Ching. But there’s still a lot more games to keep scoring goals.”

Formation change

Manotas second goal, more so than the first one, could be attributed to the switch in Dynamo formation. And if the goal looks a bit familiar, it’s because the Dynamo scored a similar goal against the Philadelphia Union, except it was Ramirez scoring.

“I have always said it, I like to play with two strikers, it creates space for me and it frees me, I can do what I like to do, that is to move around the entire pitch. Always be like a nine there,” Manotas said.

“The second goal is pretty much a copy of the goal in Philadelphia. This time Christian [Ramirez] movement freed me up and I received the ball and finished it. In Philadelphia, it was the opposite. We’ll see what the coach decides if he continues to use us together in the next game.”

The 4-4-2 didn’t just help the Dynamo open the game a bit more, and in doing so leveling the game. It also puts some of its players in better positions to impact the game.

McNamara, who picked up his third assist of the season, said as much after the game.

“Under Wilmer [Cabrera] I came in under a lot of different positions. Today I came in out wide actually, we were in a 4-4-2 at that moment. I was out wide but 4-4-2 allows you to come inside,” McNamara said.

“I think my best qualities are shown when I can play inside between the lines. I think that showcases my qualities pretty well. I think isolation, one-v-one out wide, transition out wide doesn’t suit my qualities very well. But whatever the coach asks of me I will try to do to the best of my ability.”

With how well a two-forward system has served Houston these past two games, does Manotas think Arnaud should consider it?

“Whatever he decides, we will do it. He will tell us if we should play using two, or three strikers. Obviously, with Davy [Arnaud] the communication is different, he talks to us more, Wilmer was more reserved,” Manotas said.

“But we’ll see what happens during the week. The 4-4-2 has served us a lot. It worked for us in Philadelphia, we will see what happens against next week.”

Next week for the Dynamo is against their in-state rivals FC Dallas. And the club would love nothing more than for Manotas to keep scoring goals.