Memo talking to reporters after Vancouver home game

Memo Rodriguez’s first career brace lifts Dynamo past Vancouver 3-2

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HOUSTON – Before the start of the season, Memo Rodriguez knew what kind of mentality he was going to have for the 2019 Major League Soccer season. The Dynamo Homegrown Player was going to keep pushing all season to get starter’s minutes.

Three games into the Dynamo’s MLS season, Rodriguez has two starts and three goals. Including a brace — his first in his career — on Saturday to push Houston past Vancouver 3-2.

The brace follows Rodriguez award-worthy golazo against the Montreal Impact, his first start this season, that nabbed him MLS Goal of the Week.

Rodriguez said that winning MLS Goal of the Week is motivation for him to keep having the right mentality to fight from the start and help the Orange win.

Saturday’s win gives Houston (2-0-1, seven points) their best three-game start to an MLS season in team history and keeps La Naranja unbeaten on the season. For Rodriguez, his hot scoring start is something he couldn’t have imagined.

“You want to come into games and obviously score but, it’s crazy how in two games I’ve scored three goals,” Rodriguez said. “I’m going to keep pushing and with the help of the team everything is going to be fun and we’re going to have a good season.”

Rodriguez, who grew up in Wharton, TX, had an easier time scoring against Vancouver solely for the fact that his two scores were tap-ins via two Alberth Elis assists. But being in the right position is a skill and one that’s starting to garner him national attention.

Asked after the game to talk about his two goals, Rodriguez shifted attention from himself and turned it to his teammate.

“All credit to Alberth [Elis] his speed puts defenders in trouble all the time,” Rodriguez said. “I think I’m going to have to start my run a little faster because he’s faster than me so I can be ready for the ball.”

After the game, Dynamo head coach Wilmer Cabrera said it’s important to have Rodriguez pushing for starter’s minutes. Adding that he saw Saturday as a possibility to give Romell Quioto some rest after logging many minutes in  CONCACAF Champions action.

Rodriguez, who first signed with the Dynamo in 2014 only to be cut a season later, first found his footing with the Dynamo’s USL-affiliate Rio Grande Valley FC Toros in 2016.

The Toros coach at the time, Cabrera, found a way to unlock him and was crucial to the USL-sides playoff appearance. To date, its RGV’s only playoff appearance. When Cabrera was named Dynamo head coach in 2017, he brought Rodriguez with him.

And the midfielder, who’s been deployed mostly on the wing in Cabrera’s 4-3-3 lineup, is making the most of his playing time this season.

With the Dynamo out of CONCACAF Champions, they can now focus their attention entirely on MLS. And with that, competition for playing time, especially in the attack, will be hard to come by, but Rodriguez is ready for the battle.

“I came in with that mentality this year in preseason, that no matter what was going to happen I was going to be pushing to earn a starting spot,” Rodriguez said.

For the 23-year-old Homegrown Player, the 2019 season is off to a blazing start and he plans on pushing for more.