HOUSTON – The Houston Dynamo are winless to start the season after back-to-back home losses, with the latest being a 4-1 drubbing at the hands of Inter Miami. Here are three things from Houston’s loss to Inter Miami.
Houston Homestand
No Messi, no problem. Inter Miami handed the Dynamo their second consecutive loss to start the 2025 MLS season. The 4-1 loss Sunday at Shell Energy Stadium closed a two-game homestand, leaving the Dynamo dead last league-wide in goal differential at minus four. Luis Suarez led the way with four-goal contributions despite the absence of Messi, giving Miami fans their money’s worth.
The Dynamo have now been outscored 6-2 following a 2-1 season-opening loss against FC Dallas on Feb. 22. It won’t get any easier as Houston will visit unbeaten Columbus Crew next Saturday at 1:30 p.m.
“We live by the idea of earning the right to play, and we want to play soccer the right way,” said head coach Ben Olsen.
“We want to be brave and earn the win. But we’re still trying to figure ourselves out, and in these types of games, we have to stay in it with more personality. They’re a good team, and I think in the end we were out-coached. The loss hurts, but we’ll keep moving forward.”
Self-inflicted Mistakes
Dynamo wrapped up a very sloppy first half Sunday night, conceding three goals, two of them self-inflicted wounds. Jack McGlynn was the last defender to touch the ball in the first goal. Franco Escobar passed the ball to Obafemi Awedesu before signaling to the youngster to blast the ball out of the area but chose to play it short to McGlynn instead, whose return pass was deflected, allowing Telasco Segovia to give his team the lead six minutes into the match.
On the third goal, Artur lost the ball between two Miami players in midfield, allowing Segovia to score his second goal after beating Awedesu to the ball inside the box. FC Dallas also took advantage of some Dynamo mistakes in the season opener.
“We’ll pick each other up, and we’re not pointing fingers because everyone can do better,” said Erik Sviatchenko. “We can help each other, we can save each other. When someone loses the ball, we need to be a lot more closer to each other to protect the ball.”
Open Cup Final rematch
Inter Miami left Shell Energy Stadium in a good mood Sunday night. The big win helped them avenge the 2023 US Open Cup Final 2-1 loss against a Dynamo squad that looked a lot different back then. Houston had over a dozen departures this offseason, including Brad Smith, Tate Schmitt, fan-favorite Hector Herrera, Coco Carrasquilla, Latif Blessing, and Sebas Ferreira.
The 2023 US Open Cup champs faced a Messi-less Inter Miami again, with Miami controlling the tempo from the get-go this time around. Nicolas Lodeiro pulled one back late, scoring his first goal with the Dynamo — joining Amine Bassi as the only scorer thus far. Erik Duenas, another new arrival, is confident in the process.
“I’m a new player here, but I trust in everyone, and I believe in everyone,” said Duenas. “It’s for sure a tough loss, but these are the games we as footballers look for. … It’s a long journey. I believe in this group, and I believe in myself, so I think we’re going to come back stronger.”