Will Bruin celebrates in-front of the Dynamo “supporters” section after lobbing Adam Kwarasey for the Dynamo’s 3rd goal.
by Scott Nicholls
Houston, Texas — With their first back-to-back wins since August Owen Coyle’s men brought home an additional three points, catapulting the Dynamo back into the playoff race.
The balance Houston has been searching for since the beginning of April may finally be returning, but is there more to it than a defensive game of chess? One thing was evident versus Portland — the Dynamo came to play.
Brad Davis alluded to Houston’s need for “getting at” the opponent early after the loss at home to FC Dallas, bluntly stating that in his opinion “…we [Houston] need to come out and be ready to win a damn game,” and that the Dynamo are no longer “playing pissed off,” or “with a chip” on their shoulders.
Owen Coyle believes staying positive and not considering themselves victims has played a huge role in getting things back to the way they were.
“We had a great meeting last week everybody in the club was there because we all care passionately about what we’re doing here at Houston Dynamo. We had an honest and frank discussion, and what me made sure — the staff, myself, Matt Jordan, the vice president, and the general manager — everyone of us made sure we weren’t feeling sorry for ourselves. We’re not victims the people who decide your own fate are the players when they cross that line.”
Against Portland it was evident that the Dynamo had finally gotten back into their groove. It was a game that, frankly, Houston dominated from start to finish.
“We’re worthy winners, we were outstanding. We knew they had good players — you saw what they did to Montreal — they beat a quality side last week” said the Dynamo gaffer before going on to say “it finished 3-1 and we could’ve added to that. Thats a credit and a testimony for those players on the field tonight.”
For the second game in a row Houston played a back four that left out Kofi Sarkodie. Raul Rodriguez played in his place, and David Horst slotted into the center of defense next to Jermaine Taylor. Not only have the Dynamo looked more assured in defense in the games versus Toronto and Portland, but the attacking play looks to have more vision and organisation now that the only additional player in the attack is DaMarcus Beasley, not Beasley and Kofi Sarkodie.
Raul Rodriguez has looked a cut above since moving to Houston from Espanyol. It didn’t really come as a surprise that he looked so settled and assured on the right hand side over the last two games and the Spaniard admitted to me “it’s not that different” for him.
“I played there in the last 5 or 6 games in Spain, it’s not a very different situation for me”, Rodriguez said but making sure to point out that as an outside back “you have to take more responsibility, but I have Boniek in-front of me and he helps me a lot with the offensive sense so I feel comfortable.”
Rodriguez’s move to outside back seems to have stemmed the “nose-bleed” that the Dynamo has been suffering since the Sporting Kansas City game. While Coach Owen Coyle — rightly or wrongly — sees that game as an outlier there were several mistakes made on the defensive side of the ball that could’ve been prevented.
The ensuing weeks were spent talking about balance, something that Raul thinks the Dynamo have found. “We’ve found this balance in the last two games — it’s not about change pieces, it’s about learn from our mistakes, it’s not about change one piece for another” Rodriguez explained, but was quick to point out “Kofi is better player than me offensively so it’s not about that it’s more about find the balance as lines not pieces.”
The Spanish maestro is right, and this is something that David Horst echoed post game quipping that “any time three of the four defenders are center backs it’s going to be a little more solid that usual.”
David Horst has one thing in abundance; guts. He will literally throw himself at anything, he’s one of the hardest workers on the team both on the field when he’s playing and in practice at Houston Sports Park.
“If I’m playing or not playing i’m always going to be working hard and working every week towards the game. That’s just the way it is, i’m a good pro” says Horst. He is, he’s one of the most professional (and intimidating) people I’ve worked with in Houston.
“I didn’t get in a few games there but I kept working hard earned my spot back and hopefully I can keep it here for a while.”
Dynamo fans will be hoping he does, too.
When David Horst starts for the Houston Dynamo, their record is 3-1-2, the one loss being against Orlando when Tyler Deric mis-controlled Horst’s back-pass and Orlando City stole a point from the Dynamo.
The Houston Dynamo have won 11 of their 16 points this season in games that David Horst has started in. Without him in the starting XI Houston’s record is a dismal 1-3-2.
It could be a coincidence but when you consider that Horst has won 3 “player of the match” awards in games for the Dynamo on independent performance metric websites I might beg to differ. That’s not even getting into the fact that the Dynamo average 1.3 shots less on their own goal every game that Horst starts.
What about Sarkodie?
“In terms of defensive options of course Kofi’s Sarkodie’s a fantastic player and he’ll play again,” said Owen Coyle after the game adding,
“ .. that’s what we want; competition for places. That was an important message after the game. Our strength will be as a group that’s what shone brightly tonight and it was great to see.”
Strength as a group is something the Houston Dynamo have always tried to encompass — Forever Orange, Forever One is not just a slogan for the fans, it’s for the team and its players, too. Recently that it seemed like the Dynamo had lost their identity and while it’s not completely back until they make the playoffs this season, we are starting to see the signs of the Houston Dynamo sides that painted the playoffs orange over the last 10 seasons.
Houston travel to California this weekend where they will play the Los Angeles Galaxy at StubHub Center in Carson, CA.
Follow Scott Nicholls on Twitter: @scottnicholls
