(Houston, TX) Coming off a 2-2 draw against the Minnesota United FC, the Houston Dynamo look to leapfrog FC Dallas for 3rd place in the points standings as the Dynamo are 1 point behind FC Dallas. It would be a perfect day for soccer here at BBVA Compass Stadium. The Dynamo would have a tough challenge in front of them, as they would face off against a formidable San Jose Earthquakes squad that is coming off a draw of their own against the New England Revolution. Houston will still be without a huge piece to their starting XI as Rommel Quioto will come off the bench one again this week. Kevin Garcia started in place of Quioto. Garcia is a more than capable replacement for Quioto, and adds a playmaking ability that this Dynamo love to use in 2nd halves of games, but decided to use today against a tough San Jose defense.
As the match got underway, the Earthquakes attack was very aggressive early. San Jose would have 2 shots on goal early and a corner kick within the first 5 minutes. Dynamo just couldn’t seem to get many of their possessions in San Jose territory. Houston would get a penalty kick from Cubo Torres in the 9th minute, and Cubo put the Dynamo 1-0. Cubo’s 7th goal on the season, and 2nd off of a penalty kick. Bouncing back from the slow start, Houston began to shift the possession battle in their favor. The Dynamo got a lot of high-quality shots on goal after the Torres PK, as Torres would have a chance for a nifty bicycle kick but missed it wide right. The game started to get physical as the Dynamo picked up a couple of yellow cards in the 32nd and 34th minutes. Joe Willis would pick up his 1st yellow card of the season, and Alberth Elis would pick up his 1st yellow card on the season as well. Right after Elis’s yellow card, Elis would earn himself a free kick which would be cleared by Earthquakes GK David Bingham. The remaining time in the 2nd half would be back and forth, with no other goals being scored. We would go into halftime with the Houston Dynamo lead it 1-0. Just a fantastic half for the Dynamo. The question is, would the Dynamo come out in the 2nd half and play a strong 2nd half. They have yet to put 2 halves together so far this season.
The start of the 2nd half was very identical to many previous Dynamo games this season. The Dynamo couldn’t hold possession in the Earthquakes half of the field, and San Jose being aggressive with the ball on their end. Houston would have one of their best scoring situations of the day, as Alberth Elis would head a ball on goal, but would miss wide right from around 5 feet away from the goal. Dynamo would break out of its proverbial 2nd half box, as they would have a few more quality goal chances. The highlight would be Erick “Cubo” Torres’s shot from 10ft out, that missed over top of the goal. In the 71st minute, off of a corner kick, Alberth Elis would sneak in the back door and knock through a beautiful header to extend the Dynamo lead to 2-0. In the 74th minute, Rommel Quioto would be subbed in for Erick “Cubo” Torres. Torres would go down multiple times holding his calves. Inferring that he was cramping up. Coach Wilmer Cabrera would also bring in Forward Mauro Manotas to help the scoring attack in the 77th minute. As the time went by in the 2nd half, you started to get the feeling that this game belonged to Houston. The Dynamo would play solid defense in the 2nd half and add on to the lead with the goal from Alberth Elis. There would be 5 minutes of added time to the 2nd half, which meant that the Dynamo had 5 more minutes to do whatever they wanted with the Earthquakes. This was one of the better 2nd halves from the Dynamo all season. Though the Dynamo started out slow in the 2nd half, Houston ended up opposing its will on San Jose later on. The Dynamo would end up shutting out the San Jose Earthquakes 2-0. A dominating win for Houston to say the least.
This win today put Houston out in front of FC Dallas in the points standings and hopefully can be a glimpse of things to come for the Dynamo. Wilmer Cabrera says this was the first time this season that he has gone into the locker room at half and told the guys not to fix anything. He also said that this was the first game this year that his team was very congratulatory at the end of the match in the locker room. The Dynamo stay undefeated at home and gain their first shutout since 2006. Houston hopes to keep it rolling next week against a tough Toronto FC team in Toronto. The next home game is against Orlando City SC, Saturday, May 6th here at BBVA Compass Stadium. Have a great night everybody!
