Houston Dynamo v. Austin FC, Saturday, April 20

beating austin and then beating dallas would sure be pretty pretty pretty cool

 

ATX's Julio Cascante, starting center back, picked up his 5th yellow on Sunday. He will be suspended next Saturday.

 

I'm in St. Louis so I watched them play against Austin on Sunday. Austin is terrible right now. Didn't even record a shot on goal.

 

"These guys are cowboys, man. They want to roll and win games."

OK. That is a world class quote.

Overall -- this presser is amazing. This guy is the real deal.

 

So that means they come out Saturday night as world beaters, right?

 

Fortunately I get the sense Ben knows this as he’s been in the Austin role a few times when he was DC’s coach. Ideally the boys are ready.


Bury these mfs

 

Beware the hurting Green n Black Bat!

Bury these mudder puckers is right!!!

DALE DYNAMO!!!

 

I would LOVE if we came out with our hair on fire and took it to these clowns the first 10 mnts

however

I'm not sure that can happen with our mandate that you have to pass the ball 50 times before we take a shot. I think it's clear the priority is to keep the ball & wear the other team down more than it is a go out and punch the other team in the mouth.

Either way, this should be a win and an easy one at that

 

There are just no easy wins in this league. Good teams are good because they know that and play hard every game, against every opponent, taking none lightly. They know your never as good as you think you are when you win, and your never as bad as you think you are when you lose. ESPECIALLY in MLS.

The Dynamo are playing the way these players naturally want to play. The way they enjoy playing. These players love playing this way and with each other. You can see it in their body language and in the results.

They like controlling the game via possession. Controlling the game that way or any other way happens to be the absolutely best way (in my opinion) to approach MLS. The teams that want chaos (NYRB, STL) struggle in the playoffs. Always have. Controlling the game is how you advance through knock-out football. It is the way Kinnear won. LAFC controls the game with a mid-block and counter, letting their opponent have the ball but only in their own half.

 

This is a good template for what should happen, in a perfect world.

I'll settle for a comfortable 1-0 win where they have no chance though. Seems to be about the best we can do, more or less.

 

A game like that could well cost Wolff his job.

So despite our perceived lack of offensive ability -- a perception I have shared -- the Glorious Houston Dynamo are one of only four teams that has scored at least a goal in every game so far, joining LA, Philadelphia and Vancouver in that category.

 

It's not perceived. We're not that great offensively. But all that possession does keep a team on their heels and that just invites mistakes and opportunities. If we had some semblance of firepower we could be doing some interesting work in front of goal.

And not for nothing but it's hard to run up a score if you barely touch the ball.

 

https://verdeallday.substack.com/p/three-questions-victor-araiza-houvatx-042024

Victor Araiza writing in longish form for the first time in a while about the Dynamo. Still seems pretty down on the club leadership. Does make a few good points I think. The question is does anyone want to listen right now the way the team is playing.

 

Tonight can the Dynamo please be orange? My perception of results related to shirt color is that nothing much good has happened in Purple, while the team is performing well in orange. As it should, being that we are orange and all. Forever orange.

 

Feels like a guy who took a hard stance and is clinging to it rather than admitting he might have been wrong.

 

Jeez. That guy Victor is a freakin dark cloud. He does have some fair concerns -- but he overstates them and demonstrates that he jumps to conclusions and wild statements based on his own subjective emotional biases rather than any sober quality analysis. In the end he does not make any meaningful contribution in my view.

 

The giveaway tonight is some sort of a purple banner/flag, so guessing its purple tonight

 

yeah that came off really argumentative, not really analytical. Hey, I'll criticize the FO freely and the 2017 mirage was one that the underlying numbers didn't support the approach, but Olsen has really stabilized things and he's gotten us to winning games on the road, even if they are sort of stealing them at the end, he's gotten the buy in from players.

I'll say it this way, from what I've seen in the last season & a quarter, we've got professionals at the helm in the organization. I'll gladly take that after the last decade of disasters

 

Great

Great atmosphere downtown tonight!
And our men are in our Wildcatter Orange Don!!!

 

Fire Ben now!

I think that's what JC would say.

 

Frustrating game. Pretty sloppy but still should have won. Definitely shouldn't have lost but if you let a team hang around like that, every chance in the world they make you pay.

 

Just got back from the game.
Glad to see a packed house again and of course HH returns to the fold.
Yet the work ethic and desire that Coach Olsen has instilled on our club is tangible and has turned our club around. However, there are several players that just have zero conviction to see the 90 minutes out as a professional should. This weakness in these players rears its ugly head late on in matches and the outcome is what we saw tonight, a mental lapse and a very weak Austin side squeaks out a late winner in our own house.