Who: Houston Dynamo v. Toluca When: Friday, August 5 @ 7:30 pm CDT Where: Shell Energy Stadium; Houston, TX Records: Toluca (2-0-2), 5th, LigaMX Houston Dynamo (10-7-7), 6th, MLS West TV: Apple TV Radio: Local Stream via Apple(English)/93.3 (Spanish) This is the round of 32 and the 3rd 2024 Leagues Cup game for both teams. This game is available on MLS Season Pass. Both teams won their groups to advance to this game. The winner of this game will go on to play the winner of the Colorado-Juarez match in the Round of 16. This is the first official match between the teams in their histories. Toluca is 4-0-1 in their last 5 games overall, scoring 12 goals and allowing 5. Their most recent game was a 2-1 win against Sporting Kansas City on August 5. The Dynamo are 3-1-1 in the last 5 games overall, scoring 9 goals and allowing 5. Houston is 6-4-6 in home games in all competitions so far this year. Houston will either advance in Leagues Cup or get a long break until the regular season resumes with a home game against Toronto on Saturday, Aug. 24.
Sorry Dynamo lost. Especially that way -- throwing away the game without the energy to put pressure on the ball outside our own penalty box. Not sorry that the Dynamo are out of Leagues Cup.
I know I’m preaching to the choir here, but Sebas needs to be gone yesterday. The chance he didn’t take at the 90th minute was inexcusable.
This. The feeble attempt earlier this year by some to paint him as "improved" or even useful was gaslighting 101. Speaking of inexcusable......the swing and miss by the most expensive dynamo player ever inside the box is clown show level performance. It was the very definition of inexcusable, as in, there is no f^cking excuse for him to not even touch the ball! Pathetic. The craptastic penalty kick by the new kid was borderline inexcusable as well. A miss hit is one thing. A weak shot due to changing ones mind at the last second then firing off a puff ball is another. I can hear the apologists already typing furiously the excuses but you still have to explain why he is in that position and not someone else if he isn't ready to be in that position. Bartlow---what the actual f^ck? Willingly deciding to stop marking your man on a run towards goal is inexcusable. Primary defensive responsibility just thrown away for some unknown reason. It didn't look like zonal marking so I can't imagine why he switched off mentally. There's a reason dude stays on the bench. If we had any semblance of competency in the front line we would have put that game away & won fairly comfortably. Alas, we don't & we got to see yet another game fall due to trash performances in the final third.
I’ve been making the point that rival teams are buying underperforming contracts out to the extent allowed, and the Dynamo are not. This is the prime example. What it takes to compete is not something I dream up — the question is what are your rivals in the league doing. Holding pressers claiming to be committed to competing for cups — then not doing what rivals are doing — is a bad look.
Part of the learning process for Onstad I suspect. That was his first big move, first deal he got Segal to spend on. He's loathe to eat crow I suspect. Eventually he'll learn sometimes you make mistakes and it's better to move on and start over rather than hopelessly trying to salvage your mistake.