The Houston Dynamo fell 1-0 to Austin FC on Wednesday night. Let’s take a look at how everyone performed.
Steve Clark-4
Clark has been a rockstar for the Dynamo in 2024 and maybe he is oozing with confidence now, which led to two plays that left fans gasping for air. The first one came from a great strike at the ball by Diego Rubio seconds into the match, that shook the crossbar when Steve tucked his hands away from the ball. The second play was an attempt at goal by Alexander Ring, where Clark decided to not make a dive and just watched the ball ding off the post. There was not much Steve could do on Austin’s winning goal, as the ball bounced around in a crowd of players before Sebastian Driussi powered it past him. Clark did have 3 saves but he wasn’t asked to work much for them.
Griffin Dorsey-4
Dorsey had been fantastic after returning to the lineup from a red card suspension. However, he was quite bad last night at Q2 stadium. He had a total of 55 touches with only 1 in the opposition box and zero successful dribbles. Oh, and he had no shots at goal. In other words, Griffin didn’t produce much going forward last night. Dorsey was very sloppy on defense as well, going up against Emiliano Rigoni and Zan Kolmanic.
Erik Sviatchenko-5
Sviatchenko played 61 minutes before he was substituted by Micael. In that time, Erik was asked to do very little defensive work but was strong when he was required to make a stop. In the second half, he had two headers at goal from set pieces that Brad Stuver took care off. The first attempt by Erik was the most dangerous of the two. Erik has dealt with minor injuries through the season and with another Texas Derby on Saturday, it was smart to limit his minutes against Austin.
Ethan Bartlow-6
Bartlow got the start over Micael as the left center back and he did not disappoint. Ethan continues to impress this season. He is cool, calm and collected playing out the back, and he even hit 4 passes into the final third of the opposition. Bartlow was strong in his defensive actions and duels, adding 5 clearances to his name against Austin.
Tate Schmitt-4
Tate found himself back in the starting lineup, as both Franco Escobar and Daniel Steres were out with injuries. He almost completed the entire game but was subsequently subbed off with a minute of regulation time to go for Gabe Segal. Tate struggled most of the game with positioning and sloppy passes. He didn’t provide much going forward for Houston and was heavily under attack by Austin most of the game. It could be the lack of consistent minutes, but it was noticeable why Tate is far down the depth chart. He currently is in a “break in case of emergency” role.
Artur-5
Artur had another good performance. He has become a very reliable player for Ben Olsen as the outfield player with the most minutes this season. Artur completed 91% of his passes with 4 of them being played into Austin’s final third. Defensively, Artur dominated the center of the field, cleaning up and recovering any distress near him. He was an onlooker in traffic during the havoc that led to Austin’s goal.
Latif Blessing-5
Blessing earned another start this season after coming off the bench against Kansas City over the weekend. Latif played 61 minutes versus Austin before being subbed off by Hector Herrera. Blessing was decent during his time on the pitch. It is interesting that he goes long periods of time without touching the ball. Latif had a shot towards goal that went wide and didn’t produce much going forward. His defense was good when required.
Amine Bassi-7 (MOTM)
Bassi was the best player for Houston against Austin. While goals and assists are not adding up on his stat sheet in 2024, he has taken a major step to be the team’s most creative midfielder. Amine had 5 shots, of which 3 made their way to Stuver’s goal with the first one being saved by Brad with his big right toe minutes after the start of the match. Bassi had a team high 78 touches, created 3 chances at goal and 10 passes into the final third. His work rate defensively, in the press, was just magnificent as well. The chemistry between him and Aliyu continues to brew, but another attacking piece up top would likely help Amine’s performance breakthrough even more.
Coco Carrasquilla-4
Carrasquilla was by far the player with the most disappointing night for the Dynamo. Maybe the expectation is too high for Coco, but some games he just disappears when the team needs him the most. This match was that kind of match for him, especially in the second half. In 90 minutes, he produced zero chances and zero successful dribbles to carry the team into a scoring opportunity. His passing was sloppy and he saw one shot attempt get blocked by a defender and the other one fly far above Stuver’s goal. Maybe Coco needs to wear a Panamanian jersey underneath and hope for some magic.
Aliyu Ibrahim-6
Aliyu looks to keep gaining confidence game after game. Playing out wide definitely suits his skills. He was not afraid to dribble at defenders last night and had some fun flicks between him and Bassi to move into dangerous positions up the field. He had a beautiful half volley bounce wide, inches from goal. You just felt that the young forward’s goal was coming, but it wasn’t meant to be as the team deflated once Austin scored.
Sebastian Kowalczyk-5
Kowalczyk continues to be in the false 9 role. Seba had a very good opportunity at goal when a long ball from Erik found Bassi before landing to a wide-open Sebastian. His acrobatic shot was parried away by Stuver for a corner. Like Bassi, Kowalczyk is not a clinical finisher on goal, which the Dynamo desperately need.
Substitutes
Hectoer Herrera-6
Herrera came in and controlled the midfield. In his limited 29 minutes, he touched the ball 45 times. For comparison, Blessing, who was the player that HH replaced, touched the ball 22 times in 61 minutes. Hector created 3 chances at a goal as he tried to push the team for a win that wasn’t meant to be. On the goal, like in the first go against Austin, the ball went over Herrera and eventually found the back of the net. Big picture here, a healthy Hector changes Houston into an even better team.
Micael-3
Micael’s low rating isn’t necessarily because he had a bad game, it is mostly because he wasn’t asked to do much on both the attack and defense in his 29 minutes on the pitch. During the goal, Micael was the man marking Gyasi Zardes. The American striker still beat him to the ball that created chaos and confusion for Driussi to drive it past everyone.
Brad Smith and Gabe Segal-N/A
Not much to say here about Brad and Gabe. Both came into the game in a late attempt to equalize the match after Austin went up on the scoreboard.
Head Coach
Ben Olsen-6
Olsen played the best lineup he could for a midweek match. The team was close to pulling out a result for nearly 85 minutes. The Dynamo were by far the better team but it’s soccer. It is unfair, but you take the good and learn from the bad. The bad for me, at least, was bringing in fresh attacking players when you felt that Austin was against the ropes and not in a reaction move after conceding the goal. Bringing on someone like McKinze Gaines would have been nice to see.
