Anatomy of a goal: Schmitt opens his Dynamo account
(image via Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports)
Set pieces change games, that’s the mantra you always hear around soccer circles. On Saturday night the Houston Dynamo were able to make that ring true with Tate Schmitt scoring off a corner kick on the stroke of half time. After the match, Schmitt talked about his first goal for the Dynamo and how the team has been preparing for that moment.
“Leading up to this game, we did a lot of work on set pieces and our coaching staff did a great job kind of seeing the faults they have in giving up set pieces, as well as defending them,” Schmitt said. “We've been practicing them in the week at training. We knew that we could possibly get one on them. We had a good opportunity from the set piece, Hector (Herrera) threw in a good ball, and we just keep preaching that we got to be dogs in there and just hunt and find it.”
Unfortunately for the Dynamo, Schmitt’s goal only changed the game for a short time as FC Cincinnati would find the winning goal shortly after halftime. The Dynamo lost the game 2-1 but the first goal of the season is the subject of today’s breakdown.
Hector Herrera was the orchestrator of this goal. As he readied to take the corner kick, this Cincinnati fan did his best to distract him. It didn’t work.
As Herrera takes the corner, we can see Houston’s center backs, Ethan Bartlow and Teenage Hadebe making runs to the near post. These two runs have the Cincinnati defense on alert and opens space at the back post for Schmitt to run on to.
When the ball arrives into the box Bartlow and Hadebe are both out of the play, occupying defenders (circled). Schmitt (diamond) has gotten to his spot, in front of the defender marking him and all that’s left for him to do is finish.
When we look at the angle from the sideline, we can see just how much space the runs (circled) have created for Schmitt (diamond).
Schmitt just has to time his jump and get a clean head on the ball, which he does.
From another angle we see Hadebe and Bartlow being marked (circled) as Schmitt has gotten in front of Cincinnati defender Yerson Mosquera while Santiago Arias is caught ball watching (diamond).
This final look shows us just how effective a well-designed set piece can be. Including goalkeeper Roman Celentano, there are 10 Cincinnati players in this image. There are just 3 Dynamo players, as the rest have hung back at the top of the box.
Although the Dynamo ended up losing the game on Saturday, we can see from the breakdown and from Schmitt’s quotes after the game that the coaching staff is really working to find goals on set pieces and to take advantage of any weaknesses in the opposition. While the roster and starting lineup continue to come together and gel, it will be chances like this and the other dangerous looks the Dynamo got from set pieces, that will likely be a positive for the team early in the season.
