Dynamo 2sday: Dos let lead slip away in loss to San Jose
(image via San Jose Earthquakes)
Going into Saturday’s match against San Jose Earthquakes II, head coach Kenny Bundy knew match game was going to be a tough test as Dynamo 2 traveled to California looking to cement themselves with a spot in the playoffs. “We’ve played San Jose quite a bit over the last two years, so it’s going to be a difficult battle like always,” Bundy said. “They're a team that can really punish you with the ball. They always seem to play really well at home against us.”
Attention to detail and being able to put away chances was going to be vital against this difficult team. “It’s going to be a game that really comes down to the finer details,” Bundy said in his pre-match press conference. “If you’re looking at the table, this is a massive game for both groups. We need to go into the game with a clear understanding of what to expect, a clear understanding of what we need to do, and then allowing the players the freedom to execute.” Bundy started with a group of guys that have had a good season so far to help get the team where they are in the table. Xavier Valdez started in goal, with Isaiah Leflore, Talen Maples, Tate Lampman and Mujeeb Murana on defense. Brooklyn Raines, Diego Gonzalez, and Sebastian Rodriguez would be in charge of dominating the ball in the midfield, while Jacob Evans, Isaiah Reid, and Pap Ndoye would be tasked with putting away chances up front.
After getting into the box dangerously a couple of times in the first ten minutes, the home side would strike first. A cross was flicked on to the back and the Ousseni Bouda curled a shot over Xavier Valdez body into the upper 90 of the goal. Bouda would put the Earthquakes ahead in the 12th minute of play and kick start the beginning of a goal fest in the Bay Area.
A few minutes later an equalizer from the Houston Dynamo would arrive, in the 19th minute. Bad control by a San Jose defender ended with the ball at Evans feet. He tried to play Reid making a run inside the box, but the ball ended up the perfect place for Diego Gonzalez to take a shot from outside the box to beat the goalkeeper to his right post. This was Gonzalez’s 9th goal of the season.
Houston continued to press forward. Evans played a great thru ball into the box to find Gonzalez, but he couldn’t get the ball on target, and he would find the outside netting. Later on, Ndoye beat his defender in a one on one and tried to find the near post, but Ochoa would send the ball out for a corner kick with a diving save. Houston really wanted that second goal before the half hour mark.
Dos would find their second off another corner kick minutes later. In the 30th minute, after the ball was cleared away, Leflore drove forward. drawing four players from the Earthquakes. He dropped the ball over to Maples who fired a rocket across goal to give the Dynamo their second goal of the night. With the assist, Leflore now has 6 on the season. Not bad for a defender.
As the half was coming to an end, Dos would earn another corner kick. This time, Gonzalez hit a nice ball to the back post where Ndoye headed down to Maples. The captain controlled, and with one move, turned and fired a shot to the back post to beat Ochoa once again. The center back would have his brace in this match and his third goal of the season, matching the amount of goals he had last season.
Seconds later, the visitors would look to try and strike again with a great counter from Ndoye. The striker drove the ball a good 70 yards and played it off to Murana on the right. He found Gonzalez between the penalty spot and the six-yard box, but it seemed like Gonzalez wasn’t expecting the ball and he wasn’t able to get a good touch on the ball. This gave the Earthquakes defender an opportunity for a goal line save which bounced of the post in the 45th minute.
The first half was somewhat even, San Jose moved the ball around the ball a lot but mainly in their own half with only a few opportunities to attack the goal defended by Valdez. On the other side of the coin, the Dynamo were the most dangerous team and capitalized on keeping the Earthquakes in their own half while cashing in on the turnovers very well.
The second half would be another match, the winds would change in favor of the home side.
In the 53rd minute, the home team would get lucky when a cross from Roberto Hategan was sliced by Maples into the back of the net to give San Jose some life. Right at the hour mark, the Earthquakes would level things up. A free kick from outside the box proved to be the perfect opportunity. Hategan took the shot from right outside the box. Valdez dove to his left but the rebound laned at the feet of the center back Casey Walls for a simple tap in and the equalizer with 30 minutes to be played in this match.
San Jose would rock the post in the 78th minute with a chance to take the lead. Now with the game tied 3-3 they wanted the full three points for themselves. As the game entered the last 10 minutes, both teams looked to do damage. In the 83rd minute, San Jose did just that. A ball would end up at the feet of Eduardo Blancas who cut to his left foot and fired an impossible shot to stop. The goal gave the home team all three points in a remarkable 4-3 comeback win for San Jose.
"We’re all disappointed in the result,” Bundy said after the match. “Obviously, it wasn’t good enough in the second half. The takeaways are basically that we’re just disappointed. We scored three goals, which is great. But when you’re up 3-1 at halftime on the road in any league, you have to find a way to see that out. We lost a momentum battle in the second half. They were able to put us under a lot of pressure.Every game is a playoff game now. It’s really important that we come back and learn from this. We will review what we can improve, and we’ll get ready for two home games in a row, which will be very important with this last push towards the playoffs.”
The win for San Jose put the Earthquakes ahead of Houston in the Western Conference standing. San Jose now have 38 points, in 5th place, and Dynamo 2 have 37 points, in 6th place.
The next match for Houston Dynamo 2 will be at home against Galaxy II on Sunday, August 27th. You can catch all the action on Apple MLS Season Pass. You can also make your way down to SaberCats Stadium as the guys will be going into their final stretch of season. There are only three more matches in Houston, including the one this weekend.
VAMOS LOS PIBES!!! HOUSTON CONTRA TODOS!!!
