Houston Dynamo at Chicago Fire: Highlights, stats, and quotes
(image via Houston Dynamo FC)
The Houston Dynamo advanced to the semifinals of the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup with a 4-1 win over the Chicago Fire Tuesday night. Amine Bassi, Aliyu Ibrahim, Nelson Quiñónes scored for the Dynamo in the victory. Houston will return home this weekend for a match with LAFC at Shell Energy Stadium Saturday night.
(Highlights coming soon)
MATCH SUMMARY
Chicago Fire FC 1 – 4 Houston Dynamo FC
Tuesday, June 6, 2023
Venue: SeatGeek Stadium - Bridgeview, Illinois
Referee: Marcos Deoliveira
Assistants: Matthew Seem, Artyom Arustamyan
Fourth Official: Alexander Beehler
Attendance: 7,512
Weather: 63 degrees, cloudy
SCORING SUMMARY
HOU: Amine Bassi (penalty kick) 12’
HOU: Aliyu Ibrahim (Coco Carrasquilla) 31’
CHI: Arnaud Souquet (Xherdan Shaqiri) 40’
HOU: Aliyu Ibrahim (unassisted) 59’
HOU: Nelson Quiñónes (Héctor Herrera) 74’
DISCIPLINE SUMMARY
CHI: Mauricio Pineda (caution; foul) 21’
CHI: Federico Navarro (caution; foul) 62’
CHI: Gastón Giménez (caution; foul) 63’
HOU: Chase Gasper (caution; foul) 89’
CHI: Kendall Burks (caution; foul) 90’
LINEUPS & STATS
Chicago Fire FC: Spencer Richey; Rafael Czichos (c), Mauricio Pineda, Arnaud Souquet (Kendall Burks 46’); Miguel Navarro (Jairo Torres 67’), Gastón Giménez (Georgios Koutsias 74’), Federico Navarro, Maren Haile-Selassie; Brian Gutiérrez, Xherdan Shaqiri; Kei Kamara
Unused Substitutes: Jeffrey Gal, Alonso Aceves, Kacper Przybylko, Fabian Herbers
Total shots: 13 (Kei Kamara 4)
Shots on goal: 5 (five players tied with 1)
Fouls: 15 (four players tied with 2)
Offside: 2 (Miguel Navarro and Kei Kamara tied with 1)
Corner kicks: 8
Saves: 2 (Spencer Richey 2)
Houston Dynamo FC: Andrew Tarbell; Franco Escobar, Micael, Erik Sviatchenko (Ethan Bartlow, 61’), Chase Gasper; Luís Caicedo, Héctor Herrera (C) (Iván Franco 84’), Adalberto Carrasquilla (Corey Baird, 61’); Amine Bassi (Artur 73’), Aliyu Ibrahim (Thor Úlfarsson 72’), Nelson Quiñónes
Unused substitutes: Steve Clark, Daniel Steres
Total shots: 11 (Nelson Quiñónes 3)
Shots on goal: 6 (three players tied with 2)
Fouls: 11 (Adalberto Carrasquilla and Aliyu Ibrahim tied with 3)
Offside: 6 (Aliyu Ibrahim 2)
Corner kicks: 2
Saves: 4 (Andrew Tarbell 4)
HOUSTON DYNAMO HEAD COACH BEN OLSEN
On the victory:
“Super excited to keep moving in this tournament. It's been a tough road trip. We've been away for eight, nine, 10 days. Vancouver, St. Louis then to (Chicago) and two tough losses for us. Coming home now, getting this result really helps stop that slide, but also, we advance in an important competition. One we've taken seriously from the start and we're looking forward to being in the semifinals. We are trying to create a culture of winning. That includes tournaments and making sure we go about them in the right way and I thought the guys’ mentality was great. We dodged a few bullets. They're a good team and things could've gone the other way early. Then they had to push the game and we caught them in transition. So, it was a good performance overall. A lot of guys showed up. Mostly everyone showed up and had to play to their ability and that's what you need in this league.”
On the response of the team after the first two games of the road trip:
“We go watch the film, we dissect it and we try to take some of the emotion out of it. I have been on record saying how poor the referee was (in St. Louis). I'm not a ‘blame the referee’ coach, but every now and then, you know, it's just what it is. He had a poor night (in Vancouver) and I thought they were two soft penalty kicks. I take some of that out of the equation and then we give one up on a set piece. So out of the run of play, there wasn't a lot more from a very tough team in St Louis. When you watch it back, there was a lot of good opportunities for us in their final third to get looks. We just weren't sharp on the night. We looked tired. This is again going to Vancouver, having some plane trouble there, going to St Louis, now coming straight to Chicago. This has been a tough stretch for these guys and I'm really proud that they were able to get the mentality right tonight and see us through to the semifinals.”
On what the victory means to him:
When we came here, we wanted to change the culture, wins help change your culture. You can talk about everything else, the infrastructure and how we do things in the locker room, but it's really about winning games. Whether it's the (Lamar Hunt) U.S. Open Cup or regular season, any win helps our organization and our team. We don't have the luxury, I think, to not take the Open Cup in a way that can help us both mentally and from an organizational standpoint to win. It was great to stop the slide of two games. It's nice to advance to the semifinals. Put yourself in a spot where you are two games away from a trophy. It won't be easy. Every round gets more difficult because teams bring their best. We're very thrilled to be one of the remaining four teams.”
On navigating the number of games during this strech:
“As much as there are games every two days, playing a game is tough. On the staff and the players, but it's great because you're forced to use a lot of different players, which forces you to increase your depth. We're going to need that over the next couple of weeks until we get an opportunity to exhale. Two games against LAFC are never easy, obviously. San Jose and Austin, we have real teams, every weekend. We're going to need all the depth that has helped us in this Open Cup. Looking forward to it. It's still a quick turnaround. It's not like we have a week to sit on this. We enjoy it tonight. We'll rest. We'll get back home tonight, which will be nice for everybody. We'll get away from each other because we're kind of sick of each other after this long road trip. We'll get back to work Thursday and all focus will be on LAFC.”
HOUSTON DYNAMO MIDFIELDER HÉCTOR HERRERA (TRANSLATED FROM SPANISH)
On the victory:
“First and foremost, this was an important victory. More than the triumph, the way the team played was key. We have not shown who we are in the last two, three league games. A team that is compact, tough to score against and we capitalized on the opportunities we had tonight. It was very important for the group to do that tonight as we prepare for this stretch of league matches. That will also be important for us in the semifinals of the Open Cup later this year.”
On his role as the captain of the team:
“The most important thing to me is that the team continues to win, continues to battle for the top spot and be in contention for titles. We are really optimistic about this opportunity to represent the city in the semifinals of the tournament and to win the competition. We will also focus on our form in league play so we can qualify for the postseason, that is very important to us.”
On Saturday’s game against LAFC:
“We have to recover well, prepare for a very tough opponent. We anticipate a really good game at home and then we go on the road to face the same opponent. Which to me, is one of the best, if not the best team in the league. They are the reigning champions. We have to prepare well, focus on the task at hand so we can be at our best. The game on Saturday will demand that from us.”
HOUSTON DYNAMO FORWARD ALIYU IBRAHIM
On his performance to help the team advance to the next round:
“It was a good game. We gave everything to win the game, and that’s important. We look forward to facing LAFC at home this weekend and will give everything again to get the three points.”
On continuing to grow within the team:
“It’s important for us to get to know each other in the games. I’m adapting with the team now and getting better.”
On progressing in the competition:
“I feel great. Of course, I’m happy with the two goals. Everyone on the team did great, and we’re looking for the trophy.”
HOUSTON DYNAMO FORWARD NELSON QUIÑÓNES (TRANSLATED FROM SPANISH)
On his goal:
“Happy to score my first goal for the team and to help the team reach the semifinals of this tournament. It took a lot of work to get here, this is what we think about day-to-day, from the morning to the evening, how can we be at our best to succeed. Now, we are one step closer to reaching the final and that is important to us. We want to win this tournament and we know that we have a lot of work ahead of us to reach that goal.”
On winning this game to close the road trip:
“Three consecutive road games are tough to navigate, very complicated. This victory helps us pick up our head after a tough start and now we shift our focus to the game at home on Saturday. We need the three points and we will do everything in our power to win on Saturday.”
On how his teammates congratulated him after the match:
“They were happy for me, that I was able to score my first goal for the team. Hopefully that is the first of many in my time with the club. Everyone came up to me to congratulate me, the coaches, staff and my teammates.”
