Houston Dynamo at Columbus Crew player ratings

(image via Sam Fahmi/MassiveReport.com)

The Dynamo fought hard for a tough road result in a 0-0 draw with the Columbus Crew. Let’s take a look at how everyone performed.

Starters

Andrew Tarbell-8 (6.12 average this season)

Tarbell had himself a game, making five saves and earning his first shutout of the year. What stops him from a man of the match performance is that some of the saves were a bit routine, but it was a great performance in total.

Griffin Dorsey-7 (6.83 average this season)

Dorsey had a spectacular game defensively shutting down a lot of what Max Arfsten was trying to do. Unfortunately, his offensive performance was quite weak and he didn’t contribute much in that regard.

Ethan Bartlow-9 *Man of the Match* (5.83 average this season)

Ethan was incredible and reminded everyone how solid of a defender he can be. He barely put a foot wrong against a strong offensive team. His play out of the back was also much improved from the first two matches.

Obafemi Awodesu-8.5 (7.33 average this season)

Like Ethan, Femi barely put a foot wrong against a tough opponent. He still had a few shaky moments where you can see the inexperience, but he continues to improve under the great guidance that Ben Olsen’s staff provides to defensive players.

Franco Escobar-6.5

Absolutely gutted for Escobar, who was playing pretty well for the first 30 minutes before picking up another injury. Hopefully he gets healthy soon as the lack of defensive bodies is getting concerning.

Artur-8.5 (6 average this season)

Artur answered my criticisms last week with a much improved performance against a team that builds through the midfield in a silky fashion. Darlington Nagbe still did his thing but was nullified in points due to Artur’s strong defensive presence.

Jack McGlynn-6.5 (5.67 average this season)

Jack had an improved showing from the Miami match but still did not come close to the magical player he looked like against FC Dallas on opening day. He covered a lot of ground and had a disciplined game. He just never really stood out in this one.

Amine Bassi-6.5 (5.67 average this season)

A similar story to Jack as Bassi looked much better than last week, but failed to really stand out in a meaningful way. He put his all out on the field to help with the defensive performance but failed to create many opportunities.

Sebastian Kowalczyk-5.5 (6.17 average this season)

Kowalczyk continues to be an all effort, little end-product player. He played his heart out and played a well-rounded defensive game. He just looked lost going forward in a position where he is expected to stretch the field a bit.

Nicolas Lodeiro-5.5 (6 average this season)

Like Bassi and Kowalczyk, Lodeiro played a hard game, he just failed to produce much offensively. I liked the way he drifted to the opposite flank to create overloads. That could lead to some serious scoring opportunities down the road.

Ezequiel Ponce-7 (5.17 average this season)

Ponce had a great game despite not scoring. He was excellent at doing the dirty work, which is something Olsen loves at the nine position. This reminded me a lot of one of those solid Corey Baird performances from 2023.

Substitutes

Daniel Steres-8 (7.17 average this season)

He came on in the first half for the injured Escobar and did what Steres does. He showed some fantastic defense with some very well disciplined positioning to keep the Crew offense in check. It was everything you could’ve asked for from Steres.

Erik Dueñas-6

Dueñas earned some more minutes after a solid display against Miami and had some real ups and downs in this game. His work rate was superb and he fought for every lose ball despite his small size. He had one really bad giveaway that led to a poor foul.

Ibrahim Aliyu and Brooklyn Raines-N/A

Neither players played long enough to make a huge impact on the game. Aliyu nearly scored if it wasn’t for an incredible tackle from a Crew defender. Brooklyn worked hard and got the job done.

Head Coach

Ben Olsen-8.5 (5.83 average this season)

Ben made some changes and really sparked a much needed defensive and gritty performance from the Dynamo. This was a match where the team performance as a whole was the star of the show. The point is something to build from and it showed why Ben had so much success on the road last season.