Houston Dynamo at St. Louis CITY SC: Highlights, stats, and quotes
(image via Houston Dynamo FC)
The Houston Dynamo lost on the road again, this time falling to St. Louis CITY 3-0. The Dynamo are back in action Tuesday night against the Chicago Fire in the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup quarterfinals.
MATCH SUMMARY
St. Louis CITY SC 3 – 0 Houston Dynamo FC
Saturday, June 3, 2023
Venue: CITPARK - St. Louis, Missouri
Referee: Joe Dickerson
Assistants: Ben Pilgrim, Kali Smith
Fourth Official: Walt Heatherly
VAR: Younes Markachi
Attendance: 22,423
Weather: 87 degrees, sunny
SCORING SUMMARY
STL: Eduard Löwen (penalty kick) 9’
STL: Tomás Ostrák (Lucas Bartlett) 51’
STL: Nicholas Gioacchini (penalty kick) 83’
DISCIPLINE SUMMARY
HOU: Luis Caicedo (caution; foul) 45+2’
STL: Njabulo Blom (caution; dissent) 45+5’
HOU: Adalberto Carrasquilla (caution; dissent) 45+5’
HOU: Iván Franco (caution; foul) 45+7’
STL: Aziel Jackson (caution; foul) 69’
HOU: Ethan Bartlow (caution; foul) 78’
STL: Rasmus Alm (caution; foul) 90+1’
LINEUPS & STATS
St. Louis CITY SC: Roman Bürki ©; Kyle Hiebert, Tim Parker, Lucas Bartlett, Jake Nerwinski (Joshua Yaro 89’); Eduard Löwen, Njabulo Blom, Tomás Ostrák (Rasmus Alm 65’); Célio Pompeu (Isak Jensen 89’), Indiana Vassilev (Aziel Jackson 65’), Nicholas Gioacchini (John Nelson 89’)
Unused Substitutes: Ben Lundt, Akil Watts, Jonathan Bell, Miguel Perez
Total shots: 11 (Eduard Löwen 4)
Shots on goal: 5 (Eduard Löwen 2)
Fouls: 13 (three players tied with 2)
Offside: 2 (Eduard Löwen and Nicholas Gioacchini tied with 1)
Corner kicks: 7
Saves: 4 (Roman Bürki 4)
Houston Dynamo FC: Steve Clark ©; Chase Gasper (Franco Escobar 69’), Erik Sviatchenko (Micael 60’), Ethan Bartlow, Daniel Steres; Luís Caicedo, Artur (Héctor Herrera 60’), Adalberto Carrasquilla (Brooklyn Raines 84’); Corey Baird, Aliyu Ibrahim (Thorleifur Úlfarsson 69’), Iván Franco
Unused substitutes: Andrew Tarbell, Brad Smith, Sebastián Ferreira, Griffin Dorsey
Total shots: 16 (Corey Baird 3)
Shots on goal: 4 (four players tied with 1)
Fouls: 14 (Luis Caicedo 3)
Offside: 3 (Iván Franco 2)
Corner kicks: 6
Saves: 2 (Steve Clark 2)
HOUSTON DYNAMO HEAD COACH BEN OLSEN
On takeaways from the game:
“It was a really good response. I know that’s hard to say when we lost 3-0. It was a really good response emotionally to a very tough team that plays physically. I thought we matched them in that way. It’s a great venue. It’s a great fanbase. It’s a wonderful addition to the league. The referee was extremely poor today, and I’ve bit my tongue. Every week we say it and say it. It’s just not good enough. He got the big ones wrong, and he got the little ones constantly wrong throughout the entire game. He just had a very poor night. I’m tired of thinking that and watching these games back. Again, I’ve been warned by everyone in Houston that it’s going to be tough. It’s going to be tough to dig out of this. Part of that is the perception of this team and not getting a fair shake in these games. I’m seeing it now, over and over. I haven’t said anything because I don’t want to go there, especially after a 3-0 loss when it looks like sours grapes, but he was awful tonight. He got caught up in the crowd. It’s an exciting place, and sometimes referees get excited. Maybe this is too good a venue to have certain referees at. Maybe that’s something they should think about, but it wasn’t even close today. A soft penalty. The third one wasn’t even a penalty. Take away those and just constantly poor calls. Giving throw ins, corners, fouls, everything was going their way. The other part is, we had so many chances and so many good looks, whether it's just a final ball away, it goes back to that recurring theme that we've had. That we don't reward ourselves for so much quality that we have and the way we build and the way we create the right numbers and the right situations, and then we just let ourselves down. That part is certainly on us that we don't get a goal. As far as when we look back on this and see the opportunities and see that we’re one ball away or a very simple soccer play to get more looks on goal, I think we’ll be disappointed in ourselves in that way. So, the emotional response from the last game I really liked. I’d go to battle with that team any day of the week.”
On the lineup changes in the match:
“We go game-to-game here. It’s two days’ rest. Certain guys have more minutes. Certain guys are at different ages. There are some tactical solutions in there. There is a little bit of an eye on the turnover. Really, this was about a response to the Vancouver game and putting up the best team possible to be safe, but also tactically the right choices. Again, for a 3-0 game, I’m proud of them. We played very well. We just didn't reward ourselves with some of the final stuff that was there. In the first half the two-versus-ones, good looks on goal, a little bit off on the final ball. It's frustrating. The guys are frustrated in there from a soccer standpoint that we didn't reward ourselves again. But they’re also tired of this they're tired of this refereeing stuff too. We don't want to use it as an excuse, or we haven't up until this point, but today we've had enough.”
HOUSTON DYNAMO DEFENDER ERIK SVIATCHENKO
On takeaways from the game:
“It’s a tough game and tough opponent, but I felt like our gameplan was alright. We set up a bit lower. We knew that they would be coming at us aggressively. I felt that we dealt okay with the first 25 minutes and hit them the other way with some good through balls. If we were a little bit more efficient, then we could have had a bigger chance than we had in the first half. It’s just annoying to go away and concede two penalties and a set piece. When it’s not in open play, it’s always annoying. Again, these games are tough. It’s so easy to say, but we need to regroup for another important game in a couple of days. It was a tough game, and it’s annoying to lose, especially when you felt you had some opportunities in the game with the gameplan we had.”
On the altercation at the end of the first half:
“It happened so quick, and I didn't really see it. It was just annoying that we get ourselves in situations where we might have a red card or not have a red card. It's not so much the case of it's a red or yellow card. It's more that we have had way too many red cards in the last couple of games. We need to be much more disciplined in that sense because it's going to change the dynamic of the game if we go down to 10. Luckily for us it didn't. But again, it's too many red cards this season.”
On the importance of Tuesday’s match in the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup:
“It is for sure a very important stretch coming up. It is tough to lose games, especially when we have had a long streak of winning games. Now suddenly we come into two losses in a row, which never suits a team. On the other hand, the games just come so quickly, one after the other, and it's another opportunity for us as you mentioned, to go and get a trophy. That's the mentality that people need to be hungry. Not many people in their career win (a trophy). They might have played for 10 years and not won anything. I know for a fact how much it means to win. This is the easiest way in some way, to go to the final. That means energy. That effort has to be put in and then you have a chance. Now it's about getting our feet up and recovering. Then we prepare for Chicago. It's going to be a tough away game again.”
On the support of traveling fans:
“We said hi to our supporters and acknowledged the fact that they were there and supporting us even though that they probably weren't able to be as loud because of the home fans. I'm happy that they were there and not so happy that we couldn't give them a better result.”
