Houston Dynamo player ratings at FC Dallas

(image via Houston Dynamo FC)

The Dynamo earned a hard-fought point on the road against FC Dallas in a 1-1 draw Saturday night. Let’s look at how everyone performed.

Starters

Steve Clark-7

Steve was solid in between the sticks as usual, making three saves. He might have been able to do better on the goal, but you can’t fault him for nobody marking the Dallas player on a set piece.

Franco Escobar-9

Franco Escobar was immense in this game, making three tackles and three blocks. He did great to support the attack and midfield. He had a ten-minute period where he saved three goals.

Ethan Bartlow-5

Ethan put in an alright display in defense. You can make a case that he could have slid to cover Facundo Quignon after Coco lost him in the play leading to the goal. Not the greatest game from Bartlow, but not a disaster.

Micael-8

Micael continues to impress with the absence of Teenage at left center back. Very similar to Teenage, he was incredible passing the ball out of the back except for one bad giveaway. After that mistake he put out his own fire with a wonderful defensive play. He also had a whopping 11 clearances in this game.

Chase Gaspar-6

It was great to see Gaspar get his first start in MLS since last season. He had a very average performance, but for his situation that’s a positive. He had a few nice plays defending Jader Obrian, but also got burnt in moments. Going forward he kept it simple, and it worked for this game. Nothing brilliant, but a good foundation for what he can be as the season goes on.

Artur-5

Another disappointing game for who is usually Houston’s most consistent performer. Artur struggled to make a big impact on either side of the ball. He completed only 80% of his passes, which is very low compared to his usual standard.

Hector Herrera-8

Hector continued doing Hector things, making the Dallas defenders look silly at times. He was involved in everything the Dynamo did well and created the goal with a great delivery on a corner kick.

Coco Carrasquilla-3

Coco massively struggled for most of this game, failing to make an impact at all. His biggest impact came when he fouled a Dallas player and didn’t track his runner on the following set piece resulting in their goal.

Amine Bassi-6

Bassi looked much better playing on the right side than he has on the left. He was very active on the ball, especially in the first half. He had four shot creating actions, but never had that killer play the Dynamo needed out of him.

Ibrahim Aliyu-4

Aliyu started this game on the left wing instead of as a striker and he was not great. His passing was extremely poor, but he did get back a ton on defense. Tons of room for improvement from the newest signing.

Sebas Ferreira-4

Ferreira was finally given his first start in MLS since week one and he did not impress much. He didn’t get a lot of service and he looked alright when he was on the ball. A bit of an invisible game from Sebas and it was hard to tell if that was all him or just bad service.

Substitutes

Nelson Quinones-6

Nelson came on with 35 minutes to go and looked very lively. It seems to be the trend with Nelson that he looks electric, but never produces anything with it. He definitely added a spark to improve the offense in the second half.

Thor Ulfarsson-8

Thor came on and looked extremely hungry to score the equalizer and he did just that. He only made four touches and looked dangerous with all of them. What a header that was to get the Dynamo a well-earned point.

Brad Smith-5

Smith came on for Gaspar with 17 minutes to go. He looked alright, which is an improvement on the bad cameos he has had. There was nothing much of note with his performance and that’s not the worst thing when looking at his recent performances.

Corey Baird-5

Corey also came on with 17 to go. He was a bit invisible going forward, but he worked very hard for the team. Like Smith, not much of note with his short cameo.

Ivan Franco-N/A

Franco only played six minutes, so not much to discuss with him.

Coach

Ben Olsen-7

Olsen went and started with a bit more of an attacking setup while also keeping a strong defensive shape. The Dynamo were still not amazing going forward, but there are building blocks to work on going forward. The team played hard for Ben and a point on the road against a team in good form is a solid result.