Houston Dynamo player ratings at Real Salt Lake

(image via Houston Dynamo FC)

The winning run continued for the Dynamo with a 3-0 win on the road against Real Salt Lake. Let’s take a look at how everyone performed.

Starters

Steve Clark-7

Steve might as well have stayed at home for this game as RSL only managed one shot on target the whole game. He had almost nothing to do all night so we couldn’t score him too high, but also couldn’t score him low.

Brad Smith-8

It was awesome to see Brad Smith start again and go 70 minutes in a great all-around performance. He was a bit shaky at times defensively, but was excellent going forward. His cross for the first goal was as accurate as you can get. Expect to see more minutes from him going forward.

Micael-8

Micael is back to doing what he did best before the Leagues Cup break. He just keeps it simple and plays very solid defense. Passing was sharp and he was very dominant in the air.

Ethan Bartlow-7

Back into the starting lineup, Bartlow had another good performance. His defending was solid as ever, but his passing was still incredibly shaky at times. He really needs to do better in that regard going forward if he wants to keep a starting spot.

Daniel Steres-9

One of Daniel’s best performances this season. He was extremely dominant at the back, making two tackles and three interceptions. He got forward when he needed to as well and even got on the score sheet.

Luis Caicedo-7

Another performance where Caicedo just does what you need him to do. He wasn’t a standout by any means but kept the play simple and did what he needed to do for his team. Players like him are so needed in today’s game.

Hector Herrera-8

Hector only played the first half but he was able to make his mark on the game more than most players would have. He picked out an incredible pass for Daniel Steres to get his eighth assist of the season in MLS and nearly led the team in touches in only 45 minutes. Herrera was rightly pulled off at half time to save his energy for a tough game against Columbus coming up.

Sebastian Kowalczyk-7

Kowalczyk had a really promising first start for his new team. Loved his effort on both sides of the ball. He was very active in trying to get attacks going. You could see he lacked the chemistry with his new teammates, but that is to be expected. Great game to build off.

Ivan Franco-9

This was the best performance Ivan has had in a Dynamo shirt so far. He was everywhere in the first half combining with Brad Smith on the left side. He played in Smith to assist the first goal of the game and then made a great run and pulled in two defenders to allow Herrera all the time in the world to pick out Steres for the second goal. This was the type of performance Ivan was brought here to do regularly. Hopefully we see more of that.

Aliyu Ibrahim-8

Very happy with the way Aliyu has rebounded with his first start in a few weeks. He was excellent playing on the wing where his pace was able to be shown off more frequently. His defensive work was terrific and was very involved in the attack. He was able to cap off the night with a brilliant assist to Coco.

Corey Baird-8

Make that ten goals on the year now for Corey Baird! His effort and ability to make the right runs constantly is giving defenses all sorts of problems lately. His finish was easy but effective to score the opening goal of the game. For a player who is a bit limited technically, getting him at the striker position to finish off plays is great coaching from Ben.

Substitutes

Artur-8

Artur came on at half time for Herrera and did an excellent job seeing the game out. His passing was near perfect, and his defensive work was phenomenal. His ability to win the ball back and combine with Coco for the third goal was something special.

Coco Carrasquilla-9

Coco came on for Ivan Franco and picked up right where Franco left off. His control over the game as a whole was too much for RSL to handle. He was just popping up in all sorts of areas and creating space and options for his teammates. He then found the back of the net with an excellent finish.

Griffin Dorsey-6

Dorsey came on and played on the wing rather than the right back position he has been playing recently. He did well to help the team see out the win but did not do much of anything to make him a standout performer.

Franco Escobar-6

Escobar came in for Brad Smith to add a more defensive presence in the back line. You can almost copy and paste what was said about Dorsey for this one, he was solid, but nothing more than that.

Amine Bassi-N/A

The game was already 3-0 when he came on. There was not much for him to have contributed here.

Head Coach

Ben Olsen-10

Ben knew he needed to rest a lot of players after going 120 minutes on Wednesday. With massive rotations to the lineup, his team did not miss a beat. That shows how motivated Ben has this group of players, whether it’s the starters or the bench players fighting for minutes. Olsen completely outcoached Pablo Mastroeni for the second game in a row in every aspect of the match.