Houston Dynamo player ratings at Sporting Kansas City

(image via Houston Dynamo FC)

The Houston Dynamo’s unbeaten run came to an end with a 2-1 road loss to Sporting Kansas City. Let’s take a look at how everyone performed.

Starters

Steve Clark-6

Can’t be too harsh on Steve when neither goal was easy to save. You would love to see him save a penalty, but we know that is not one of his strengths. Just an overall decent performance from Steve.

Brad Smith-3

Really poor game from Brad Smith on both sides of the ball. Most of Kansas City’s dangerous attacks came from their right side. Smith struggled to keep up with Khiry Shelton of all players. He was caught marking nobody on the second goal while a winger got a free cross in on his side. Going forward his deliveries were also extremely poor.

Teenage Hadebe-7

Not the greatest game defensively from Teenage. He did manage to bail out some poor passing from the midfield on a few occasions. His goal could not have come on at a better time. Would’ve liked to him play in the second half, but with the final on Wednesday, the sub made sense.

Ethan Bartlow-6

Hard to grade Bartlow when he was so poor defensively, but he was able to create the two best chances of the night going forward. His assist to Teenage with his groin was lucky, but awesome to see. He then turned into the best winger on the team to end the game and created a chance for Corey Baird.

Franco Esobar-6

Franco put in a solid display but was nothing special. He may have positioned himself a bit high at times with how far forward Smith was playing. It is maybe just hard to adjust when he is so used to playing on the left right now. Going forward he was not great, but not awful either.

Luis Caicedo-8

Caicedo was great once again, dominating the midfield and controlling possession. He won the ball back multiple times, and his passing was near perfect at 94%. As always, Caicedo comes in and does the job brilliantly.

Hector Herrera-8

Per usual, Hector led the team in touches by far and was at the heart of everything the Dynamo did. He was the only midfielder to create any sort of chances for the team. We all know what Herrera does and brings to this team, and this was more of the same.

Coco Carrasquilla-5

With how many touches Coco had in this game, he really didn’t make a huge impact. He continues to carry the ball forward excellently and struggle in the important forward positions. Coco needs to do better in these types of games.

Sebastian Kowalczyk-2

That was the first time Kowalczyk had looked really bad in a Dynamo jersey. He gave away the early penalty with a clear hand ball. Going forward, he was nearly invisible, creating no real chances. Defensively, he gave Brad Smith no help and was a big reason for Brad’s poor performance.

Nelson Quinones-3

He only played the first half and was extremely inefficient with his touches. The only thing of note he did was draw the red card before half time. He was lucky not to pick up a serious injury on that play. Needs to improve on the ball soon.

Aliyu Ibrahim-5

Aliyu’s work rate was immense and his ability to lead the line has improved dramatically. However, his end product in the box continues to be nearly nonexistent. He was not able to register a single shot in this game. 

Substitutes

Corey Baird-3

Baird came on at halftime and picked up where Nelson Quinones left off. Corey did not see a whole lot of the ball and failed to convert the best chance of the game. It was an excellent save from Tim Melia, but you would still expect Corey to finish with the form he is in.

Micael-8

Micael came on at halftime and put in a nice shift for the team. He did not have a whole lot to do as the team dominated possession in the second half. His passing was excellent and he didn’t put a foot wrong.

Artur-6

This was a weird sub to make as he came in for Kowalzcyk, who is more of a forward player. Artur was fine, just was not put in a position to make a real impact on this game with Caicedo already on the field.

Griffin Dorsey-7

Dorsey came on late and in a more forward position than usual. He played a role in creating a few chances. He did pick up a yellow card and will miss the Dallas game sadly. Wish he would’ve seen more time on the field.

Ivan Franco-N/A

Came on late and had no real impact on the game. Hard to give him a real grading with how late he came on and how little he saw the ball.

Head Coach

Ben Olsen-4

Olsen got the starting lineup and tactics right, initially. The team did not respond as well as they should have following the red card. His substitutes were a bit odd when looking at this game individually. Looking at the final Wednesday, they start to make sense, but this isn’t a rating for how he prepares for Wednesday. Overall, it was just not a great game from the team as a whole.