Houston Dynamo player ratings vs LAFC
(image via Houston Dynamo FC)
With the best performance of the season, the Dynamo demolished LAFC at home 4-0. Let’s take a look at how everyone performed.
Starters
Steve Clark-7
Not the busiest night for Steve in goal, but he dealt with everything that came his way to perfection. He had a great night with his feet as he was able to play the ball out of danger to combat LAFC’s press.
Franco Escobar-9
Franco decided to put on his best performance in a Dynamo shirt against his former club. Escobar dominated his side of the field against MVP candidate Denis Bouanga. Escobar managed to also put in an incredible offensive display scoring a goal and continuously transitioning the ball into the attack.
Erik Sviatchenko-7
Another solid professional performance for Houston’s newest center back. He was excellent from deep positions, making multiple clearances. He did get beat by Bouanga a few times but was able to recover and prevent too much danger each time.
Micael-9
Another massive performance by the young Brazilian. He was a giant presence in the box, making three blocks on the night to go along with three interceptions. His passing out of the back was also superb to round out an almost perfect night for the defender.
Chase Gasper-N/A
Sadly, Gasper had to exit the game just 24 minutes in. Hopefully, Chase recovers as soon as possible.
Artur-9
Artur was a constant disruption to everything LAFC tried to do in midfield. The Brazilian made five tackles and completed 93% of his passes. He played a great ball out to Nelson Quinones to draw the penalty for the second goal.
Hector Herrera-10
Is it possible for a midfielder to play any better than that? Hector dominated both sides of the ball having ten shot-creating actions, three blocks, and three tackles. His ability to build up an attack is better than just about anyone we have seen play in MLS. Just watch his movement and pass for Franco Escobar’s goal. He is unreal!
Amine Bassi-9
Once again Bassi played in the middle of the field and once again he dominated the attacking side of the midfield. His off-ball movement to create the space for Nelson’s goal was extremely intelligent. He was constantly getting his head up and looking to advance the attack through Aliyu, Nelson, and Thor. He played a brilliant pass to Thor to nearly create a fifth goal.
Nelson Quinones-9
Nelson is finally developing into the great winger the Dynamo think he can be. He was incredibly direct every time he received the ball and this created all sorts of problems for their right back, Ryan Hollingshead. He scored the opening goal of the game from a great curling effort that was helped on by a deflection. He also created the penalty for the second goal. There are still parts of his game on the ball he needs to clean up, but that did not effect him much on the night.
Coco Carrasquilla-9
This is what we need to be seeing from Coco on a weekly basis. He is just so good when he is allowed to be a driving force in the open field. He had another great outside the foot pass to create a goal, this time for Nelson Quinones. He was everywhere on that flank, playing both sides of the ball. He would have scored a goal for himself if it wasn’t for the post.
Aliyu Ibrahim-8
Aliyu just knows how to create chaos going forward for the Dynamo. He was able to create two goals on the night through his great pressing ability. It was unfortunate not to see him get a goal of his own, but an all-around impressive night.
Substitutes
Daniel Steres-8
Steres came in for Gasper when he was subbed out due to injury. He continues to show his versatility playing out on the left side of the defense. He was superb defensively but offered nothing going forward.
Corey Baird-8
Corey came on for Nelson Quinones and immediately picked up right where Nelson left off, scoring a goal of his own just seven minutes after coming on. His ability to hold the ball and combine with Herrera in the build to the fourth goal was incredible and a really underrated aspect of his game that coaches love.
Ethan Barltow and Luis Caicedo-6
I’ll group them together being they just came on to see out the game when LAFC have already seemed to be out of it. Neither touched the ball much at all nor made a real impact on the game. Neither did anything wrong as well.
Thor Ulfarsson-7
Thor also came on with very little time to impact the match. He made a really good run in behind and set up Coco for what should have been an easy goal.
Head Coach
Brendan Burke-10
I’ll give Brendan a ten because stepping into a game in this circumstance is never easy, even for a coach who has led his own team before. The team was setup perfectly to disrupt LAFC’s game and counter attack them when they were down. The subs were well timed and made a big impact on the game. The Dynamo are lucky to have such a good assistant to Ben Olsen.
