Houston Dynamo player ratings vs Real Salt Lake

(image via Billy Mears)

What night to be a Dynamo fan!! The Houston Dynamo took down Real Salt Lake 3-1 in the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup semifinal. Let’s take a look at how everyone performed.

Starters

Andrew Tarbell-5

Surprising to some, Tarbell came back into the lineup for the first time after his mistake against Orlando. He was just ok, nothing super special. He could’ve done better on the goal for sure, but not a massive mistake by any means.

Franco Escobar-8

Escobar put in an incredible shift on both sides of the ball. He carried the team forward and linked up with Nelson Quinones superbly. His defense was solid, winning all five of his duels to go along with four interceptions.

Micael-8

Micael did a solid job defending up until his substitution. His passing was great and he contributed to quickly breaking the press down the left side that consistently got Nelson into great areas. RSL barely got a sniff of the goal while he was on the field outside of the goal scored.

Erik Sviatchenko-9

Erik may have been the one to give up his marker on the goal RSL scored but he also put out so many fires and made multiple game saving plays. His positioning when defending transition plays was immense and barely allowed RSL out of their half. His distribution was incredible as always.

Griffin Dorsey-7

Another great shift from Dorsey, where he was the biggest threat on the right side. His defending and work rate was great but his service was very inconsistent and at times horrible. He got into some great areas, he just needs to clean up the final ball a bit more. To be fair to him, a lot of those moments came late on when he was clearly tired.

Artur-9

Artur was calm as ever, dominating RSL’s midfield all night long. The Brazilian was constantly suffocating RSL’s players in the transition game as Houston saw nearly 70% possession. Going forward he was excellent, supplying the more forward midfielders.

Hector Herrera-9

Another captain’s performance where Herrera led by example, controlling every area of the field. His passing was dynamic and created multiple chances. His goal was smartly put away between three defenders. His defense was also exceptional with four tackles won.

Amine Bassi-10

Bassi has finally had the type of game he was brough in to do consistently. He was incredibly dynamic with his passing and dribbling. He assisted all three of the goals with the first one being one of the calmest passes in the box I have seen. Most players shoot the ball into the wall of defenders in that spot.

Coco Carrasquilla-10

While Coco has been an incredible player for years now, we have been waiting for his moment to really grab a game and win it himself. This was that game. His ability to pick up the ball and drive at defenders is one of the best in the country. His work rate was also superb, never letting the RSL defense and midfield rest for a second. It’s going to be really hard to keep him around after these last two performances.

Nelson Quinones-8

While still sloppy at times in the box, his ability to get into dangerous areas is incredible. He is starting to clean up that final ball and improving every game. Emeka Eneli will have nightmares about having to defend Nelson’s pace again on Saturday. His defense and work rate were also incredibly impressive for the entire 120 minutes.

Corey Baird-6

Corey led the line well with his great work rate. He unfortunately did not see enough of the ball in the areas you want him to see him in. He did score a goal that was ruled offside for cutting off Cristian Arango while in an offside position. A tight call, but the correct call for sure.

Substitutes

Aliyu Ibrahim-4

Just not good enough in front of goal once again. His work rate and movement is impressive, but when you can’t score those easy chances it’s hard to stay in the lineup. There is so much room for Aliyu to grow and I look forward to seeing him hit another level in the future. For now, just not good enough.

Ethan Bartlow-8

Ethan came on for Micael and did not put a foot wrong. RSL barely had a look at goal after Ethan was on. Just an all-around great performance from a player who hasn’t seen a lot of minutes lately.

Luis Caicedo-8

Caicedo got his first goal for the Dynamo to seal their path to the Open Cup final. He came on for Herrera and did a great job solidifying the midfield while everyone was tired. Really nice to see his hard work paid off with a goal.

Brad Smith and Daniel Steres-N/A

Both came on after Coco’s goal and did a solid job seeing out the game. Not a whole lot of minutes to judge them on.

Head Coach

Ben Olsen-9

Olsen looks to have unlocked the perfect combination of Coco and Bassi playing together. Ben deserves a lot of credit for getting the team into a cup final in his first season and now he turns his attention to getting them back into the playoffs.