Houston Dynamo player ratings vs Sporting Kansas City
(image via Billy Mears)
The Houston Dynamo beat Sporting Kansas City 1-0 to advance to the Western Conference final. Let’s take a look at how everyone performed.
Starters
Steve Clark-8
Steve had himself a very impressive game, making a massive three saves to keep the shutout. His long distribution was not pretty but he got the job done in the short passing and sweeper aspects of the game.
Franco Escobar-10
Is there any better fullback in MLS come playoff time? Franco was massive on the defensive side of the ball, making three tackles and two blocks. He then went on to score the winning goal while making a game saving tackle following a save from Clark.
Micael-8
Another solid game from Micael as he continues to hold it down in the back alongside Sviatchenko. He was not a stand out, but his passing was great, and he barely put a foot wrong defensively.
Erik Sviatchenko-9
Erik has shown why he has had all the success he has had in his career with this performance. He played harder than anyone on the field, making great play after play. The save he made off the line was incredible and the reason the Dynamo managed to win the game as comfortably as they did.
Griffin Dorsey-7
Not the prettiest game from Dorsey, but he was effective when he needed to be. Going forward, he was dangerous but just lacked the level of service we expect from him. He played his heart out defensively and contributed to a great backline performance.
Artur-9
Artur performed like the veteran the Dynamo brought him in to be. He continues to be the personification of calmness in every aspect of the game. He made an incredible four tackles and two interceptions. His control of the midfield was also near perfect.
Hector Herrera-9
Hector bossed the midfield all game like we are just used to seeing at this point. Not much to discuss with his performance, just the usual great performance by Hector. He earned yet another assist on the set piece for Escobar’s goal.
Amine Bassi-6
Bassi was quiet in phases of this game. When he was involved, he was doing some interesting things with the ball, but they never came off like he intended them to. Even with his poor service, he still managed to carve out some chances and have an overall positive game.
Coco Carrasquilla-5
Coco continues to be disappointing in the playoffs, not making any game changing plays yet again. His defense was solid but he offered nearly nothing going forward. The final few minutes of the game he could’ve really done some damage as the game opened up, but he had too many poor passes.
Nelson Quinones-6
Nelson played fairly well and was a big help defensively on Kansas City’s dangerous wingers. He skewed a chance early in the game that he should have scored. For the form that Jake Davis has been in, Nelson had himself a good game.
Corey Baird-4
Corey was just invisible for most of this game, only making 29 touches and one shot. Defensively he played well, contributing to the pressing side of the game. Not a whole lot more from Corey, however.
Substitutes
Brad Smith-7
Brad Smith has a very clear role off the bench and that is to play defense and cross the ball. He does this role quite well in his limited minutes. He played very well in the closing minutes of the game to see out the result.
Aliyu Ibrahim-5
It’s hard to give Aliyu a mark being he only touched the ball nine times. He was not super active on the ball at all, and he did have his only chance saved by Tim Melia. You would like to see him get more involved than we have.
Luis Caicedo-N/A
Luis only played a handful of minutes in this game. He did his job well, but not enough time to give him a fair grade.
Head Coach
Ben Olsen-8
Ben Olsen got another gutsy performance out of this group of players. He is really letting the veteran players who have been there and done that shine in these close playoff matches. His usual lineup and shape worked once again as SKC never looked in this game at times. I’m interested to see how he’s going to setup this group against a hot LAFC side.
