Houston Dynamo player ratings vs St. Louis CITY SC

(image via concacaf.com)

The Houston Dynamo have knocked out St Louis CITY SC on the away goals tiebreaker following their 1-0 win last night in the Concacaf Champions Cup. Let’s take a look at how everyone performed.

Starters

Steve Clark-8

A really solid performance in goal once again for Steve. He made three saves in this game and kept his first shutout of the season. The save he made on Samuel Adeniran in the first half was incredible and is a huge reason the Dynamo are advancing. Hopefully his injury isn’t too serious and we can see him get back to his best soon.

Griffin Dorsey-5

Another mediocre performance by Dorsey this season. Unfortunately, he just seems to be lacking that explosiveness we saw towards the end of 2023. He is performing alright defensively but he’s just not getting it done on the offensive end.

Ethan Bartlow-8

This was the first start of the year for Bartlow, and he made it a good one. He struggled a bit in the air, per usual, but he made multiple key interventions throughout the 90 minutes including a game saving recovery tackle on Adeniran.

Micael-7

Micael continued his strong start to the campaign with yet another solid performance. He barely gave St Louis a sniff at goal in the entire half he played. It does seem like he picked up an injury before being subbed off at half time. Hope this is nothing serious.

Daniel Steres-9 (MOTM)

Daniel also made his first start of the season, and he had one of his finest performances for the Dynamo. He played out wide in the inverted left back role and was unbeatable all night. He even showed up offensively making some wonderful off ball runs that were not picked out properly. His instincts to get in the right positions offensively can go under the radar at times, but this time he was rewarded with the assist to Sviatchenko to win the game.

Artur-7

This was your typical Artur performance where he quietly does the dirty work and keeps possession well for the team. Not a standout night for Artur but he was massively important to getting the result. That odd spin move he did in the second half was hilarious, but let’s hope he doesn’t try to pull that one out again.

Jan Gregus-8

Calm, cool, and collected are the only three words you need to describe Jan’s first start for the Dynamo. He was everywhere and barely put a foot wrong for the entire match. This is looking like an incredibly smart signing from Pat Onstad.

Coco Carrasquilla-5

This was a much more quiet game for Coco than the last two. He played his role fine but didn’t do much to stand out. He was an early sub as well, so he didn’t get to be on the field for the transition moments he excels at.

Sebastian Kowalczyk-6

I am just loving how much Kowalczyk looks to get on the ball every opportunity he can. He looked a bit tired at moments in this game and might need a rest soon. He was a constant threat throughout the game, but unfortunately never was able to add his name to the scoresheet.

Brad Smith-2

Hopefully this is the last time we will see Brad Smith starting on the wing now that some more players are available for selection. He put in a good 60 minutes of cardio but offered not much of anything else.

Gabe Segal-3

Would have loved to see Gabe continue where he left off last week by scoring another goal but he was so poor with his finishing. He definitely put in the work for the team all night and got in some great positions. His finishing needs to improve along with his vision as he could’ve played in Kowalczyk for a tap in but instead opted for a weak shot that got blocked.

Substitutes

Erik Sviatchenko-8

Erik shut me up with the winning goal after being very critical of his performances in the first two games. Outside of the goal, he was excellent defensively and looked like the dominant Sviatchenko of last season. Excited to see him continue this into the coming weeks.

Franco Escobar-7

Escobar came in at left back and picked up where Steres left off playing some excellent team defense. It was amazing to see Escobar back in the team after a short injury layoff. Great to get him some minutes and match fitness coming into this crazy schedule.

Amine Bassi-5

As with Escobar, it was great to see Bassi get on the field and gain some match sharpness. He came on after the goal, so he did not get to see the ball as much as he would have liked. He looked fine in his limited opportunities. Just nothing special.

Aliyu Ibrahim-4

This was not Aliyu’s brightest game. He put in the work defensively, but he was nonexistent going forward. He was continuously out of position, and it killed some promising counter attacking opportunities.

Tate Schmitt-N/A

Tate was subbed on for Dorsey after the 80-minute mark, so I can’t give him a fair rating. What I can say is that he looked really good in that attacking right back role and will be perfectly fine stepping in for Dorsey if the injury is serious.

Head Coach

Ben Olsen-9

Ben rotated the team a ton in an important match and still managed to get the result he needed. A big sign of an excellent coach is when the depth pieces can come in and the team still performs at a high level. Beating a strong team like St Louis in international competition with no DPs is a huge accomplishment.