Houston Dynamo vs LAFC: Highlights, stats, and quotes
(image via Aldo Canale)
The Houston Dynamo picked up their first win of the season, beating LAFC 1-0 Saturday night at Shell Energy Stadium behind a goal from Jack McGlynn.
MATCH SUMMARY
Houston Dynamo FC 1-0 LAFC
Saturday, April 5, 2025
Venue: Shell Energy Stadium - Houston, Texas
Referee: Filip Dujic
Assistants: Cory Richardson, Justin Howard
Fourth Official: Matthew Thompson
VAR: David Barrie
Attendance: 16,415
Weather: 60 degrees, cloudy
SCORING SUMMARY
HOU: Jack McGlynn (Griffin Dorsey) 58’
DISCIPLINE SUMMARY
HOU: Ezequiel Ponce (caution; delaying restart) 16’
HOU: Jack McGlynn (caution; foul) 24’
LAFC: David Martinez (caution; foul) 30’
LAFC: Adam Saldaña (caution; foul) 61’
LAFC: Eddie Segura (caution; foul) 74’
HOU: Sebastian Kowalczyk (caution; dissent) 75’
LINEUPS & STATS
Houston Dynamo FC: Blake Gillingham; Franco Escobar, Femi Awodesu, Erik Sviatchenko, Griffin Dorsey; Artur, Júnior Urso, Jack McGlynn (Ethan Bartlow 90’+4’); Sebastian Kowalczyk (Aliyu Ibrahim 81’), Ezequiel Ponce, Amine Bassi (Nico Lodeiro 87’)
Unused substitutes: Pedro Cruz, Daniel Steres, Erik Dueñas, Gabe Segal, Michael Halliday, Brooklyn Raines
Total shots: 11
Shots on goal: 3
Fouls: 16
Offside: 0
Corner kicks: 9
Saves: 2
LAFC: Hugo Lloris; Artem Smoliakov, Marlon Santos (Sergi Palencia 69’), Eddie Segura, Nkosi Tafari; Yaw Yeboah (Mark Delgado 79’), Adam Saldaña, Odin Holm (Timothy Tillman 69’); Denis Bouanga, Olivier Giroud (Nathan Ordaz 69’), David Martinez (Cengiz Ünder 69’)
Unused Substitutes: David Ochoa, Maxime Chanot, Aaron Long, Jude Terry
Total shots: 10
Shots on goal: 2
Fouls: 18
Offside: 1
Corner kicks: 4
Saves: 2
HOUSTON DYNAMO HEAD COACH BEN OLSEN
On the result:
“We are thrilled with the win. It has been a been a long month, but the group hung tight and got the result tonight. The whole team showed up and played to their capabilities. We had a good first half with the way we moved the ball and breaking them down consistently. Of course, I would still like for us to show a little bit more teeth when getting higher quality opportunities, but as far as sticking to the game plan and being combative against a physical team, we did great. We knew they were going to make some strong subs, which did change the game a little, but we took advantage of our guys on the pitch and hung in there until the final whistle.”
On the defensive performance:
“Blake (Gillingham) did great tonight. The kid has a certain mindset about him, and the moment does not seem too big for him. He has taken these opportunities to perform and has made a few big saves for us. We have also been missing Erik (Sviatchenko) in recent weeks, but to have him on the field for 90 minutes tonight was important. We saw how good of a defender he is, including reading the game and physically fighting for 50-50 balls. Erik is a high-level, experienced defender. Tonight’s performance was a big step for us and him to get through the early challenges this season, and hopefully he can sustain that physically moving forward.”
On Jack McGlynn’s performance:
“Nobody has questioned Jack (McGlynn’s) talent. Of course, there are some areas that he needs to grow in, and it’s our job as coaches to keep pushing him to be the best player he can be. Tonight was a great response from Jack, as last week was tough for him in Portland. I know this one's pretty special for him.”
HOUSTON DYNAMO MIDFIELDER JACK MCGLYNN
On the match:
“It was a great win tonight, and it’s been a long time coming. We have faced a tough stretch of games, so to finally get this win and get on the score sheet feels good.”
On how big this win is:
“We have talked about trying to get this win all week, and theconversation started with fighting for it. We did that tonight and earned a clean sheet win.”
On his goal:
“I got the ball wide, and I saw Griffin (Dorsey). He had a really good backheel to me, and the space opened up. (Ezequiel) Ponce made a great run (to pull the defender away), and I am confident enough to hit the ball from outside of the box, and it went in.”
