Houston Dynamo vs San Jose Earthquakes: Highlights, stats, and quotes
(image via Billy Mears)
The Houston Dynamo scored twice early on then waited out a long weather delay before scoring two more goals to defeat the San Jose Earthquakes 4-1 Wednesday night. Amine Bassi and Corey Baird scored in the first five minutes of the match and Thor Ulfarsson came off the bench to bag a brace.
MATCH SUMMARY
Houston Dynamo FC 4-1 San Jose Earthquakes
Wednesday, June 21, 2023
Venue: Shell Energy Stadium - Houston, Texas
Referee: Ismir Pekmic
Assistants: Kevin Lock, Diego Blas
Fourth Official: Matthew Thompson
VAR: Alejandro Mariscal
Attendance: 14,249
Weather: 92 degrees, partly cloudy
SCORING SUMMARY
HOU: Amine Bassi (unassisted) 3’
HOU: Corey Baird (Nelson Quiñónes) 5’
SJ: Carlos Akapo (Cristian Espinoza) 41’
HOU: Thorleifur Úlfarsson (Héctor Herrera) 77’
HOU: Thorleifur Úlfarsson (Héctor Herrera) 89’
DISCIPLINE SUMMARY
HOU: Erik Sviatchenko (caution; foul) 37’
SJ: Jeremy Ebobisse (caution; foul) 38’
SJ: Ousseni Bouda (caution; foul) 50’
SJ: Judson (caution; foul) 67’
SJ: Jackson Yueill (caution; foul) 81’
SJ: Jack Skahan (caution; foul) 85’
HOU: Héctor Herrera (caution; foul) 86’
LINEUPS & STATS
Houston Dynamo FC: Steve Clark; Franco Escobar, Daniel Steres, Erik Sviatchenko (Ethan Bartlow 62’), Micael; Artur, Amine Bassi (Griffin Dorsey 82’), Héctor Herrera (c); Corey Baird, Aliyu Ibrahim (Thorleifur Úlfarsson 74’), Nelson Quiñónes (Luís Caicedo 62’)
Unused Substitutes: Andrew Tarbell, Brad Smith, Iván Franco, Sebastián Ferreira, Chase Gasper
Total shots: 15 (Corey Baird 3)
Shots on goal: 5 (Amine Bassi and Thorleifur Úlfarsson tied with 2)
Fouls: 11 (Héctor Herrera 3)
Offside: 0
Corner kicks: 1
Saves: 0
San Jose Earthquakes: Daniel; Paul Marie, Tanner Beason, Rodrigues, Carlos Akapo (Tommy Thompson 74’); Niko Tsakiris (Jamiro Monteiro 46’), Judson (Jack Skahan 81’), Jackson Yueill; Benjamin Kikanovic (Ousseni Bouda 46’), Jeremy Ebobisse, Cristian Espinoza
Unused substitutes: James Marcinkowski, Jonathan Mensah, Cameron Cilley, Will Richmond, Daniel Munie
Total shots: 8 (Jeremy Ebobisse 2)
Shots on goal: 1 (Carlos Akapo 1)
Fouls: 15 (Ousseni Bouda 5)
Offside: 0
Corner kicks: 6
Saves: 1 (Daniel 1)
HOUSTON DYNAMO HEAD COACH BEN OLSEN
On the result:
"It was a long night. For the most part, it was a really mature performance from us. Offensively, our structure was really good. We offset them quite a bit and got a lot of goals and a nice balance of possession, while also being vertical and threatening them in a bunch of different ways. Overall, I'm really pleased with the performance. The mentality on a night like this. It’s hot as can be, and we had a good start. We got a little lazy and a little complacent. The game was a hair easy in that moment for us, and I thought we let down our guard. They came back with a set piece with a really good ball that we shouldn't concede. Then it gets a little nervy there until halftime. I thought we came out for the first 20 minutes of the second half in good form. Then you go sit in the locker room for two hours, so that's a hard thing to reset for both teams. Our mentality coming out of the delay was just really good. I thought the way we saw out the last 30 minutes was at a really high level, both defensively and offensively, while scoring some good goals. (FW) Thor (Ulfarsson) came in and put two goals in. It was a good offensive and defensive game overall.”
On the importance of the first two goals:
"It’s a goal you usually don’t get. It was kind of a gift in some ways, but (FW) Amine (Bassi) is clever. The way he ended up anticipating this ball was a clever play, so give him some credit for that. It was good start. We’re at home, and we wanted to press a little bit early. The second goal comes with some isolation stuff for (FW) Nelson (Quiñónes), who's given us a nice threat out wide and the right numbers in the box to enable us to get the second. Then it was pretty good from then on. Again, we just had a little bit of a spell there where we got complacent, and they had some adjustments after the water break. They jammed us a little bit higher up the field, and we didn’t find the next line enough. That’s when they got their goal. But overall, it was a really good night.”
On the substitutions after the delay:
"(MF) Luis (Caicedo) gives us some real security. Hector (Herrera) is a different animal when he plays in that eight spot. He's able to connect the game and help us build and join into the attack in a way that isn't necessarily Luis's specialty. So, they're different players. Doesn't take a soccer genius to see that they're different profiles and why we would bring him in the LAFC game. We knew there'd be a lot of duels and we really wanted to clog up the middle of the field, where LA does a lot of damage. Well, he could have done that again, we would have felt comfortable with that, but we're at home and we want to get a little bit more of the ball than we did in LA. For the most part that worked out."
On Corey Baird’s performance:
"This is one of the first games I think (Corey Baird) has been really effective on the right. He seems to have chipped in a lot of his goals in big time moments on the left side for us. So, it's good for his confidence. It is also good for us to know that he gave us a real shift on that right side, and he just looks sharp, he looks energetic, he looks fit and he's confident in front of the goal right now.”
HOUSTON DYNAMO MIDFIELDER HÉCTOR HERRERA (TRANSLATED FROM SPANISH)
On the game:
“The most important thing was the three points, we are now in a place on the table that we had been looking for, this is the goal. It is an injection of confidence and validates what we are doing, especially at home. It makes the game we won on the road count, it was a very important game, in which we were superior and deserved the three points.”
On the goals and how the team adjusted after the delay:
“Those are circumstances of the match. In the first goal, Amine Bassi was in a better position to shoot. I have always said that the most important thing is the team and not who scores the goals, the important thing is that we win. I'm not just saying it, I've shown it on the field with my actions, with assists. On the second goal, (Bassi) had to pass it to Corey Baird, he couldn't shoot from where he was. The team is in a moment of great unity, of maturity, very aware of what we are playing for, what we want and where we want to go. We took advantage of the delay to rest, we came back focused and in the end that is the most important thing.”
