Houston Dynamo vs Santos Laguna: Highlights, stats, and quotes
(image via Houston Dynamo FC)
The Houston Dynamo let a 2-0 lead slip away but managed to pick up two points after beating Santos Laguna 5-4 in penalty kicks. Houston will now await the result of Saturday’s match between Orlando and Santos to see if the Dynamo finish first in the group, second, or are eliminated.
MATCH SUMMARY
Houston Dynamo FC 2 (5) - 2 (4) Santos Laguna
Tuesday, July 25, 2023
Venue: Shell Energy Stadium - Houston, Texas
Referee: Ismael Alexander Cornejo Meléndez
Assistants: Geovany Garcia Lima, José Mangandi
Fourth Official: Lukasz Szpala
VAR: Diego Montaño Robles
Attendance: 12,627
Weather: 89 degrees, clear skies
SCORING SUMMARY
HOU: Corey Baird (Adalberto Carrasquilla) 14’
HOU: Griffin Dorsey (Héctor Herrera) 26’
CSL: Harold Preciado (unassisted) 45’
CSL: Harold Preciado (penalty kick) 63’
Shootout
HOU: Amine Bassi- MAKE
CSL: Juan Brunetta - MAKE
HOU: Thorleifur Úlfarsson - MAKE
CSL: Harold Preciado - MAKE
HOU: Iván Franco - MAKE
CSL: Dória - MAKE
HOU: Brad Smith - MAKE
CSL: Félix Torres - MAKE
HOU: Luís Caicedo - MAKE
CSL: Raúl López - MISS
DISCIPLINE SUMMARY
CSL: Harold Preciado (caution; excessive celebration) 64’
CSL: Duván Vergara (caution; foul) 65’
CSL: Alan Cervantes (caution; not retreating) 79’
LINEUPS & STATS
Houston Dynamo FC: Steve Clark; Franco Escobar, Micael, Erik Sviatchenko, Griffin Dorsey (Brad Smith 90+2’); Héctor Herrera, Artur, Adalberto Carrasquilla (Luís Caicedo 77’); Amine Bassi, Corey Baird (Iván Franco 77’), Aliyu Ibrahim (Thorleifur Úlfarsson 69’)
Unused Substitutes: Andrew Tarbell, Xavier Valdez, Ethan Bartlow, Daniel Steres, Charles Auguste, Mujeeb Murana, Chase Gasper, Brooklyn Raines
Total shots: 12 (Héctor Herrera and Amine Bassi tied with 3)
Shots on goal: 6 (Amine Bassi 2)
Fouls: 10 (three players tied with 2)
Offside: 2 (Amine Bassi 2)
Corner kicks: 2
Saves: 8 (Steve Clark 8)
Club Santos Laguna: Gibrán Lajud, Omar Campos, Dória, Félix Torres, Raúl López, Pedro Aquino (Alan Cervantes 67’), Aldo López, Duván Vergara (Jair González 83’), Juan Brunetta, Emerson Rodríguez (Diego Medina 73’), Harold Preciado
Unused substitutes: Santiago Ramírez, Héctor Holguín, Ismael Govea, Alejandro Gómez, Alberto Ocejo, Santiago Muñóz, Hugo Rodríguez, Ronaldo Prieto, Salvador Mariscal
Total shots: 19 (Duván Vergara and Harold Preciado tied with 5)
Shots on goal: 10 (Harold Preciado 4)
Fouls: 7 (Duván Vergara and Harold Preciado tied with 2)
Offside: 3 (three players tied with 1)
Corner kicks: 9
Saves: 2 (Gibrán Lajud 2)
HOUSTON DYNAMO HEAD COACH BEN OLSEN
On comparing the first half performance to the second half performance:
“Disappointed in our ability to maintain that level. That was echoed in the locker room afterwards, if we're going somewhere, if we're going to get to where we need to be, discipline and maturity have to come into play here. When you have a team on the ropes at (2-0) you almost have to be more disciplined in how you act. That's a tough thing to fight. It’s human nature to turn it down a little bit. We have to fight that and stay at the level that we're capable of. Because for 30 minutes, there was only one team on that field. We can play at such a high level at times, then it gets turned down and sustaining that and keep holding each other accountable. In those moments, we do feel like we're turning down a little bit, which is something we have to work on as a group. We also had to finish off some plays, we can win that game, we had plenty of chances. Disappointed in our response. But you know, to win a PK shootout, it's been a while since we clapped off the fans. You get two points. It's a big two points, right in the grand scheme of this tournament. It was an important resilient two points rather than the one because the one puts us in a bad spot, two points puts us in a pretty good spot.”
On Griffin Dorsey’s performance:
“I've been guilty of not showing him enough faith this year. It’s just nice because you guys don't see it as much. You can almost feel his positive energy by not even knowing that he's an awesome human. He’s a great teammate. A guy everybody roots for. On a daily basis, he trains very, very hard. So, for him to lock that position down right now for us is very exciting.”
On his takeaways from this game versus league play:
“Maybe the transition quality that team had, not a lot of teams in the MLS have that type of front four athletically quality. They can hit you in so many ways with a number 10 at that high level. So, it's probably dealing with that attacking for some pieces, they got two center backs that are handful when they come up on dead balls. Mostly just our transition defending, making sure we're secure when the ball turned over, and then some individual defending against some high-quality attackers.”
HOUSTON DYNAMO MIDFIELDER ADALBERTO CARRASQUILLA (TRANSLATED FROM SPANISH)
On the match:
“We knew it was going to be a difficult match. That was a very good team in front of us. The truth is, we suffered a lot, but the important thing is that we won. Now we have accumulated three important points and now, well, it's the important thing, to get points. Of course, now we depend on results, but I think that this tournament is like that, highly contested, all the games are very difficult, so we'll see what happens this weekend and be prepared in case more happen.”
HOUSTON DYNAMO DEFENDER FRANCO ESCOBAR (TRANSLATED FROM SPANISH)
On the match:
“First, thank you very much and a little frustrated, because we had a very good first half. We were far superior. Perhaps we deserved to score another goal. They started better than us, they got a draw that made the game more difficult. It was difficult for us to get back into the game quickly. Then we turned it around and with a chance to win. We had chances and they had chances to lose it. Then the penalties. The other game in Orlando, we lost in penalties and today luckily it worked out for us. Well, now we have to wait for the result, to see what is next for us.”
HOUSTON DYNAMO MIDFIELDER HECTOR HERRERA (TRANSLATED FROM SPANISH)
On the last time he played against a Mexican team:
“About four years ago, with Atlético de Madrid I played a game against Chivas. It's always nice to be able to face Mexican teams, being that this team is from my country. Well, we wanted to win. We won on penalties, but it was not what we expected. I think that if we had been more forceful, we would have had a better result and we could have controlled the game much earlier.”
