Three things we learned: Houston Dynamo vs FC Dallas
(image via Omar Duran)
The Houston Dynamo lost the season opener, 2-1, to FC Dallas on Saturday night at Shell Energy Stadium. After each game this season we’re going to bring you three things we learned from the match. Here is our first edition of the regular season after watching the Dynamo begin the 2025 Major League Soccer season.
Micael is already missed
Micael was officially sold to Palmeiras on Saturday morning and later in the evening the Dynamo showed they missed their former rock on the back line. The Brazilian’s departure was made even worse when veteran Erik Sviatchenko was not in the lineup because of an injury. This left Houston playing a center back pairing of Femi Awodesu and Ethan Bartlow. Awodesu performed well in his debut but Bartlow looked like the player who had never played a pro match before. His gaffe to gift Petar Musa Dallas’ opening goal was awful. Anderson Julio then ran right by him, and shockingly Andrew Tarbell, to score the winner. If Franco Escobar didn’t start the match either, which meant Daniel Steres had to play left back. Losing Micael was already going to be a big blow but if Sviatchenko misses any additional time and Escobar isn’t one hundred percent, the Dynamo makeshift defense will be a problem.
Andrew Tarbell is an adventure
Steve Clark has left and Tarbell is now Houston’s starting goalkeeper. He made a great save early in the second half to keep Dallas off the scoresheet. Minutes later, Musa equalized through no fault of Tarbell. The second goal, however, had to leave everyone scratching their head on what the Dynamo goalkeeper was doing. Julio sprinted clear of the Dynamo defenders at midfield and Tarbell came way out of the box, some 40 yards from goal, to try and take on an attacker at full speed. Julio pushed the ball right by him and scored into the empty net. It was an uncharacteristic error for a veteran goalkeeper to make. He will need to clean things up going forward.
Jack McGlynn has some Hector Herrera about him
All three things we’ve learned here are about players leaving. This one, however, is good. With Herrera’s contract option declined, the Dynamo swung big to bring in the 21-year-old McGlynn to run their midfield. He did just that in his debut on Saturday. McGlynn completed 89 of his 99 pass attempts with a remarkable 16 into the final third. His cross-field ball to Griffin Dorsey to set up the first goal was Herrera-esque. After the match McGlynn spoke about still learning his new team and getting up to speed. If that was him while still figuring things out, it’s going to be something to see when he is at 100%.
