Throwback Thursday: Dynamo beat Crew in Owen Coyle’s debut
(image via Houston Dynamo FC)
The Houston Dynamo begin their 2025 road campaign this weekend against a well-coached Columbus Crew team. The Dynamo have actually been very successful against Columbus over the last number of years. Let’s throwback to March 7, 2015 when they were able to beat Columbus in an intense season opener.
Background
2015 was the biggest transition year in the history of the Dynamo at that point. This was the first year in the team’s existence where Dominic Kinnear was not on the sidelines to coach the match. Instead, it was Owen Coyle who was coming off an awful campaign at Wigan Athletic in England. This was also Houston’s first year back in the Western Conference where they remain today. The Dynamo did not make too many changes to a poor 2014 roster where they failed to make the playoffs. The big moves were Spanish defender, Raul Rodriguez and Erick “Cubo” Torres, who was one of the hottest strikers in North America at the time. As we all know, that one did not quite work out as planned. The other big move was letting Tally Hall go to let Tyler Deric take over as the first-choice keeper following a really strong display covering for Tally’s injury in 2014. This was also the start of what would be Brad Davis’s final season (we don’t count that Kansas City season here).
The Columbus Crew were coming off a great 2014 season, finishing 3rd in the Eastern Conference and losing to New England in the second round of the playoffs. They kept their same strong core of Steve Clark, Michael Parkhurst, Will Trapp, and Federico Higuain. They then brought Kei Kamara back from his poor spell in England. He went on to score 22 goals, securing second in the golden boot race in 2015.
Lineups
First Half
The Dynamo started the game in a familiar 442 shape, with Boniek Garcia and Brad Davis out wide in the style we were accustomed to seeing under Kinnear for years. Giles Barnes and Will Bruin started together as a duo up front where they had some success in 2014, despite the standings. The biggest chance of the half came 23 minutes in on a Dynamo set piece play. Davis stood over the wide free kick and attempted to score from a very wide angle, nearly catching Steve Clark off-guard. Clark managed to keep it out and preserve the 0-0 tie going into half time.
Second Half
Chances started to come early and often in the second half with Ethan Finlay putting in a spectacular cross to Kei Kamara to force out an incredible save from Tyler Deric to keep it level. Pressure from Columbus continued to mount with DaMarcus Beasley continuing to give Finlay way too much time and space out wide. Finlay then put in another great cross to force another high level save from Deric. Just minutes later, the Dynamo went up the field with Kofi Sarkodie who easily skipped by Waylen Francis to set up a blast from Giles Barnes to make it 1-0 to Houston. Sarkodie made it look so easywhile he had no name and number on his shirt due to a bloody head injury. This was the start of a brilliant run for Barnes who scored six goals before leaving for the Gold Cup with Jamaica that summer. The chances did not stop there when just minutes after the goal, Higuain hits the cross bar from outside the box with Deric saving Kamara’s follow up shot. Deric managed to make two more saves to put his tally at six on the night. He kept the clean sheet to give his team the narrow 1-0 win to kickstart a new era of the Dynamo.
Unfortunately, the Dynamo went on to struggle for points all season, missing the playoffs for the second time in a row. Columbus went on to make the MLS Cup Final where they lost to the Portland Timbers. There is a parallel from that season to this one in 2025 with the goalkeeper situation. Just like Tally Hall before the 2015 season, Steve Clark was let go this offseason in favor of giving the backup goalkeeper the job start the season. Can Andrew Tarbell pull off similar heroics to Tyler Deric? We shall see on Saturday where the Dynamo desperately need their first points of 2025.
