HOUSTON — The Houston Dynamo kicked off their 2020 Major League Soccer season with a 1-1 draw against the LA Galaxy in front of a sold-out crowd at BBVA Stadium.
Since arriving at the Dynamo as head coach, Tab Ramos has talked about making the Dynamo a high-pressing team — that was evident in the match. Instead of going into a defensive mode when they were down by one goal, the Dynamo went head-to-head with their opponent looking to score.
However, Ramos believes the Dynamo need to be even more aggressive in the final third.
“I think we got ourselves in good positions, we won the ball back on their half of the field many times, which is what we want to do but I think our final ball was not a good one.” Ramos said. “I think our running on the box is not great, we need to move a little bit better in order to find the openings in the box.”
The first minutes of the game were action-packed with the ball going from side-to-side. The Dynamo were more offensively aggressive as promised, but the Galaxy had a slight advantage on ball possession that gave them the lead early on in the game.
In the 13th minute, Galaxy goalkeeper David Bingham fed Cristian Pavon with a perfect outlet pass, and Pavon didn’t let the opportunity escape him and blasted the ball from the penalty arc right into the Dynamo’s net.
“I think we need to keep up the dynamic and the rhythm that we showed the first 15 minutes or 20 minutes, just as when the goal fell, I think that actually harmed us, but it hurt us to make a goal soon because then they (Dynamo) started to play better, they dominated… ” Galaxy forward Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez said.
For the rest of the match, the home side tried to look for the equalizer, as it produced a total of nine shots, but only one went on target. The Dynamo also had the majority of the possession at 59 percent.
“I think we dominated. I think it took us a little while to get going the first 10 minutes. We were defending for our lives and we settled down a bit then we started pressuring them and took the game to them,” Dynamo midfielder Memo Rodriguez said.
Nine minutes into the second half, Dynamo striker Mauro Manotas provided the equalizer. Zarek Valentin, who was playing in his first Dynamo game, fed the striker on the tally.
“Well, it was a very complicated game, as expected, a great rival who never comes to hide, and I think we had control of the game for a long time,” said Manotas. “It seems to me that we should have taken a bit more of better decisions at the end, but it seems to me that the team is gradually finding itself, this helps us to continue working and hopefully for the next games we will be better together.”
As the rest of the second half unfolded, both teams created several plays aiming to increase their score, but it came with no success.
Many expected the five-time MLS Cup winner to dominate the home side, and although the Dynamo had difficulties getting started, they were able to stand their ground and get a tie.
“The tough part about playing against such talented players is that they just need one moment as you can see,” Dynamo defender Zarek Valentin said. “We have to be aware 90 minutes straight or else we will get punished.”
Houston will now hit the road to face Sporting Kansas City next Saturday at Children’s Mercy Park, while the Galaxy host the Vancouver Whitecaps in a week’s time.