Houston, Texas- Of all the places to be running on empty, it had to be Houston. On Saturday night, Colorado Rapids played their seventh game in 21 days at Houston Dynamo. Injures before and during the match made it a headache for Head Coach Matt Wells.
Both teams had injuries to deal with leading to changes in the starting lineups. Miguel Navarro started at left back with Jackson Travis with a knock, on the bench. Alexis Manyoma, off a goal midweek, started in midfield with Paxten Aaronson on the bench, questionable. Darren Yapi started on the wing.
Dynamo were in a 3-4-2-1. Former Rapids left back Sam Vines was out with an injury.
The first half was rather uneventful. Houston had 0.19 xG on 4 shots. Colorado didn’t have a shot attempt. They had more of the ball though, but didn’t do much with it. Hardly the domination Wells wanted. Dynamo created chances through the half spaces, but Colorado did well reacting to that.
The game was marred by injuries to the Burgundy Boys. Center back Rob Holding was subbed out in the 33rd minute with an apparent left quad injury. Noah Cobb was in. Six minutes later, Josh Atencio made way for Aaronson with an apparent head injury.
The first chance of note came in the 35th minute. Guilherme went direct to goal on a free kick from the sideline. Goalkeeper Zack Steffen had a bit of a bobble with it on the goal line. Houston players and fans thought it was over the line but no goal was called.
The second half was much better. Colorado were brave with the ball and energetic in their movement. Dante Sealy had a great chance in the 51st minute off a good sequence but Jonathan Bond made a great save. It was the visitor’s first shot on target.
Two minutes later, Houston could have had a tap in or a penalty. Noah Cobb got beat in transition, setting up Ezequiel Ponce on a square ball. Miguel Navarro made a last ditch tackle to deny him. No foul was called.
The game was going to need some individual brilliance to break the deadlock. The home side got it in 72nd. A ball was cleared on a corner right to Lawrence Ennali. The German took a great first touch to set up the angle and rocketed a shot through a space and past Steffen.
Houston retreated into a structured defense. It was a vintage Ben Olsen defensive performance for the final 18 minutes.
Colorado had two really good looks at goal in the final minute of stoppage time. Aaronson uncorked a shot from the edge of the box but Jonathan Bond made a great save. Moments later, Rafael Navarro had a followup header that was blocked.
The match ended 1-0.
Injuries and fixture congestion:
Seven games in 21 days including 120 minutes midweek in the cup is tough. Five players were listed on the availability report. Another two were retired before halftime. Injuries and fixture congestion get to every MLS team at some point in a season. That made for a tough night for Colorado.
Wells called the Atencio sub “precautionary.” It was a concussion sub. Holding got a dead leg and tried to play through it but couldn’t. Aaronson subbed on despite a dead leg.
“Was forced into a second sub in the first half, which was far from ideal. Especially given place we’re at with the squad with the guys we got missing… Not a great spot with squad availability,” said Wells.
The team will have a whole week to prep for St. Louis CITY on May 9 at home, thankfully. They need guys to get healthy and no new injuries to finish this stretch strong. Colorado has five games in two weeks before the World Cup break.
It’s hard to beat a team twice. Houston were good defensively.
Give the Dynamo credit. They were a lot better defensively from the reverse fixture last month. It made for a tight game. It was fitting it that the only goal was a screamer on a corner. MLS is unpredictable chaos. Sometimes that goes the other way.
“It was the first time that we’ve played THIS Houston… They’ve changed a lot about their game mode. Playing a lot more compact and still an incredible transition threat… They’re a lot more compact than the first time we played them. The onus is on us to solve those issues. Tonight a draw is a fair result,” said Wells.
Circumstances aside, the team could have had better energy to start the game. The response after the gaol was slow. It got better with Aaronson and Georgi Minoungou subbing on. After the uncharacteristic performance at Vancouver, tonight was disappointing.
“It’s the little moments away that can kill you… Even if we’re not performing at our best, it’s about rolling our sleeves up,” Aaronson told Burgundy Wave, taking responsibility.
Fringe players get minutes, but there was no chemistry:
The circumstances led to Billo Diop and Kimani Stewart-Baynes subbing on in the 81st. It was Diop’s second ever MLS appearance. It was KSB’s first appearance for the first team since July 12 last year. They both tried to do stuff. Diop had a shot he maybe should have left for Rafa Navarro. Still, hard to judge two squad players in bizarre circumstances.
“The amount of guys we had playing out of position, you’ve got the wrong balance… Real frustrating game to take. That’s the moment we’re in,” said Wells.
“The story tonight is more individual quality in the front half of the pitch… We looked inferior to their defenders in 1-v-1 situation… Tonight was a game of small margins.”
Wells went on to say no one watching this team would think to play the lineup that finished the game. While the system has worked overall, Colorado needs to have more individual moments to break games open. Houston had that with Ennali. Navarro and Minoungou have showed that. Perhaps the coaches need to cultivate that with others or the club should target that attribute in the summer.
Rest in peace, Ryan Sabin:
Ryan Sabin is a Centennial 38 member who sadly lost his life on Wednesday during the Switchbacks game. Players wore black armbands for this match. The club will celebrate Ryan at the next home game. With the press conference wrapping up, Wells interrupted to have a tearful, deeply human moment:
“The biggest story tonight of that is Ryan… To lose a fan in that manner is a tragedy for us, our fans, and us as a club. My heart goes out to him, his family, and our fanbase,” he said.
Paxten Aaronson added, “Everybody in the club was aware of it. Our heart goes out to the family. They should know, anything they ever need, they can come to the Rapids, they can come to the club. We give them our full hearts… Go grateful for Ryan and his C38 support over the years.”
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Zach Lowy 