Houston Dynamo take "much needed" break following Leagues Cup elimination

"That’s a tough way to go out of the tournament," said head coach Ben Olsen. "We had a few chances to put the game away and we didn’t do it. Then find a way to lose the game. Let's put it that way. That's not like us. That hasn't been our identity this year, so we're disappointed."

The loss extends a nine-match winless streak across MLS and Leagues Cup encounters. The team's last victory came on June 21 but since the club has gone 0W-2L-4T at home where the team was 7-1-1 before its habitual summer slump.

The Leagues Cup provided a good barometer for where the team stands against Liga MX clubs and a few Eastern Conference opponents that weren't on its schedule this season. The way the Dynamo advanced, winning two penalty kick shootouts in the process, gave the tournament a more celebratory feeling than it would've had otherwise.

Inability to extend the lead

The Baird goal was a pleasant surprise for the way in which it transpired. Griffin Dorsey played a big part in generating the opportunity with his speed, work rate, and vision to pick out an open Nelson Quiñones.

Quiñones, who has had good moments for his speed, has been one of the few players to give width to the attack this season. That, unfortunately, got negated at times because of the game plan to play as an inverted winger. On this occasion, the Colombian had the time to switch the ball to his favored right foot and pick out Baird at the far post.

With less time and space, neither Baird nor Quiñones had the same effectiveness for the rest of the game. Ibrahim Aliyu missed a vital opportunity to tie the match in the 82nd minute but that doesn't come as a surprise based on play during the season.

Thor Ulfarsson and Ivan Franco entered the match in the 85th minute but there was little they were going to do in such a short window. For whatever reason, both have fallen out of favor with the coach through the course of the season.

Ifunanyachi Achara, a player who has zero MLS minutes this year, is the only other forward on the roster. New signing Sebastian Kowalczyk (unavailable for Leagues Cup) is the only unknown yet to join the attack but, unless he is something remarkable, the possibilities of him being the answer to the Dynamo's problems are slim.

The inability to score has been a recurring theme this season for the Houston Dynamo. Now, in a part of the season when they need to pick up the goal count, it is going to be difficult to just flip the switch and do something that has been a struggle all year.

Lack of depth or lack of faith?

The Leagues Cup has provided an opportunity for younger players from MLS and Liga MX clubs. Benjamin Cremaschi, 18, played an important part in Inter Miami's comeback against FC Dallas on Sunday night up in Frisco before going on to score the deciding penalty kick in the shootout.

On Monday night, 2023 MLS SuperDraft selection Patrick Agyemang was key in Charlotte's comeback in Houston. The 22-year-old has transitioned from the college game to playing time in MLS Next PRO, where he is the reigning co-player of the month.

Houston chose to use the tournament as more minutes for the same players it had been using during league play, with a few exceptions. Dorsey, 24, is the youngest player to benefit from added minutes.

Houston Dynamo 2 players Charles Auguste, Diego Gonzalez, Isaiah LeFlore, Talen Maples, Mujeeb Murana and goalkeepers Xavier Valdes and Andrew Pannenberg were all registered to play. None of those names picked up any minutes despite Olsen citing exhaustion in the team.

Ironically, Micael is the only former Dynamo 2 regular to have minutes after becoming a regular on the first team earlier this season – in part due to the injury to Designated Player Teenage Hadebe. While judging him completely on his own goal is unfair, it is a learning moment for a player that would not be in that position if the Dynamo had more experienced options on the first team.

Ethan Bartlow, another college player who was part of Dynamo 2 last season, has been essentially erased from the starting lineup. Midfielder Brooklyn Raines is in the same boat despite being accelerated to the first team earlier in the season.

Other standouts on Dynamo 2 were, like forward Papa N'Doye, have no foreseeable pathway to the first team. Midfielder Juan Castila, who featured for Colombia at the 2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup, was recently transferred to Deportivo Cali despite the Dynamo GM Pat Onstad expressing high hopes for the player.

Whatever is going on with the youth development system, it's failing to produce players for the first team. Either that or the team doesn't have much confidence in those players to give them minutes in a competition like the Leagues Cup.

A "much needed" break

"Our objectives this season are still the same, and that's to make the postseason," said Olsen. "We have a semifinal in the U.S. Open Cup looming, so there’s a lot to look forward to. The four days that we're going to step away from each other are much needed. These guys have played every three days, and we look tired. 

"We'll be better for this to just step away now for the next four days," Olsen added. "It would have been nice to move on, of course. It stings. I’m not going to sugarcoat it, but it stings. It's completely self-inflicted and whether or not we miss one or two easy chances down the stretch there, we let them hang in there and then gave them two goals."

Thanks to the Leagues Cup, the Dynamo has an added luxury that was not present in prior seasons. They have a break of a month in the league, which is now down to two weeks.

The other good news is that the latest results have had no effect on the team's current standing in the playoff race. Only five of the current winless stretch were MLS games.

The same results in the Leagues Cup, three ties and one loss, would have meant nine points left on the table. Instead, the Dynamo have time to regroup before their next match on August 20 against Portland Timbers.

The congested schedule isn't going to change. Because of their run in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, the semifinal bout makes for a schedule of three matches in a week when the team returns to play.

If they win against RSL, and Miami wins in Cincinnati, they can have a chance at facing Messi in the Open Cup Final. While a trophy win would be nice for the fans, the only measurement for success this season will be an MLS Cup Playoffs appearance and that is what the general manager, technical director and head coach will be judged on.