Fox in the Box: Dynamo take down the New York Red Bulls II with a 5-0 win

Mac Steeves celebrates goal with his teammates.

Credit to Houston Dynamo Media

---

Fox in the Box compiles and reviews all the Dynamo, Dash, and Toros matches.

---

Houston Dynamo earn their first win of their 2018 Mobile Mini Sun Cup campaign with a 5-0 victory over New York Red Bulls II. The New York Red Bulls senior team did not travel to Tucson because of their upcoming CONCACAF Champions League match next week.

To start the scrimmage, changes were made to the first starting eleven back in Wednesday against the Portland Timbers. Joe Willis made his first appearance on goal with the team since getting re-signed:

The Dynamo were on the front foot in the early minutes with a couple chances to score, but later on the Red Bulls found cracks in Houston's back line and nearly capitalized. However, the energy coming from Alberth Elis influenced the match and he was involved in the first two goals of the scrimmage: both of his scoring opportunities were initially deflected but Boniek Garcia and Andrew Wenger were at the end of the ball to score off the rebound. The Dynamo's great positioning and pressure allowed them to control the tempo of the match from the last minutes of the first half until the squad changes later on in the second half.

Houston did not make any halftime substitutions to start the second half, and the team added a third goal as Alberth Elis once again found his way past the opposing defense to deliver the ball to Mauro Manotas to score off the crossbar.

In the middle of the second half, the Dynamo made their substitutions:

Wilmer Cabrera Jr., son of head coach Wilmer Cabrera, made his preseason debut as a trialist and did raise some eyebrows in the process (including mine), but Mac Steeves would relatively steal the show later on.

Steeves would go ahead and score two goals from two great assists by Eric Bird in the span of six minutes. The pressure Houston provided up top was enough to break the Red Bulls defense even more.

And the scrimmage would end with a great-but-expected 5-0 result for Houston.

The Dynamo are set to play again on Wednesday, February 21 at 6:00 PM CT to take on Phoenix Rising.