Fox in the Box: Dynamo go down against the Vancouver Whitecaps

Alberth Elis in action.

Credit to Houston Dynamo Media

The Houston Dynamo would come in to BBVA Compass Stadium once again with the hopes to earn a positive result prior to their upcoming first road match of the season. The team would be hosting the Vancouver Whitecaps, a side I knew that was ready to bring problems to Houston.

The Whitecaps would come in to Houston with a 2-1 victory over the Montreal Impact the previous week at BC Place in Vancouver. With additions such as Kei Kamara and Felipe to their roster, it would allow them to increase experience on the front line to go with the likes of Alphonso Davies and Yordy Reyna, all this with a solid defense starring Kendall Waston and Marcel de Jong.

Wilmer Cabrera would make some changes to the Starting XI that earned the big win against Atlanta United: Leonardo would replace Kevin Garcia and Adolfo Machado would start this match in the right back position, Darwin Ceren takes over Juan David Cabezas' spot due to an injury and would swap places in the defensive midfield with Eric Alexander, and Tomas Martinez starts over Boniek Garcia after being suspended for the season opener.

From start to finish, Vancouver did a great job at sending numbers back and playing a compact defense to disrupt all incoming threats from Houston, but this would not be enough to stop the equalizer that would come in eleven minutes later. Tomas Martinez found Alberth Elis in a prime position inside the box that would allow him to make a great finish off the right foot to score his first goal of the season.

The match would remain 1-1 when halftime rolled in. And the substitution of Kevin Garcia for Philippe Senderos due to an injury prior to the second half would play a critical part in Vancouver's second goal.

Due to the lack of Senderos' vocal presence in the back line and catching the Dynamo off-guard in the right flank, the Whitecaps' Brek Shea would punish the Dynamo with a goal in the early minutes of the second half after outpacing Kevin Garcia and Adolfo Machado to make himself wide-open in a 1v1 opportunity that would be difficult to stop for Chris Seitz.

After gaining a 1-2 lead, it became clear that Vancouver wanted to keep this result by replacing key players and sending lots of numbers back to Vancouver's defensive half to play a compact defense (also known as parking the bus). The Dynamo also made adjustments to their eleven by replacing Mauro Manotas with Romell Quioto and Tomas Martinez with Arturo Alvarez, but they would have to rely on heavy possession of the ball and crosses inside the box since the Whitecaps successfully closed all the channels in the Dynamo's midfield.

But all their efforts would not be enough to find another equalizer throughout the second half and they would lose their first match of the season at home with the 1-2 scoreline. Despite out-possessing and out-shooting Vancouver over the course of the match, the Dynamo were unable to finish most of their chances and would not be able to get around the Whitecaps' defense.

It became clear that Wilmer Cabrera would have to make tweaks to the lineup to avoid compact defenses in the future, and because of the potential loss of Philippe Senderos due to a hamstring injury. The Dynamo would have to make adjustments in both defensive and offensive aspects on the field going forward.

The Dynamo will have plenty of season ahead of them to address these problems and earn positive results, with the first step being on the road against DC United this upcoming weekend. Houston will also have to tackle their issues with road form and this would be a good starting point.