Fox in the Box: Toros, Dynamo settle with late draws

Jesus Enriquez in action.

Credit to Toros Communications

The Rio Grande Valley FC Toros welcomed their third season in USL by hosting Saint Louis FC this past Friday night. Despite seeing some new faces and returning players, including draft picks made by the Houston Dynamo, the Toros will be under the leadership of newly-appointed head coach Gerson Echeverry after the team's disappointing season last year.

Because the club released their complete roster on Friday, my Toros' Season Preview will be published later this week in order to analyze each player and to visualize the outcome of their season.

At a glance in the first half, the Toros would see improvements on the defensive side compared to last season: additions such as Kyle Adams and Conor Adams helped the team play a much more compact and comfortable defense. The team's midfield would also see some significant improvements with the additions of Matias Zaldivar and Dynamo draft pick Pablo Aguilar to allow the team to play a more possession-based game.

Despite the Toros having the upper hand for most of the first half, they would go to halftime with a scoreless draw.

The second half would still have RGVFC with significant advantage after earning chance after chance but failing to capitalize, but they would finally see the difference in the seventy-seventh minute after John Montano was subbed in a few minutes ago and was able to provide the ball to Pablo Aguilar from the right flank, and Aguilar placed the ball in the lower left corner of the frame to score his first professional goal and the first goal of the season for the Toros.

Despite the great efforts made by the Toros to preserve the 1-0 lead, Saint Louis FC notched the equalizer in the eighty-second minute from a corner kick after Tony Walls was able to score off the rebound from the crossbar.

The match would end with a 1-1 draw. Even though the Toros seemed to have improved in some aspects, they still have to address some defensive miscues and missing goal-scoring chances heading to the new season.

The Toros will have this week off and they will return to H-E-B Park on Wednesday, March 28 to host Reno 1868 FC.

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Coming off a home loss, the Houston Dynamo went up to DC United's temporary home at the Maryland SoccerPlex in Boyds, Maryland in need of a positive result to build their road form for this season.

With the loss of Philippe Senderos due to injury to add to the few key players the team is missing, the Dynamo would resort to the pairing of Leonardo and Adolfo Machado in the back line alongside Kevin Garcia as the starting right back. Other than that, Wilmer Cabrera would stick to the same Starting XI as the previous one from last week for the most part.

There would not be a clear dominant side at the start of the match since each team did a very good job pressuring from midfield and shutting down deadly opportunities, but Houston would take the lead after Alberth Elis and Mauro Manotas capitalized off defensive mistakes that allowed Houston to take a two-goal advantage in less than two minutes

The Dynamo would keep the 0-2 lead in part by a solid performance prior to halftime, but the Dynamo would take a different approach to the second half.

From the start of the second half, the match would see DC United with the momentum to turn things around while the Dynamo did not do much to prevent what seemed to be their inevitable goal. DC's Darren Mattocks would get his team a goal after he was able to run free in Houston's right flank and was able to catch Leonardo off-guard to score inside the box.

With the lead cut in half and DC United dominating possession, Houston attempted to extend the lead in many occasions but failed, including obvious goal-scoring opportunities, to the point that it became frustrating to watch. And even though Romell Quioto, Boniek Garcia, and Arturo Alvarez were subbed in throughout the second half, they did not do much to change or contribute to the outcome of the second half.

And DC United would find the equalizer in the ninety-seventh minute of stoppage time after Luciano Acosta found the ball in the middle of the fray during a free kick sequence inside the box, scoring from close range, and resulting in a 2-2 draw in the last few minutes of the match.

A stagnant front line of attack and an inconsistent defense separated the Dynamo from all the three points, and the team would have to settle with only one point.

Wilmer Cabrera and the Houston Dynamo will have this week off, which would be a great opportunity to regroup, await the availability of key players like Juan David Cabezas, Dylan Remick, and Philippe Senderos, and decide the next course of action going forward.

The Dynamo will play again on Saturday, March 31 and will host the New England Revolution.

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