Fox in the Box: Dynamo and Toros bulldozed to the ground, questionable start of the season for Dynam

Andres Naranjo
Mar 9, 2020
3 min read

Sporting Kansas City completely dominates Houston Dynamo in the first road game of the season and Rio Grande Valley FC Toros are dismantled in their USL Championship season opener at H-E-B Park against LA Galaxy II, both highlighting collectively poor performances and a bad look for the organization on surface level.

On Saturday, the Dynamo visited Children's Mercy Park with the hopes of having a strong performance against rejuvenated rivals Sporting KC, a team that faced many hardships, injuries, and missed playoffs for the first time in nine years this past season. A result of any kind for Houston would have been big considering Kansas City's support and consistency of positive results at home.

Despite having a strong start in the first fifteen minutes of the match, the Dynamo would be the ones conceding first as newcomer Alan Pulido played a key role in the entire match: exploiting Houston's defensive cracks through their high-press. His role for Kansas City was essential as he was involved in both goals in the span of twenty five minutes. The inability to contain Pulido and Sporting's midfield were fatal mistakes by the Dynamo that led to this game getting out of hand for them in the first half. And the second half.

The second half would not be much different from the first half except for Kansas City doubling their lead and giving their goalkeeper Tim Melia time to set up a hammock at his goal. Houston still left their channels exposed, barely reaching the opposing final third and were not able to regain any kind of confidence to make a difference on the scoreboard.

Not much else can be said about this game without repeating myself, but a 4-0 loss on the road leaves a bad look for the Houston Dynamo to start the new season and a reflection of Tab's coaching road blocks ahead of his first professional coaching gig.

Speaking of reflection.

I really wanted to end the weekend on a positive note but RGVFC decided to welcome their fifth season in astonishingly-similar fashion by losing 5-1 at home against "Los Dos" (LA Galaxy II) led by former head coach Junior Gonzales.

As it looks like it is now tradition for them, the Toros would start the game with the chance to capitalize from three or four scoring opportunities but would eventually concede first off the visitor's first shot on goal from the counter. For RGV, defending counter-attacks and pressing too high would be issues from the past that still remain to be addressed on the field.

The hosts had a good-yet-frustrating offensive showing early in the match, especially coming from draft picks Garrett McLaughling and Luka Prpa making their debuts and the return of Dynamo Homegrown Christian Lucatero. Outside of that, not much else can be said from this awful performance to kick off their season.

The outcome from both results over the weekend are quite ironic to say the least, and could be a reflection of the current state of things in the Dynamo organization. I could be wrong and this is just a mere coincidence, but the Dynamo and the Toros lately have the tendency of not learning from their mistakes and fans for their respective team have been vocal about improving upon them and demanding change. Even though there has been some noticeable changes on and off the field, more of the same still remains.

It is going to take more than a lineup replacement to change things from here.