Starters make all the difference in Houston 4-0 win over New York

Photo by Darla S Tamulitis
La Vita Loca Photography
Copyrightr 2019 All Rights Reserved

By Robert H Kelly
Copyright 2019 All Rights Reserved

HOUSTON, TEXAS (July 3, 2019) Houston Dynamo head coach Wilmer Cabrera (shown left) knows that having the starters back together on the pitch can make all the difference. On Wednesday, July 3,  the eve of the Fourth of July, Houston scored three goals in the second half to down the New York Red Bulls, 4-0, in front of 19,531 fans at BBVA Stadium. When asked about the return of his starters, he stated:

“Yes, it’s good to be back with the team and as I said we went through difficulties, but it’s difficult when you don’t have your players. Now that the players came back – we are going to win, we are going to lose, and we are going to tie, but these are our players. This is the main roster and then this is the team that we have chosen at the beginning of the season, but we were affected. We knew that, but we didn’t make excuses. We didn’t pull the flag. We didn’t send messages to anybody. We didn’t cry, but the reality is if you don’t have eight starters, your team is going to be affected—that’s the reality. No matter which team—which national team, any team. Eight players out of the roster? That’s not good for any team and we have to deal with that but we’re back with the roster and today the team showed that they wanted to come back and we want to continue fighting for the points in front of us every day.”

Forward Mauro Manotas, who scored the first goal of the match in the 49th minute, also noted the difference in Houston's play.

"It was a tough stretch and now the team is back together. When the team is together, this is a different team. When we have the core of attacking trio plus Tomas (Martinez) – the team is just different. We have more variety in the final third.” We can play up top, below, with speed, off one-two combinations – we have everything we need to win a game and that is very important.”

Photo by Darla S Tamulitis
La Vita Loca Photography
Copyrightr 2019 All Rights Reserved

Alberth Elis (shown left) scored the final two Houston goals, raising his season total to seven. He stated in the post-game presser: 

"It was a great result for us. Glory to God that we could secure the victory and we hope to maintain this momentum – and keep winning, this is what the team needed. As a forward, you always want to score goals and help the team. Today, thanks to God, I was able to do both.”

In between the Manotas and first Elis goal, Tomas Martinez scored the second Houston goal, his thrid of the season.

"Today we played a great game against a great opponent. We played well, we were consistent, and we scored goals when the opportunities presented themselves. We hope to carry this momentum and remain focused on the task at hand. We have to keep earning points and now we shift our focus to Saturday as we try to earn another three points. We want to return to the top of the table. We know that there is a lot in front of us, we will have challenges, long trips, this is a difficult league with a lot of teams who can compete for the top spots. We have to be ready and expect the best from every team we face.”

Next up for Houston is a Saturday, July 6 match up against Cincinnati FC.