Houston Dynamo shut out Minnesota United 2-0

Alberth Elis celebrates his goal by donning his
"Panther Mask" and mugging for the
fans at BBVA Compass Stadium.
Photo by Darla S Tamulitis
La Vita Loca Photography
Copyright 2017 All Rights Reserved

By Robert H Kelly
Copyright 2017 TexSport Publications

HOUSTON, TEXAS (September 30, 2017) The Houston Dynamo and Minnesota United FC battled for 69 minutes of back-and-forth action before forward Alberth Elis took a pass from Vicente Sanchez and headed it past Minnesota goalkeeper Bobby Shuttleworth to give Houston a 1-0 in the 69th minute in route to a 2-0 win at BBVA Compass Stadium on Saturday, September 29, 2017. The win pushed the Dynamo's record to 11-10-10 (43 points) and keeps their playoff hopes alive with three regular season game to go in 2017. Houston added the insurance goal 16 minutes later when forward Romell Quioto headed off another Sanchez corner.

Head coach Wilmer Cabrera talked about the match after the win.

“I think we were very solid. I’m sad that the guys didn’t get the reward with the zero goals against because that was the plan. We didn’t want to give up any goals today and we spoke about it and we said, ‘If we don’t give up any goals, we’re going to create chances and we’re going to be dangerous, as always we are, but let’s close our goal first,’ and they did a good job. They did a good job the first 45 minutes. We have to understand that we’ve been giving a lot of effort physically and mentally with three games in one week. We knew that they didn’t have to play on Wednesday, so they were going to be a little bit more rested, but it was good effort. It was good work by everyone and at the end we were rewarded with the goals we created. We should have scored in the first half but this is a game where you have to insist until the ball goes and touches the net. We are pleased with the three points. We are pleased now with the win after a long period when we haven't won at home, and we came back to win at home. We like to win. We like to play the way we play, the Houston Dynamo way. We haven't changed anything. We just needed to stop those mental errors and decisions in the back and  be more solid overall from all the team individually and collectively.”

The win gives Houston a 10-1-4 record at home this year and Cabrera is 21st win as an MLS head coach. It also improved the Dynamo's record against Minnesota to 1-0-2 overall and 1-0-1 in Houston. In addition, it gave Houston their first win over Minnesota head coach Adrian Heath, who was 1-0-1 against the Dynamo with Orlando City and is 0-2-2 with Minnesota.

Elis' goal was the tenth of the season and makes him the sixth player in Dynamo history to hit double-digits in a single season. Quioto's goal was his sixth goal of the season. Sanchez's two assists gives him an assist in four consecutive games.