Saturday, April 21, 2018

Houston Dynamo down Toronto FC 5-1

Story and photo by Robert H Kelly
Copyright 2018 All Rights Reserved

HOUSTON, TEXAS (April 21, 2018) For the fifth time in club history, the Houston Dynamo scored five goals in one game in route to a 5-1 win over Toronto FC at BBVA Compass Stadium. The win evened their record to 2-2-2 and snapped a two-game losing streak for Houston. All it took was seven minutes and the Dynamo was already up by two goals. Three minutes into the game, Mauro Manotas nailed his third goal of the season to begin the game. Romell Quioto was crediting with the assist. Four minutes later, Leonardo doubled Houston's offensive production for the afternoon when he converted a deflected corner kick, for his first goal of the season. In the first half, Toronto was called four times for off-sides, which certainly made a difference in the first 45 minutes.


Toronto developed very little offensive punch in the first half and that continued in the second half. Houston came right back in the second half and gave Toronto a bloody nose in the 46th minute, Eric Alexander pounces on a rebound in front of goal to put the Dynamo up 3-0. Six minutes later, Toronto cut Houston's lead to two when Mitch Taintor bagged his first MLS goal 

Houston added insurance goals in the 60th minute when Alberth Elis restores the three-goal lead for Houston; scoring his third goal of the season. Seventeen minutes later, Quioto tallied his first goal of 2018 to clinch the Houston win.

Head coach Wilmer Cabrera (shown above) was quoted after the game:


 “I think it was important for us to win today. It was a must for us because we have lost the past two games here. We needed this win badly. We were focused on this game to try to win. We scored right away, but overall I think while it was for us important to get the three points, our performance wasn’t as good as the other ones. Our possession, our rhythm wasn’t as good, and I think we weren't as sharp as we were in the past games, even with bad results. It could be the fact that we got two goals quickly. I think still we considered too many options for them that it shouldn’t happen today, so we have to continue working. We need to continue improving. It was positive for us that all our forwards scored: Romell (Quioto), Alberth (Elis), and Mauro (Manotas), all three up front. They scored, and that is important for them to get the confidence, especially for Alberth that he was able to score. It was good, but still I believe we could do better. We have to be more solid defensively. We conceded only one goal, but it could have been two goals against a team that are very young. It’s their second team for them, so that’s something that we are not happy about because we could do better, and we have to do better.”





No comments: