Houston Dynamo FC, Real Salt Lake battle to scoreless draw

By Jennifer Edwards
Copyright 2021 All Rights Reserved

HOUSTON, TEXAS (July 31, 2021) Houston Dynamo FC took on Real Salt Lake on Saturday night, looking for a win after their draw against San Jose. The Dynamo looked to better their record from 3-8-4 and the 10th place standing in the MLS Western Conference. The match marked the first time Houston saw attacker, Mateo Bajamich. 

In the first 10 minutes of play, both teams show rather equal strength in passing and defending. The goal post saved the Dynamo at the 10 minute mark and an excellent rebound save from Maric kept Real Salt Lake from scoring. At the 20 minute mark Real Salt Lake continued to push the Dynamo defense, trying to find an opening; and the defensive line holding strong, but Salt Lake was making them work for it. 

RSL’s goalkeeper had spectacular saves in the 22nd and the 23rd-minute of play to deny the Dynamo a chance at an early lead. Standout of the first half for the Dynamo was Sam Junqua, who spent a lot of his time moving the ball out of the goal area and frustrating Real Salt Lake. The best chance the Dynamo had in the first half was Memo Rodriguez,  who hit the goalpost with the best chance of a goal in the first half. 

Going into halftime the Dynamo had seven shots on goal, six saves and four corner kicks to Real Salt Lake’s six shots on goal, seven saves and four corner kicks. The half showed that both teams were rather equally matched in play. 

The second half of play saw the Dynamo substituting in Corey Baird for fresher legs in the midfield. Baird had one on target shot in stoppage time. 

Baird “...had a great game, not easy. He landed last night about midnight. So, he barely had a chance to adapt to breathing Houston air for a few hours. Here he is, thrown into a game that’s 0-0 during the second half against his old team.” 

During the second half of play Real Salt Lake was reduced to 10 men playing because of a second yellow card being shown to Justen Glad. These two teams were pretty equally matched with Real Salt Lake having possession of the ball 55% of the time. The Dynamo will need to work on being more aggressive on the offensive strategies in order to open more space for the attackers to be able to shoot the ball more accurately. 

Houston will hot the road to play Austin FC on Wednesday, August 4, with at 8:00 p.m. kickoff at Q2 Stadium.