The Houston Dynamo welcomed the Colorado Rapids to BBVA Compass Stadium on Saturday March 28 in front of 19,603 fans, and the two teams played out to a 0-0 draw. For the Rapids, this continued their scoreless draw streak to start the season with three games. For Houston manager Owen Coyle, it's more dropped points at home with the offense really struggling.
The best chance either team had on the night came in the 31st minute of the match, which saw Juan Ramirez and Gabriel Torres combine to get past the Dynamo defense quickly, sending a beautifully weighted ball towards Marcelo Sarvas. His low shot was perfectly weighted, but Dynamo netminder Tyler Deric got just enough of the ball to send it ricocheting above the bar. It's another in a quickly building highlight reel of saves for Deric, and yet another strong contender for Save of the Week.
The first chance on the night went to the Rapids in the 16th minute when Sarvas sent a shot at Deric from just inside the box. The Dynamo responded in the 24' when Rob Lovejoy sent a hard shot towards goal, but Will Bruin couldn't get out of the way as the shot bounced off his back and out of play. Brad Davis sent a curling attempt on goal a minute later but Rapids goalkeeper Clint Irwin was perfectly placed to catch the shot.
Despite huge injury concerns for the Dynamo leading up to the match, all four of their walking wounded started the game. In fact, during the post-game press conference, Coyle admitted that Ricardo Clark played the match with a costochrondal rib fracture (it's when the cartilidge seperates from the bone). DaMarcus Beasley looked lively enough at left back, pushing very far forward at times in an attempt to put bodies in the box. Nathan Sturgis got the start with Clark in central midfield and had a solid, if unspectacular, outing. Not quite up to his performance in LA last week, but decent enough. The real prize was Raul Rodriguez in defense.
The Spanish defender was the key to the defense, playing calm and keeping his teammates in line all night long. His ability to play the ball on the ground helped push the attack forward at times. Rodriguez had an amazing tackle late in the match to stop a potential one v one attack by the Rapids. If he can stay healthy the defense will continue to be sturdy.
A pleasant surprise was seeing young Honduran midfielder Alex Lopez given a long outing in the match, subbing in for Lovejoy in the 59th minute on the match. His passing was superb all night long as he consistently found his teammates to retain possession. There were moments when his passing helped the offense create chances but he wasn't the attacking midfielder the team really needed. That said, his performance certainly earned himself some more minutes throughout the season.
The Rapids offense was rather poor, again, but their defense was rather impressive. The backline ate up all crosses into the box, tightly marking the few Dynamo players that ventured forward. Meanwhile the midfield was very clogged, slowing down the Dynamo attack and forcing them to play the ball around onto the wings. In particular, Sam Cronin and Sarvas had solid evenings, shielding the defense and making life difficult for Davis and Lopez in the middle.
With the Dynamo missing four players to international duty (Luis Garrido and Oscar Garcia with Honduras, Jermaine Taylor and Giles Barnes with Jamaica) it's important that the young players played well enough to get the point. Unfortunately, the offense is still looking extremely weak and the team will need to find it's form quickly before they travel to Seattle to take on the Sounders next weekend.