Orlando City fans who entered Camping World Stadium on Friday night were greeted by a similar end result: a Lions draw. Orlando City (4-4-9, 21 points) and the Houston Dynamo (4-8-6, 18 points) battled throughout the 90 minutes, but the match concluded with no balls being grateful enough to fly past the goalkeepers.
Alternating Paths
Although the Lions were without Brazilian star Kaka, Pedro Ribeiro and Rafael Ramos, the fully fit Dynamo struggled to take advantage and continued to illustrate their poor 1.2 goals per match this season. Most of the first-half included losing possession of the ball frequently through interceptions or poor dribbling. The significant moments of the first 45 minutes included Brek Shea who drilled a curling cross into the center of the penalty box before Houston goalkeeper Tyler Deric parried it out of reach from the rest of the City players.
Almost immediately after, City goalkeeper Joe Bendik was thankful after getting his fingertips on a Will Bruin shot that resulted from a through ball through the Lions defensive line. Houston has scored most of their goals by successfully completing through balls this season.
The second-half would prove to be almost identical to the first, however, an early chip shot in the 50th minute by longtime midfielder Kevin Molino was blocked over the crossbar by Deric. The dying embers of the match raised the spectators blood pressure when Jamaican international Giles Barnes had a shot go off the post for Houston that eventually resulted in the Lions sub Julio Baptista blasting a shot wide of Deric's goal before the whistle was blown.
Bobby Murphy-Era
This was the first match in charge for interim manager Bobby Murphy who took over for former England U21 international Adrian Heath after he was fired by Orlando City on July 6, 2016. Murphy commented during the post-match press conference that the "crowd needed something to cheer for," but the club "couldn't get it across the line." The next three matches for the club will be played on the road where they have only gained three points once in seven fixtures.
Dynamo Seeking Becoming Dynamic
The Houston Dynamo will travel to Los Angeles to take on the LA Galaxy. Defensively the squad has been rather successful only allowing four goals in four matches. Therefore, former United States international DaMarcus Beasley becoming captain of the side has truly begun to pay off on the defensive end. If Houston can begin to become more effective offensively by getting more out of Giles Barnes and Will Bruin, they surely can find themselves possibly in the last spot before the playoffs.