Group play concluded Wednesday at the Dallas Cup, with Dynamo Academy teams going 3-0-1, earning the first Super Group win in club history, and sending the U-16s to the quarterfinals in hopes of defending their title. Elimination play will begin on Friday.
In the Super Group, the Dynamo U-19s earned their first ever win in the Super Group to finish the tournament with a 1-2 record. Irvinn Ramirez opened his scoring account in the 23rd minute off a cross from Abé Matamoros. Ramirez headed the ball past the Costa Rican goalkeeper, giving the U-19s their first goal and lead of the tournament. Although Houston controlled play for much of the first half, Alajuelense evened the score minutes before halftime. In the second half, the Dynamo maintained their aggressive style of play, and managed to overcome a second yellow card to Bryan Celis to score a late goal off a corner kick. Diego Velazquez headed Nono's set-piece toward the net, and Uche Uzo snuck through the defense to put the ball past the goalkeeper and give Houston the lead and the win.
At the U-16 level, a Houston squad shorthanded by yellow card accumulation and injury pulled out a 1-1 draw on a late goal from Lorenzo Salazar - his fourth of the tournament in three games - to advance to the quarterfinals. Alberta SA scored midway through the first half to give the Canadian squad an early lead. In the second half, Salazar showed his dominance once again, picking up a loose ball at the halfway line, beating three players off the dribble and firing a rocket past the Alberta goalkeeper to even the match. The Dynamo will faces Estudiantes Tecos from Guadalajara, Mexico on Friday at 1:30 p.m. CT. Midfielder Christian Manisck will miss the match due to yellow card accumulation. Houston and Tecos played to a 2-2 draw in a friendly in February in Guadalajara.
In the U-15 age group, the Dynamo rolled to a 4-0 win to finish second in their group with six points. With only one wildcard spot available to group runners-up, Houston also amassed enough goal differential to pass all other teams with six points, but in Bracket D both Milan FC from California and the Chicago Fire Juniors finished with seven points, leaving the youngest Dynamo squad out of the elimination rounds. The Dynamo controlled their match against Alberta SA in all areas, with more than 20 shots and 10 corner kicks for the game. Irvin Ramirez made it 1-0 four minutes into the match after dribbling through the Alberta defense to get the goal. After several missed chances throughout the first half, Louis Thomas was able to make it 2-0 just before halftime. The second half continued just like the first, and with second-half goals from Garrett Welch and Jose Rodriguez, the U-15s finished the tournament in style.
The Dynamo South Texas Academy finished the tournament 0-1-2 after a second consecutive 1-1 tie, this time against DFW Tornadoes. Canadian club Ajax Gunners won the U-19 group one day after playing to a stalemate with the DSTA.
-- With reports from David Redd and Luis Chavez
Dynamo Academy U-19 vs. Alajuelense
(Costa Rica)
April 20, 2011 – Pizza Hut Park Field 7, Frisco
TX
Dallas Cup -- Super Group, Bracket D
Scoring Summary:
HOU
– Irvinn Ramirez (Abé Matamoros) 23
ALA -- 42
HOU – Uche Uzo (Diego Velazquez) -- 71
Dynamo Academy U-19 -- Pedro Gutierrez Mora, J. Christian Gonzalez, Brandon
Martin, Erick Tello, Leo Ayala (Uche Uzo 46), Irvinn Ramirez (Josue Morales),
Bryan Celis, Miguel Zapata, Abé Matamoros, Nono (Juan Lopez 75), Diego Velazquez.
Substitutes Not Used: Adam Masa, Mario Diaz.
All statistics contained in this boxscore
are unofficial
Dynamo Academy U-16 vs. Alberta SA
(Canada)
April 20, 2011 – Pizza Hut Park Field 11, Frisco TX
Dallas Cup -- Bracket D
Scoring Summary:
ALB
– 25
HOU -- Lorenzo Salazar 72
Dynamo Academy U-16 -- Juan Navarrete, Matthew Alarcon, Christian Diaz, Nelson Castro, David Dauajare, Giancarlo Rojas (Brandon Castillo), Policarpo Rodriguez (Jose Duarte), Christian Manisck, Trey Richardson, Carlos Ibarra, Lorenzo Salazar.
All statistics contained in this boxscore
are unofficial
Dynamo Academy U-15 vs. Alberta SA (Canada)
April 20, 2011 -- Richland College Field 4, Dallas TX
Dallas Cup -- Bracket F
Scoring Summary:
HOU -- Irvin Ramirez 4
HOU -- Louis Thomas 38
HOU -- Garrett Welch 50
HOU -- Jose Rodriguez 80
Dynamo Academy U-15 -- Jorge Navarrete, Sterling Noreiga (Michael Cusack 46), Luis Esquivel, Scott Brown, Garrett Welch, Harrison Heath (Shareef El-Saadi 30), Louis Thomas, Irvin Ramirez, Denzel Ward (Jose Rodriguez 56), Josue Palomino, Julius Montano (Giovani Lewis 41).
All statistics contained in this boxscore are unofficial
