HOUSTON (Oct. 21, 2024) – Houston Dynamo FC defender Daniel Steres was named to the MLSSoccer.com Team of the Matchday starting XI for Matchday 38, the league announced today. The inclusion marks the defender’s second appearance of the season.
The Dynamo earned a crucial 2-1 Decision Day victory versus the LA Galaxy at Shell Energy Stadium behind an Ezequiel Ponce goal and a late stoppage-time match winner from Steres.
The California native rose to the occasion in the 11th minute of second-half stoppage time, scoring the game winning goal with a header that found the inside of the far post after a cross from defender Griffin Dorsey.
Ponce opened the scoring in the 43rd minute after a set piece from captain Héctor Herrera skimmed off defender Erik Sviatchenko and was redirected by Steres into path of the Argentine striker. The play marked Steres’ fourth assist of the regular season.
With the result, Houston set a single-season Club record for points with 54 points, surpassing the previous record of 53 points in 2012.
Steres (Matchday 27 and 38) is one of 16 Dynamo players to be named to the Team of the Matchday this season and are joined by Adalberto “Coco” Carrasquilla (Matchday 34 and 36), Sviatchenko (Matchday 15 and 36), Steve Clark (Matchday 23 and 34), Dorsey (Matchday 13, 28 and 32), Amine Bassi (Matchday 17 and 32), Herrera (Matchday 13, 18 and 31), Ponce (Matchday 30), Franco Escobar (Matchday 7, 20 and 30), Sebastian Ferreira (Matchday 22), Latif Blessing (Matchday 21), Andrew Tarbell (Matchday 17), Ethan Bartlow (Matchday 9), Artur (Matchday 7), Brad Smith (Matchday 6) and Aliyu Ibrahim (Matchday 5). Head coach Ben Olsen was also named to the team for Matchday 9 after Houston’s 2-1 victory at Minnesota United FC.
The Dynamo finish the regular season as the No. 5 seed in the Western Conference heading into the Audi 2024 MLS Cup Playoffs. Houston will now face No. 4 seeded Seattle Sounders FC in Game 1 of the Round One Best-of-3 Series on Monday, Oct. 28 at 8:00 p.m. CT. Seattle will host Game 1, while Houston returns to Shell Energy Stadium to host Game 2 on Sunday, Nov. 3 at 5:30 p.m. CT. Fans can purchase tickets via SeatGeek HERE for as low as $25. Game 3 will be played on Sunday, Nov. 10 at 6:00 p.m. CT if necessary.
