Games on short rest can sometimes be a challenge but the Dynamo are grateful that Tuesday’s home match against the San Jose Earthquakes (7:30 p.m. CT; TICKETS) is looming so soon.
The Dynamo dominated possession in the Texas Derby last Friday but were unable to contain their opponents on the counter-attack. However, the visit of the Earthquakes to BBVA Compass Stadium on Tuesday gives Owen Coyle’s men a swift chance to wash the sour taste of the 4-1 loss from their mouths.
“You’ve got to forget about it as quick as possible and obviously having another game so quickly you don’t have time to think about it,” defender DaMarcus Beasley said.
“We have an opportunity to make it right. We have to go home and look in the mirror and hold our hands up and try and get better. Be honest with ourselves, come to work ready to get better,” said midfielder Brad Davis.
The San Jose match marks the end of a three-game homestand for Houston, who tied 4-4 with Sporting Kansas City before facing Dallas. The Earthquakes are level with the Dynamo in the Western Conference standings having collected ten points from eight games. They drew 1-1 with Real Salt Lake on the road last Friday. The teams met at the start of preseason in Arizona with the Dynamo running out 3-2 winners.
Former Dynamo striker Mark Sherrod is now with the Earthquakes. He played nine times in MLS last year before suffering a season-ending knee injury against D.C. United last May but is currently working his way back to fitness after another setback.
Still, there are plenty of other familiar faces who will be making their first return to BBVA Compass Stadium. Dominic Kinnear left Houston last winter for California after nine seasons that brought two MLS Cup titles under his stewardship. His assistants Steve Ralston and Tim Hanley made the trip from Texas with him.
“I only had him for three months at the end of last season but the guys like Corey [Ashe] and Brad and Rico [Clark] and Boney [García], the guys who have been around for so long, I’m sure it’ll be bittersweet to see him on the other side of the bench. But I’m sure the guys, as well as I am, are looking forward to the challenge,” said Beasley, who signed for the Dynamo last July. “He’s done a lot for Houston.”
Despite Kinnear’s immense achievements in Houston, there’ll be no time to wallow in nostalgia as Coyle continues to fine-tune his line-up and tactics and shape a team fit for a new era. One that will bear his imprint while aiming to reach the postseason and continue the proud tradition established under Kinnear.
In the short term, the plan is to address the shortcomings from last week’s performance. “There was no doubt there was hard work ahead of us, but the group I’ve got I know they’re prepared for hard work. What we have to do is make sure we don’t give up soft goals. In the first seven games we made a habit of making sure that we didn’t and that’s what we need to get back to. That foundation, that platform, will give you the opportunity to go and win games,” Coyle said after the Dallas defeat.
“We’ve had plenty of plaudits defensively prior to the last couple of games. I think we’ve got to hold our hands up tonight and recognize that we didn’t do well enough individually and collectively. When all’s said and done, I’m the head coach and I’ll take responsibility for that. I think we know with the players we’ve got we can certainly defend better.”
After falling into an 0-2 hole early on the Dynamo made it 2-1 with a savagely-sinking free kick from Giles Barnes that was the forward’s third goal in two games. Two more breakaway goals for the visitors in the second half reduced that fine strike to a footnote.
For midfielder Nathan Sturgis the lesson is that the Dynamo need to be better at closing down players, and find a balance that will allow them to carve out chances while keeping the goal locked down at the other end. The Dallas and SKC games featured some of Houston’s best attacking play of the season, but the defensive solidity that underpinned earlier matches was missing.
“We just weren’t sharp in the defensive third. They’ve got good players that will punish you if you don’t get close to them,” said Sturgis, who suffered a shoulder injury against Dallas. "We’ve been pretty good in the last few games in possession and going forward and creating a lot but on the defensive side we’ve been a little bit lax, so I think we’ve got to go back to being a bit better defensively.”
Davis wants the team to be more consistent against San Jose. “I actually think we were moving the ball, passing the ball well, we were opening them up,” he said. “We have to do a better job of playing a complete game right now.”
As well as technical work on the training ground to ensure that Tuesday’s match won’t replicate last week’s, Davis also wants the players to channel their frustration and play with “a little bit of grit … a chip on our shoulder,” in order to ensure Kinnear won’t add to his stack of happy Houston memories.
Tom Dart is a contributing writer to HoustonDynamo.com and HoustonDashSoccer.com. Former editor and reporter for The Times of London and reporter for SI.com, Dart currently freelances for The Guardian.
