The Rio Grande Valley FC Toros defeated the Houston Dynamo Academy U-18's 4-2 as they continued preseason preparations at Houston Sports Park on Thursday afternoon. The Toros, a hybrid USL affiliate of the Dynamo, featured several of the Academy’s top alumni including midfielders Christian Lucatero and Marcelo Palomino, as well as forward Charlie Flores.
The Academy put early pressure on RGV FC in the 17th minute. Midfielder Gianluca Natira stole the ball from the Toros defense and delivered a pass to forward Santiago Perez. Perez found himself in a one-on-one with Toros goalkeeper Michael Kirk, who saved the shot.
RGV opened the scoring in the 40th minute. Toros midfielder Kyle Murphy attempted a bicycle kick in the box, but goalkeeper Pedro Medrano got a hand on the ball and pushed it off the cross bar. Unfortunately for the Academy, midfielder and Academy alumni Christian Lucatero was there to head in the rebound and put the Toros ahead, 1-0.
The Toros came out firing in the second half. In the 51st minute, defender Kai Greene found forward Ruben Luna to double the lead. In the 69th minute, Luna created a turnover and scored again to make the score 3-0.
The Academy continued to push, however, and got themselves back in the game with a pair of penalty kicks. Midfielder Kaydoe George converted his spot kick in the 71st minute, then forward Hyoung Woo-Kim drew and scored his penalty attempt late in the 89th minute.
But as the game came to an end, the Toros scored once more to seal the deal as current U.S. U-17 residency midfielder Marcelo Palomino, playing up with the USL side, found forward Francisco Pungo for the final tally.
What they said:
RGV FC head coach Junior Gonzalez
(on the partnership between the Houston Dynamo and RGV FC) “We brought (midfielder) Marcelo Palomino in from the USMNT. He is in residency, came in got some minutes and did some really good things for us not having trained with us, which was really good. (Forward) Charlie (Flores) and (midfielder Christian) Lucatero are now with our group, they are also products of the Academy. I think they have been doing a great job of learning the concepts and applying the system. I'm hoping as we continue to grow that we get more and more players coming up to the pipeline that can help us. Is important that we allow those younger players to get into a professional setting to develop.”
Houston Dynamo Academy U-18 head coach Kenny Bunds
(on the playing a professional team) “It’s a great experience. It’s an experience for the 18’s to come out and compete against one of the professional teams in our club. I think the aspiration for the 18’s is to make it to that level and to see what it takes to make it at that level. Also, for RGV and (head coach) Junior (Gonzalez), we want to give them a competitive game to finish their preseason, (so) they can start their season successfully.”
Houston Dynamo Academy U-18 vs. Rio Grande Valley FC Toros
Friendly
March 2, 2017 – Houston, Texas
(All stats are unofficial)
Scoring Summary:
RGV: Christian Lucatero (unassisted) 40
RGV: Ruben Luna (Kai Greene) 51
RGV: Ruben Luna (unassisted) 69
HOU: Kaydoe George (penalty kick) 71
HOU: Hyoung Woo-Kim (penalty kick) 89
RGV: Francisco Pungo (Marcelo Palomino) 90
Houston Dynamo U-18: Pedro Medrano; Ryan Guajardo (Olivio Palermo 46), Luis Garza (Oscar Acosta 46), Alex Acton (Jesus Lules 46), Johnathan Diaz (Matt Pham 46); Gabriel Ruiz (Rimario Golden 46), Gianluca Natira (Alejandro Lezama 46),Vieri Joya (Kelechi Onyewuenyi 46); Isaac Albarade (Hyoung Woo-Kim 46), Roberto Hernandez (Kayode George 46), Santiago Perez (Heiko Leinweber 46)
RGV FC Toros: Michael Kirk (Arturo Sanchez 46); Robby Segal, Kyle Murphy (Ivan Luquetta 77), Ivan Magalhães (Danilo Radjen), Kai Greene (Leo Ayala 77); Emilio Garcia (Charlie Flores 77), Todd Wharton (Charlie Ward 65), Christian Lucatero (Marcelo Palomino 65); Victor Garza (Jhonathan Velasquez 77), Ruben Luna (Francisco Pungo 77), Camilo Menroe (Eric Bird 65)
Referee: Kyle Phillips
Assistant Referee 1: Bryan Estrada
Assistant Referee 2: Estefania Estrada
