When the Montreal Impact’s Ignacio Piatti scored a go-ahead goal Saturday against the Houston Dynamo, David Horst turned to rookie AJ Cochran, arms outstretched, clearly unhappy.
The central pairing was cut in half by the Argentine and their transgression put a needed result in jeopardy.
Giles Barnes and Ricardo Clark came to the rescue with goals, and the Houston Dynamo pulled out a 3-2 win to stay close in the playoff chase. But, if the center back pair is called upon again for Saturday’s showdown with the Columbus Crew (7:30 p.m. CT; TICKETS), they’ll have to work out the kinks against an attack hitting on all cylinders.
“It had its ups and downs,” Horst said of the pairing. “AJ and I are still figuring each other out. AJ and I didn’t do as good of a job as we should’ve last weekend. AJ brings a lot of good things to the table, and I bring a lot of good things to table. And if we can combine those things we’ll be fine this weekend.”
Horst pointed to a lack of connection and familiarity between the two as one of the reasons for their struggles. It showed on both Montreal goals.
While that game was a struggle, the pair believes they have the ability to turn things around. Both tall, physical defenders, their stature suggests that they should hold up well against the Crew’s physical forwards.
While the physicality is a plus for them, both pointed to communication as a way to deal with any issues.
“At times we should’ve had a better communication between each other, but working out here it should get better,” said Cochran, who stepped in last week for an injured Jermaine Taylor (concussion).
Moving forward, the rookie said the focus has been on getting on the same page this week in training.
“[David] and I staying connected and being able to talk to the guys in front of us,” Cochran said. “Their forwards are going to be big against Columbus, and we’re just going to have to beat them in every aspect.”
Cochran is still learning on the job. The rookie has started seven games this season, but it was only last Saturday that he played his first minutes since July 19. He’s getting a crash course in what playoff-type soccer in MLS entails with Houston, as the team is five points out of the fifth and final postseason spot, facing the most pressure they have all season.
“[I’ve] got to stay clicked in 100 percent of the time,” Cochran said. “The second goal, it was a blind clearance and it goes straight to their forward and me and Dave a foot or two too far away from them and it’s a breakaway. At this level at any second you can get beat.”
For the veteran Horst, he knows he has to use his experience to help the pairing improve.
“AJ and I have played together quite a bit this year, and we’ve had some really good performances together and some really bad performances together,” Horst said. “AJ and I have gotten a chance to play together this week, and it’s getting better every chance we get to play. We got our kinks worked out last weekend.”
Darrell Lovell covers the Houston Dynamo for MLSsoccer.com.
