By LEOPOLDO PONCE
HOUSTON — A week after being the hero who led the Houston Dynamo to a season-opening victory, Tyler Deric transformed roles on Friday night, playing the goat after a costly blunder.
A long back-pass from David Horst reached Deric with Pedro Ribeiro running at him. Deric took a bad touch, allowing Ribeiro to pounce and get in behind him with a chance at a goal. Deric attempted to punch the ball away before Ribeiro could head it, but punched the ball into his own net for the only goal in a 1-0 loss at BBVA Compass Stadium.
A 55th-minute substitute, Ribeiro helped create the own goal by pressuring Horst into laying it back to Deric, then hustling to chase Deric down and force the turnover.
“People give up chasing the keeper because nine times out of 10 nothing comes of it, so the fact that put he put the work in was his reward for it,” Orlando City coach Adrian Heath said of Ribeiro, who earned 34 minutes after failing to make the team’s bench for its season opener.
“He has forced himself into the 18 this week. He’s worked really hard in training and he reaped the rewards”
On a night when Orlando City created more chances and had more of the ball, the Dynamo had to rely on Deric to keep them in the match for a second straight week, and Deric looked up to the task early on. A pair of saves on Kaka helped keep Houston in the battle on a night when the Dynamo attack managed zero shots on goal.
Houston’s closest chances at equalizing came at the 86th minute off of a Brad Davis corner that Giles Barnes ended up sending over the crossbar, and again during stoppage time when Will Bruin ended up shooting a ball wide.
Houston controlled possession during the first few minutes of the half as the game turned into a battle in the midfield. Luis Garrido and Jermaine Taylor did a good job of limiting Kaka.
The Brazilian star still managed to make his mark, nearly scoring a free kick goal for the second straight week, only to have Deric deny his goal-bound shot with a diving save in the 39th minute.
The Dynamo’s best scoring opportunity came after Seb Hines tried to play a pass through his own penalty area. Brad Davis pounced on the bad pass, but sent his shot well over the bar.
Deric’s own goal spoiled what had been another strong showing in goal. Along with denying a Kaka free kick, Deric also stopped another Kaka chance in the second half by using his knee to block an attempted shout through the legs.
Houston was close to equalizing the game in the 86th minute off of Brad Davis corner that Giles Barnes ends up heading over the crossbar.
Next week, the Dynamo travel to Los Angeles to face the Galaxy, while Orlando City plays host to the Vancouver Whitecaps at the Citrus Bowl on Saturday.
Love the stadium and location. For the second match against a new club with Kaka, the attendance looked disappointing. A lot of vacant orange seats from the highlights I saw.
Houston’s stadium always looks like that. Way too many empty seats.
It was deemed a “sellout”.
The beginning of the game looked poor since it was a 6PM kickoff. Most people in Houston drive about an hour to get into downtown on a Friday evening. Just bad timing by those who do the scheduling.
Embarrassing way to lose.
I have seen thousands of soccer games over the past 30 years or so. That may be the strangest goal I have ever seen. Not only how it happened, but the whole sequence of events where the keeper had his arms around Ribiero with his right arm around his neck and then punched it and both the keeper and the attacker chased after the ball and ended up in the back corner. Really wild and a mistake for the ages. Orlando looks very good for an expansion club. They could surprise some people.
As the saying goes, it’s better to be lucky than good. With this goal and the deflected free kick last week, I think Orlando has a healthy balance of both.
nothing new under the sun… until you see a play like that. I think he was trying to punch wide… really he should have just tackled the guy and been done with it, cause had he made that save that was a sure penalty kick and ejection.
He’s a young keeper. Hopefully he’ll bounce back.
I didn’t see any card given to the keeper after the goal. Even though Orlando scored he should have gotten at least a yellow for that gridiron-style pulldown. He almost pushed Ribeiro into the freakin’ post.
GK received a yellow.
The Dynamo looked terrible, no possession, no danger,… It was bad. When the ball did go wide there was no service and no one in the box to receive service…
The team is old, just like the announcers said. At least Coyle’s is giving young guys some minutes.
If Lopez is taking a dp spot, get rid of him if he is not playing!
It’s true. Dynamo were every bit as toothless as Chicago on opening night vs. LAG, which is saying something. The goal might’ve been a bit flukish, but ultimately the Dynamo simply didn’t deserve a point from this match.
Cannot believe people are that worked up about turf v. grass. Who cares? Yes, grass is preferable but you’re just looking for excuses if that’s your reason not to watch MLS. “I won’t watch Sounders home games because I’m an effete snob who fancies himself a purist and will only deign to watch games on grass. Are you ever so impressed? I am such a sophisticated football fan” Please.
I’d also mentioned that the Sounders probably have the best home crowd and best atmosphere in North American sports so it’s your loss if your turf allergy won’t allow you to watch them. And I am not a Sounders fan.
Defining a level of snobbery is rich coming from someone that questions the legitimacy of being American enough to play for the Nats.
Hilarious contribution, slow.
Yeah, you’re right. I don’t think someone who’s visited America twice and otherwise never set foot here should play for our national team. Seems like common sense to me. Just like I shouldn’t be eligible to play for Germany. I don’t see what that has to do with turf v. grass. A lot of hullabaloo about nothing by people desperate to complain about something.
The woman’s national team was ready to sue FIFA about playing on turf I believe. Are they snobs too? And just curious would you rather watch (and listen to) basketball on parquet or concrete?
Soccer is theater, it is a visual spectacle, the sets are nearly as important as the actors, when we’re talking about the popularity of the global game. In other words, I think a lot of people care.
Who cares? I care. When nobody can control the ball because it is literally bouncing over people that makes for very poor soccer. I love MLS and will watch any game, and can tell you unequivocally that games on turf are their own beast and play in a completely different manner than games on grass.
MLS will never be a world class league if it still has teams with turf stadiums.
You don’t play tennis on concrete and you don’t play soccer or golf on turf. It kills the quality of play and only further encourages the route one tactics we usually see in the MLS.
Somebody mentioned turf above. I refuse to watch Sounders home games on that abomination of a “field”. This is vomit-inducing stuff, brings down the legitimacy of both the league and the Sounders.
Either put real grass or get out of that stadium.
They’ll never add grass in that stadium. NFL > MLS.
Sounders are too comfortable, have everything they’d want (aside from grass) in their current home so even a separate stadium seems extremely unlikely in the foreseeable future. The turf is here to stay.
I know they will never put in grass but they need better turf.
Agreed.
I actually thought the game was a snoozer. The darting runs by Kaka created some excitement, until u realized that nobody can get him the ball. He’s going to need someone, other than Shea, to show some skill if they’re gonna win more than 15 games. He’s one of the 100 greatest players of all time, but cannot do it alone.
The game had some great stretches of ball movement, and Kaka is awesome, but I agree, there were definitely some slow periods. I was impressed with Ramos on the opposite wing from Shea. Kid definitely has a smooth touch/ball control. He and Shea should be able to swing in some good crosses. The problem I see is that Kaka is better with the ball at his feet, heading towards goal, as is Rivas and Molino, so you don’t have a lot of guys to receive those crosses. They are a team that looks like they want to play through the wings to break pressure, then through the middle to attack, but just don’t have their game tidy yet. If it does come together, they could be very dangerous.
15 wins and some draws will put them comfortable in the top half of the table, if not higher. I’m sure they’d take it.
I was extremely impressed by OC. They pretty much toyed with Houston, passing circles around them. They still have some significant problems in the final third but hopefully that will come.
Turf is the worst.
Games r almost unwatchable
Except that was grass. The field doesn’t look good but it is grass.
So where is Orlandos home field the citrus bowl. Or that 20k stadium?
Citrus Bowl this season, the 20k stadium is still being built
more importantly, a 20k GRASS FIELD stadium, lol i wish every team would just do this. is it that hard to keep up grass? i’m sure there are companies that specialize in maintaining grass. hire a golf course company, lol. #TuckFurf
Ha yeah I agree MLS can only benefit from going all-grass. But for the moment, it really depends on what else goes on in the stadium. Pro football is absolute murder on grass, particularly in areas with high precipitation. It’s something no amount of expertise can remedy. So Seattle and New England have a valid excuse for the moment, though it won’t last forever.
The team with the most questions to answer here is Portland. They have deep-pocketed owners, consistent at-capacity or near-capacity attendance, and a great soccer culture. It’s not clear why they are stalling on this (the co-tenant Portland State football team has been laughably used as an excuse). Perhaps they are looking into building a new venue altogether.
+1
“still’ being built is relative. I don’t think the first girder has even gone up. They started preparing the ground a few months ago, and just closed off the road where much of the stadium will be. But, the team is now wondering if they shouldn’t build more capacity than they’ve planned for.
If they are really wondering that, they are probably getting a little ahead of themselves. Selling out the Citrus Bowl on a gorgeous and clear 80 degree March day for the inaugural game of the team’s franchise is one thing… but the history of pro sports in Florida teaches us that sustaining strong initial interest is the real challenge. Will they still get a big turnout as a mid-table team playing in sweltering, unbearably muggy heat against RSL or Colorado in mid-summer? Nobody wants to see this team turn into the Marlins (I don’t suspect they will)
It should also be said that the “problem” of having a stadium that is a little smaller than demand is ultimately no problem at all…. it’s a great thing and cuts to the entire benefit of soccer-specifics. Sold out games project all the right things, both for fans in the stadium and fans watching on TV. Revenues can be sustained (if not grown) but simply increasing the ticket price. And for fans who cannot attend, well– growing the TV audience is the single biggest goal MLS should have right now.
Nobody should worry about stadiums that are “too small”. After all, an embarrassingly tiny stadium has done nothing to hurt the Red Sox brand or competitiveness.