Houston Dynamo: RGV preseason trip comes to an end

Houston Dynamo traveled to the Rio Grande Valley this past weekend in the first preseason trip of the season to play against USL affiliate, RGV Toros FC.

Preseason started off in a slightly warmer climate for the Dynamo this year by traveling down to the Valley near the border with Mexico. The trip was a visit to their USL affiliates, RGV Toros, for a couple games and taking a tour of the new stadium.

The Dynamo games featured three different opponents in this preseason tour the University of Texas-RGV (NCAA), RGV Toros (USL), and an intrasquad game.

Jan 13, 2017; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Jack McGuire is selected with the eighth pick in the second round during the 2017 MLS SuperDraft by the Houston Dynamo at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports /

The first preseason camp of the year was a chance for the Dynamo’s new draft picks to show their best and make a case for a roster spot. Such as, Jake McGuire (pictured above), who was drafted out of Tulsa, and has made starts in goal for RGV Toros in the recent string of preseason games. Other draft picks and trialists making their case for the first team are the likes of Joe Holland, Memo Rodriguez (Dynamo Homegrown), TJ Casner, and Charlie Ward.

Pre-season kicks off

The more well established players in the team have seemed to mesh well with the newcomers and trialists thus far, as the Dynamo took the field in the first preseason game last Saturday, February 3rd. They put five goals past the young college team and Houston eased into preseason with confidence.

The first match saw a brace from Erick Torres and a pair of assists from Honduran new boys, Elis and Quito. Later a Dynamo team made up of mainly trialists and draftees beat RGV Toros 2-1 in a 45 minute encounter. It seems as if Dynamo homegrowns Memo Rodriguez and Christian Lucatero are finally coming into stride this season as they both got on the score sheet for the Dynamo.

The rest of the trip included more training over the weekend and capped off their RGV preseason trip with another intra-squad scrimmage and 45 minutes against RGV Toros on Tuesday. After a weekend’s training under their belt and a bit more fitness the Dynamo should have been that much more ready for another scorcher down in the Valley (yes, it’s already 85 degrees down in the Valley).

Torres finds early form

The 45 minute intra-squad match ended with a lone goal from Erick Torres yet again, assisted by the new Dynamo man-Dylan Remick. The subsequent 45 match against RGV provided to be more fruitful with a 3-0 rain down from Alberth Elis and a brace from Mauro Manotas.

Even at the start of preseason and the team coming to fitness, the Dynamo newcomers are already starting to show their faces and styles. It is encouraging for fans to see Erick “Cubo” Torres putting in a couple goals after a less than perfect first season in Orange. The Houston Dynamo fan based are hoping to see Torres succeed this season and challenge Mauro Manotas for a starting spot.

It looks as if new Head Coach Wilmer Cabrera shares the same sentiments as he had some very promising words to say about the squad and their trip down to Mcallen-Edinburg.

Wilmer himself broke down the beginning of the preseason in his own words and said how excited and full of energy the players were to get down on the pitch.

Next: MLS superdraft draft picks for Houston Dynamo

The story of this preseason so far surfaces around the word new. New players, new coach, new style. It is an exciting and slightly scary time to be a Dynamo fan as so much new makes it hard to tell what to expect from this season. But the Dynamo faithful should be optimistic, this preseason trip was a great start to camp. The RGV connection is already proving helpful with the influx of RGV trialists the club has brought in.

Next up, Houston travels down to Tucson, Arizona next for their preseason tournament with the Revolution, NYCFC and the Red Bulls. A chance to see how they match up against other MLS teams at this point and how the team shapes up after Wilmer’s roster cuts.

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