Houston Dynamo Vs Sporting Kansas City: 3 things we learned – Western tilt entertains
By Marko Babic
Two of the potentially elite teas in the Western Conference, the Houston Dynamo and Sporting KC, played out an entertaining 1-1 draw on Saturday night. Here are three things we learned.
Houston Dynamo maintained their unbeaten run at BBVA Compass Stadium with a hard-fought 1-1 draw against divisional rivals Sporting Kansas City. The visitors took the initiative in the first half, but Houston’s aggressive pressing and commitment to sending players forward to test Kansas City’s shaky backline was enough to evade defeat.
La Naranja now occupy the fourth position in the Western Conference and host Austin Bold FC in the U.S. Open Cup next Tuesday. The visitors are 10th in the West after last night’s result and will look to get a much-needed victory when they travel to BMO Field to take on a floundering Toronto FC side next Friday.
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Here are three things we learned from Saturday night’s grudge match in Houston.
3. Vermes’ search for superiority
In the defensive phase, Houston Dynamo’s 4-2-3-1 mid-block turned into a 4-4-2 high press when Sporting Kansas City recycled possession. During the first half, Kansas City manager Peter Vermes combatted the home side’s strategy by having his players lineup in a staggered 2-1-2-3-2 shape in attack. In doing so, Vermes intended to gain a 5-v-4 advantage in midfield upon breaking Houston’s press and sought to achieve qualitative superiority in the final third with versatile Frenchman Yohan Croizet free to exploit 1-v-1’s in the right-inside channel.
Houston center-back Maynor Figueroa did an excellent job of tracking Croizet, compelling Vermes to alter his strategy in the second half. As such, the visitors played a more conventional 2-3-2-3 in possession with Daniel Salloi and Croizet hugging the touchline to stretch Houston’s defense and gain more favorable match-ups with Croizet going head-to-head with left-back Adam Lundkvist.
Vermes’ adjustments led to Croizet’s opening goal in the 63rd minute when the 27-year-old midfielder beat a hapless Lundkvist to Ilie Sanchez’s diagonal pass before calmly looping the ball over Dynamo keeper Joe Willis on the half-volley.