Houston Dynamo FC: No way but up for new technical staff

New head coach Paulo Nagamura heads the retooled technical staff that aims to get Houston Dynamo FC out of last place in the MLS Western Conference, where they finished in 2021.

The team recently hired Nagamura three new staffers. They include assistant coaches Chris Martinez and Jimmy Nielsen, while Zach Thornton comes on as goalkeepers coach.

They open full pre-season on Jan. 31 during the Desert Showcase in Tucson. There they open participation against Real Salt Lake and Colorado Rapids. They play split-squad against Phoenix Rising FC and El Paso Locomotive FC.

They come home for Austin FC on Feb. 12. Matches follow until the season opens at home on Feb. 27 against Real Salt Lake.

Houston Dynamo FC have new staff to help fight up from the bottom of the MLS Western Conference.

The formations will get locked in by the staff by mid-February. Given Nagamura’s work as head coach of Sporting Kansas City II, most of the formations should be easily accessible for longer-term Dynamo players.

In that squad’s last 32 matches in the USL, Nagamura went to the offensive scheme of a 4-3-3 all but seven times. He tried 4-1-4-1 three times, 4-2-3-1 two times, plus one each for 4-4-2 and 4-5-1.

Coaches match formations to their personnel. His squad was most successful with the 4-3-3.

The 2021 Houston Dynamo squad also stayed focused on making the 4-3-3 work most of the time.

Now Nagamura – at age 38 the youngest head coach in Dynamo history – will work to fit personnel into the scheme in a way to get his team out of the cellar. It will be a busy pre-season.

The Nagamura difference is that he’ll emphasize proactive soccer, says Dynamo General Manager Pat Onstad. Proactive means players learn to combine their mental game with their other game skills. The goal is for players to approach each match with the same level of confidence, resulting in consistent performance.

Onstad bases his analysis of Nagamura as much on his performance as a midfielder as his five years coaching in the Kansas City organization. That playing experience includes 12 years in MLS until he retired in 2016. Then as a coach, he helped develop several pro standouts in the Kansas City organization.

Onstad keyed on Nagamura’s success with young players. That includes U.S. Men’s National Team midfielder Gianluca Busio, who debuted at age 15 in the USL. He’s a Nagamura product.

That gives Dynamo supporters an extremely loud hint that they’ll have to update their rosters this season. The lineup will be getting younger before the season gets old.