Houston Dynamo nearly earned a point in first match under Ben Olsen

Ben Olsen's first match in charge at Houston Dynamo FC went just as expected – a road loss to FC Cincinnati.

The development of the result, which ended 2-1 in favor of the home side, has left some optimism for the season ahead. The Texas club nearly stole a point on MLS Opening Weekend against one of the better-supported clubs in the league and a near-sellout crowd of 25,513 attendees at TQL Stadium.

"The difficult part of this match is we take away nothing, from a point standpoint," said Olsen following the defeat. "But I will say, I was very encouraged at the performance itself. A lot of really good individual performances on the team and collectively, much of what we've worked on over the last six weeks came to fruition and I think caused them trouble throughout the game in a bunch of different areas."

Franco Escobar, Tate Schmitt, Artur, and Ivan Franco all made their club debuts as part of a starting lineup that featured seven returning players from last season. Hector Herrera served as the team captain and provided the assist on the lone Dynamo goal to Schmitt in the 45+2' minute.

Some statistics favor Houston, who outshot Cincinnati 19-14 (7-5 on goal), but it was the hosts who had the better quality chances to score. Obinna Nwobodo eventually broke through for the game-winning goal in the 48th minute as Cincy held on to take its first three points of the season.

FC Cincinnati were there for the picking

The outlook heading into this encounter was that Cincinnati was favored for their home field and being further along in their idea of play. The Knifey Lions are in their second season under head coach Pat Noonan and looking to build off their first MLS Cup Playoffs appearance in team history.

With both teams playing their first competitive game of the year, this was perhaps the best chance for Houston to come away with a surprise result. Olsen mentioned, earlier in the week, that most teams not being 'well-oiled' at this point would give the Dynamo a chance if they could control certain aspects of the game and it did result in trouble for the home side.

"Certainly not our best performance and, really to give credit to Houston," Noonan said in his post-match comments. "They were good today. I think their midfield three controlled the game and you could see the ability for them to move the ball, and move forward, was just connecting passes in a more efficient way than we were able to and, when we did turn them over, too often, we lost the next pass and it became us chasing the game a little bit."

Noonan added that his team could have scored more in transition with defensive pressure. Brandon Vazquez, Luciano Acosta, Alvaro Barreal and Brenner all missed chances to score and extend the lead, keeping Houston at no more than a one-goal deficit for most of the game.

The Dynamo were not 'well-oiled' themselves to start, perhaps in part to playing the first game under a new head coach, different faces in the lineup, and playing away. After the opening 20 minutes, and conceding the first goal to Sergio Santos, the team looked better as the game went on.

"We have to learn a few lessons throughout this game, in particular, both goals," said Olsen. "Set pieces were very good. All night, we gave them trouble on set pieces. I thought Hector was fantastic. I thought he was maybe the best player on the field. So there was a lot of positives but we leave wanting a little bit more out of that game."

Better on set pieces

One of the areas where the Dynamo was abysmal last season was on set pieces. After scoring its first goal of the season off a corner kick, it's evident that area of work is already seeing improvement.

"Leading up to this game, we did a lot of work on set pieces," said Tate Schmitt. "We've been practicing them in the week at training. We knew that we could possibly get one on them. We had a good opportunity from the set piece, Hector threw in a good ball, and we just keep preaching that we got to be dogs in there and just hunt and find it. We've got a flick and got that equalizer at the time."

Schmitt collected his first Dynamo goal on the play after being announced as a new signing on February 17. The left-back was a trialist with the team during preseason and made a good impression to earn a contract, on top of filling the club's urgent gaps in the defense.

A forward during his career, Schmitt was at the right place to convert in his first start. It's not as if he didn't hope his debut would be accompanied by a goal but the reality is certainly better.

"It's always in the back of your head and you dream about it," said Schmitt. "The big thing was obviously just putting a good defensive performance and those opportunities will always come...coming in, obviously wanted to be a starter for this team, continue to contribute when I get the opportunity. It's just the collective work that we've been putting in and training that's going to keep this going all year. I'm just fortunate to be part of this group."

Five of the Dynamo's second-half attempts came from a corner kick, with Schmitt involved again in the 78th minute. The team also came close to scoring on a Hector Herrera free kick in the 76th minute.

One telling statistic is that the Dynamo conceded zero corner kicks to its rival. It marked only the seventh time that FC Cincinnati did not attempt a corner kick in an MLS match.

Lacking experience off the bench

The Dynamo players know that at least a draw was in their grasp. They were just never able to convert that all-important second goal.

"The effort was there," said Artur. "We had a lot of moments with good quality in passing the ball, I think someone might say we slept a little bit and we got to take care of that and fix that. Those moments where we are a little bit too casual. We got to pay attention playing against good teams with good attacking options. We got to defend well the counterattacks, but I believe also that we need to score when you have the chances. We had a few chances that we could have done better with, but it's the first game and I believe we're going to get it right."

In part, the options of the bench didn't feature any experienced players that could help close out a result. Griffin Dorsey, Nelson Quinones, Thor Ulfarsson and Brooklyn Raines, all 23 or younger, are all in their second or third meaningful season in MLS.

The Dynamo also didn't make the most of when they did have their experienced players out on the field. The struggles to connect with forward Sebastian Ferreira, a recurring theme in 2022, looks to continue as the Paraguayan only had two shots inside the penalty area against FC Cincinnati.

"Keep our structure you know, and exploit them in some of their transition moments," said Olsen on what his message was at halftime. "I thought we came out a little bit more aggressive than maybe I would have liked the second half. We really wanted to make them struggle and keep the game tied for a little bit. Giving that goal up hurt us and now we have to chase the game, and I thought we did a good job chasing the game, in both scenarios of going down a goal, but we have to do better so we don't have to chase the game."

Missed penalty call?

Houston had a case for a potential penalty due to a handball inside the box in the 31st minute. Winger Ivan Franco looked to pass to Sebastian Ferreira when FC Cincinnati defender Matt Miazga made a block with his arm.

Given that the ball hit the defender in an area considered to be a handball, The Striker submitted a question for the referee through the MLS Pool Reporter process. The explanation for why it was not considered a penalty was the following:

“The defender’s arm was down at his side and in a natural position. There was no movement of the arm to the ball and the defender did not make his body unnaturally bigger.”

The referee for this match was Chris Penso, supported by assistants Jason White and Jeffrey Swartzel and fourth official Eduardo Jeff. Michael Radchuk was serving as the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) with Craig Lowry as his assistant. A change occurred in the 58th minute as Jeff and White switched roles due to a hamstring injury to the latter official.

Next match: Mar. 4 at New England

The Houston Dynamo will go on the road next Saturday to visit the New England Revolution. The Dynamo-Revs history dates back to the 2006 and 2007 MLS Cup finals, both won by the Texans, and the 2008 SuperLiga final.