Written by Juan Pereira

Photo by Seattle Sounders FC

Houston Dynamo 2 still enter the final week of the MLS NEXT Pro with legitimate playoff hopes, but they will need some help from other teams due to their loss against Tacoma Defiance. 

Tacoma took the lead in the 63rd minute thanks to Gio Miglietti, who found himself open inside of the box after some quick transitional play. It was Miglietti again in the 90th minute who doubled Tacoma’s lead. On this goal, Xavier Valdez was caught away from his line, and the Tacoma attacker was able to take advantage of the situation. 

Houston didn’t develop many dangerous chances in this game as Tacoma made sure to constantly make sure that the Dynamo didn’t find any passing outlets in the final third. This is shown by the fact that Houston only had two shots on target in this match compared to Tacoma who had seven. The total shot disparity wasn’t as large, meaning that whenever Houston did shoot, there was little danger shown to the Tacoma goalkeeper. 

Despite his error in the 90th minute, Valdez had a total of five saves in the match and saved the Dynamo on multiple occasions. 

This match also featured yet another start for Daniel Barrett, who has started to cement himself as a shining prospect with good performances for the second team. Mattheo Dimareli has also been able to keep his starting position at Dynamo 2 while Exon Arzu builds up his fitness. 

Houston have to get a result on Sunday, Oct. 6 against Vancouver Whitecaps 2 and have other results go their way if they want to clinch a third consecutive playoff berth. 

This team was in a similar position last year, but they were able to persevere. Only time will tell if this year will play out similarly. 

Tickets for the season finale are free and available at the link below:

https://seatgeek.com/houston-dynamo-fc-2-tickets