2023 Season Previews: Houston Dynamo, Inter Miami, Orlando City
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2021 MLS Season Previews: Austin FC, Houston Dynamo, and Seattle Sounders
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We’re publishing three team previews every weekday until MLS First Kick on April 16th. You can find all of them here.
Today we’re looking at three teams that are each going in very different directions.
Read More2020 Season Preview: Houston Dynamo
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Mauro Manotas and Alberth Elis are still in Houston.
Despite numerous rumors extending back multiple years, neither of the Dynamo’s attacking duo was sold this offseason. The Dynamo, then, will mostly run it back this season, this being perhaps their last shot to maximize the value of their attacking stars. Outside of a handful of acquisitions, this will mostly be the same team that has missed the playoffs the last two years.
One key difference: Tab Ramos, not Wilmer Cabrera, is the coach. Ramos is more likely to incorporate young players and is expected to play a more cohesive, front-foot style. Cabrera spent the first year of his tenure playing a counter-attacking 4-3-3, then switched to a more possession-based style in 2018 and 2019, with unfavorable results.
Read MoreOffseason Outlook: Houston Dynamo
/The offseason in Houston once again brings more question marks for the Dynamo as they enter yet another period of rebuilding. Gone are head coach Wilmer Cabrera and captain DaMarcus Beasley, in is former United States U23 coach Tab Ramos and a roster with plenty of holes still to fill.
A new era brings a bit of a renewed hope in the fanbase, but the Dynamo still have a bit of work to do if they want to compete in an increasingly difficult Western Conference. If Ramos and general manager Matt Jordan can fill the remaining holes in the roster and get the team to buy-in to the new system, this team could perhaps make some noise in 2020.
Read MoreHouston Dynamo 2019 Season Preview
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Last season was a year of ups and downs for the Dynamo; they won the US Open Cup but didn’t make the playoffs. They’ll be hoping that some key offseason additions get them back into the Western Conference race in 2019.
Read MoreExpected Possession Goals GameFlow: Taking a Ride Into the Danger Zone
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A few weeks ago, we introduced Expected Possession Goals (xPG) GameFlow, a visualization of the momentum of a soccer match from kickoff to final whistle of each game. xPG GameFlow uses the accumulation of Chance xPG to measure the strength of an opportunity for a team to get a shot. The higher the Chance xPG differential between the teams, the longer the bar for that minute for the team with the higher amount. Quite often goals are scored when the momentum bars on the xPG GameFlow chart are at their longest.
Many people have asked us, “what is the difference between xPG and xG?” or “how does xPG translate to xG or to goals?” To aid xPG GameFlow in answering questions such as “which team had the better chances?” and “when should a team have scored?”, we introduced a couple improvements after the first week of tweeting MLS game charts on @GameFlowxPG. I wanted to provide more context for these improvements and dive deeper into them.
Read MoreLittle Things from Week 24: Lodeiro's control, Machado about creating space, and Villa's intelligence
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Nicolas Lodeiro doing Nicolas Lodeiro things
Nico Lodeiro is a Touch Percentage Superstar. His 14.4 percent leads MLS players with a significant sample size this season, and he was similarly among the league leaders in 2016 and 2017. Most of his competitors are deeper-lying midfielders who are more likely to get on the ball in safer positions, whereas Lodeiro’s touches are situated primarily in a more congested attacking third.
Lodeiro is everything for this Sounders team, the fulcrum through which they pass and create. As John Strong and Brian Dunseth relayed on the FS1 broadcast on Sunday, Garth Lagerwey and the higher-ups consider Seattle Lodeiro’s team. Only a player with the on-ball proficiency and volume of Lodeiro could deserve that lofty mantle.
Few players in MLS’ recent history have possessed Lodeiro’s willingness to control a game’s shape, and almost no one has been able to do so from the advanced positions that he has. The Uruguayan is everywhere, by design. He’s constantly moving and trying to make himself available for passes. That, his never-ending movement and incisive mobility, is what stood out in 2016 when he arrived midseason and dominated everyone.
Read MoreHouston Dynamo: Doing More with Less
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The battle for a Western Conference playoff spot is an absolute dog fight. After Sporting Kansas City, who are currently sitting on top of the West, there is only a four point gap between second place and ninth place. LAFC, Portland, FC Dallas, Houston, Vancouver, LA Galaxy, Minnesota, and Real Salt Lake are all currently sitting together, cramped right in the middle. Out of all those teams, there is one particular organization doing some especially impressive things - on and off the field. In this week’s team breakdown, we are going to take a look at the Houston Dynamo. Houston has managed to do more with less than anybody else in Major League Soccer and people have started to take notice, especially after a very impressive result at home against New York City FC (believe it or not, this article was planned even before that 3-1 win). So, now that eyes are opening across the MLS landscape, we are going take a comprehensive look at just what exactly the Dynamo are doing well and how exactly they are doing it. In order to do so, we are going to start off the field and work our way on to it. Let’s start with the second half of the title.
Read MoreHouston Dynamo 2018 Season Preview
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Last season was a solid if unspectacular one for the Dynamo, as they exceeded expectations in the regular season and made a surprising run to the Conference Finals. With more important subtractions than additions in 2018, they'll hope to tread water in an improved West.
2017 in review
Last year was a surprisingly smooth one for the Dynamo. As evidenced by the mostly slow and steady incline of the season progression chart above, Houston was the Little Engine That Could. They made BBVA Compass Stadium a stronghold, eked out results on the road, and found their way to the Western Conference Finals.
At home, the Dynamo were offensive juggernauts. Buoyed by the best goal celebration in MLS, they averaged 1.8 xGF per game and only 1.04 xGA on their way to 12 wins and only one loss at BBVA. The 40 points they earned were second only to Toronto and their 41 goals and +25 GD at home were both best in the Western Conference. When they turned it on, they seemed unstoppable.
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