Football Season Review

The Houston Dynamo missed out on the end of year playoff campaign for the third straight season running, in what was the worst season in their history. Rock bottom of the Western Conference table and second bottom in the overall standings only to Chicago, the Dynamo set club records for fewest wins, fewest goals and fewest points per game. After a blistering start to the season which saw them score 11 goals in their first 3 games, the side from Texas looked to be real contenders in the early stages of the season. With some big names brought in such as Cristian Maidana and Andrew Wenger, things appeared to be looking positive for the oranges, but they would soon fade away, failing to produce for large parts of the year. With head coach Owen Coyle sacked after a disastrous first 12 matches in charge which saw his team concede a total of 20 goals, he would be replaced by former player Wade Barrett, who would go on to make a slight, but not drastic improvement. Under the leadership of Barrett, the Dynamo would significantly improve defensively, going on to let in 1 or 0 goals in 15 of their next 16 games. Despite this change however, Houston's biggest issue would then switch to offence, where they would fail to score enough goals. With Will Bruin isolated up top as a lone striker for the majority of the season and, with Erick Cubo Torres eventually loaned out to Cruz Azul, Houston would fail to find the back of the net often enough, managing just 39 goals. It wasn’t until the emergence of Mauro Manotas towards the end of the season that the Dynamo finally got going, with the 21 year old striker scoring a total of 4 goals in a series of impressive displays. With former Chivas man Wilmer Cabrera having now been appointed head coach, and with the addition of a couple of new signings including Alberth Elis and Adolfo Machado, things do however appear to be looking positive for Houston, who will be hoping to make a charge for the playoffs in the 2017 campaign.

Player of the Season: Alex Monteiro de Lima