North Texas SC dropped its second game of the season, this time to cross-state rival, Houston Dynamo 2 in a game that saw 40+ fouls and an eventual red card for the away side.
With Michael Collodi getting the start for FC Dallas yesterday, North Texas SC turned to JT Harms for his first start. Alongside the former Hoosier, Enzo Newman and Tarik Scott returned to the starting lineup. Malachi Molina was also placed a bit higher than in previous games, playing more of a right wing position rather than right back.
Houston came out in a 3-4-3, a familiar lineup choice for this team, which ran out the same formation in their prior game against Sporting KC II. Dynamo Dos looked to extend their wings forward and overload one side of the ball, hoping to create chances in the box from an eventual cross.
Notable players for Dynamo Dos included captain Diego Gonzalez and Mattheo Dimareli, who both scored in the previous game. Pedro Cruz made his second consecutive start of the game alongside the incredibly young squad, which featured two 15-year-olds.
As expected, the highly-anticipated Texas derby started out relatively physical. In the 3rd minute of the game, Mohammed Cisset played a ball over the top of the defense. The ball landed at the feet of Molina, who laid it off to Ian Charles. As the ball bounced around, Scott made contact with the Houston keeper and drew the first yellow card of the game.
In the 10th minute of the game, North Texas struck first. Anthony Ramirez crossed a ball that was punched out to Alvaro Augusto. The ball was passed to Molina, who passed to Cisset, who got just enough off the ball to sneak it past the keeper, to make it 1-0 North Texas.
Roughly 10 minutes later in the 22nd minute, Houston was able to string together a couple of passes through the middle of the field, eventually finding their way to the wing. After a short run into the box, they would find a lone striker Lukas Bruegmann in the box, who was able to level the game, to make it 1-1.
In the 24th minute, Cisset was taken down about 7 yards from the top of the box. Ramirez crossed it into the box and almost found Cisset again for his second of the game, however, the ref ruled Cisset off-side. A common theme in the first half, and for most of the game, would be the amount of set pieces that North Texas would accumulate, but ultimately not capitalize on.
A scary moment for North Texas in the 29th minute when Dynamo played a short cross to one of their players. After a quick move to change directions, the ball was crossed into the box, where a Dynamo 2 player attempted a bicycle kick. However, instead of hitting the ball, Charles would be on the receiving end of the player’s foot. Charles walked off the field but would be subbed off shortly after for Caleb Swann.
Unfortunately, it was all Dynamo Dos after that. In the 55th minute, the men in Orange took their first lead of the game after an incredible near-post free kick by Gonzalez from about 20 yards out. Harms made a great effort but wasn’t able to get a hand on it. Dynamo took the lead 2-1 with 35 minutes left in the game.
Two minutes later, Augusto drew his second yellow card of the game after a clear foul against a Dynamo 2 player. He came in fast with his studs up and gave the ref no choice but to give him a card. North Texas would play the remainder of the game down to 10 men, which would prove costly.
In the 71st minute, after a lengthy buildup through the left side of the pitch, the ball eventually found its way back to the middle of the field, where Enrique Correa would rifle a shot to the bottom left corner and extend their lead to 3-1.
The onslaught didn’t stop there. In the 74th minute, Dimareli switched the ball over to the left wing, where it would be curled past Harms by Exon Arzú to make it 4-1, Houston. A rough night all around for North Texas as the Dynamo continued to get great shots on goal.
The final goal of the night came in the 83rd minute after a miscue from Gavin Gall, after he missed the ball on a pass back to the keeper, which was then picked up by Myles Gardner and created a 1-on-1 opportunity against the goalie. Gardner chipped the ball over Harms to finish the game off at 5-1.
Unfortunately, in a blowout like tonight’s game, there aren’t too many positives that you can walk away with. However, it is worth mentioning that if there was any sort of “Man of the Match” that could be awarded, it would most likely go to Mohammed Cisset.
Despite the barrage of goals from the Dynamo 2, Cisset looked much better after his first two games. He was able to create multiple offensive chances in the first half, from his ability to dictate the offense by switching the field and lobbing balls over the top of the defense into the final third of the field.
Up next, North Texas SC returns home to take on Sporting KC II on Friday, March 28th at 7:45 pm CT. Sporting KC II is currently 0-0-3 on the season.