Houston Dynamo at LA Galaxy player ratings

(image via Houston Dynamo FC)

The Houston Dynamo grabbed a point in LA with a 1-1 draw against the Galaxy. Let’s take a look at how everyone performed.

Starters

Blake Gillingham-6 (7.25 avg)

This was an average game in net for Blake in his third start with the team. He was not asked to do a whole lot for a majority of the game. The goal he conceded was a magical strike from Diego Fagundez that he could not do much about.

Griffin Dorsey-6.5 (6.88 avg)

Dorsey came back down to earth after a fantastic game against LAFC last weekend. Griffin was threatening like usual, he just liked that bit of dynamics in the final third. A very predictable night for Dorsey.

Erik Sviatchenko-8.5 (6.75 avg)

Another stellar game from Erik Sviatchenko at the back for the Dynamo. The defense is night and day with his presence in the backline. LA had no answers all night for Erik.

Obafemi Awodesu-8 (6.75 avg)

Femi has finally figured out how to put multiple good performances back-to-back. Erik coming back in the team is a likely reason for that. Femi was excellent again, making three blocks and shutting out LA’s forwards.

Franco Escobar-9 MOTMx3 (7.71 avg)

Franco has done it again. This is his third man of the match award on the season from us. He was incredible yet again, making play after play defensively. He then added eight progressive passes including one that set Ponce 1v1 with a defender to draw a red card. This run of form for Escobar is just unreal.

Artur-7.5 (6.88 avg)

Artur had mostly a very good game in midfield. His passing was excellent and he contributed a lot to the attack. However, he gave away a very lazy foul that led to the goal from Fagundez which drops his rating a bit.

Brooklyn Raines-5.5

While it was very nice to see Brookyln get his first real minutes of the season, he didn’t look particularly good in them. He had a very mediocre game, contributing nothing defensively. He was ok in possession completing a high percentage of his passes, but was knocked off the ball too easily and losing every duel. The Dynamo missed Junior Urso a ton in this match.

Amine Bassi-8 (6.38 avg)

Bassi had a really good game coming off two mediocre displays. He was creative all night and notched an assist for the opening goal of the game with a very smart passing play. His second half was nowhere near as good as his first, however.

Sebastian Kowalczyk-8.5 (6.44 avg)

I have been fairly critical of Kowalczyk this season even though he has not had a particularly bad game yet. However, it took until now to finally have a real game changing performance from Sebastian. He was fantastic in this game creating the play that led to the opening goal. He then was incredible defensively making so many great plays.

Jack McGlynn-7.5 (7.07 avg)

A fairly solid night for McGlynn playing on the right wing again. He combined really well with Dorsey, despite Dorsey’s poor final ball. He completed ten progressive passes and put in a good defensive shift. Unfortunately, there was nothing special from Jack to go and win the game.

Ezequiel Ponce-8 (6.31 avg)

Ponce got back on the scoresheet with an excellent poachers goal early in the game. He then managed to draw the red card just minutes later. In the second half, he was mostly ineffective outside of a header that he hit the post with.

Substitutes

Nico Lodeiro-3.5 (5.5 avg)

Just a really poor night from Lodeiro where he just never got into the game at all. There was nothing of note in his performance whatsoever. He was just kind of there for 20 minutes, where he was brought on to be the game changer.

Ibrahim Aliyu-N/A

Aliyu looked positive in his cameo, but was not on long enough to make an impact or earn a rating.

Head Coach

Ben Olsen-7.5 (7.1 avg)

As Ben said in the post-game press conference, coming home with a point in LA is a fine result. They would’ve liked more given the man advantage, but there is not really much Ben can do with that one. He set the team up well, they just didn’t execute in the final third on a few occasions. A wonder goal from Fagundez takes two valuable points off the board. You can tell Ben is dying to get Ondrej Lingr into the lineup to finally have another game changer on the team.