Houston Dynamo Win: 3 Things We Learned & Player Ratings

Houston Dynamo midfielder Boniek Garcia (27) Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

Boniek Garcia in the Middle Makes All the Difference

In nearly every match last season, the Dynamo featured a pair of defensive minded players in the center of the midfield; Ricardo Clark and either Adam Moffat or Warren Creavalle. It is not surprising, therefore, that the Dynamo had a more defensive minded style of play all season.

Saturday night the Dynamo started Garcia in the middle alongside Clark with Tony Cascio starting on the right. Garcia was phenomenal, pulling all the strings in a Dynamo attack that constantly threatened to score goals. His 100 miles per hour for 90 minutes style of play rubbed off on his teammates in keeping the offensive lively. His creativity and passing awareness was unlike anything the Dynamo have had in the middle of the pitch for a long while.

Garcia set up teammates, played outstanding support defense in helping to kill off attacks and scored the 3rd goal of the night for the Dynamo. While Bruin grabbed all the headlines with his two goals and one assist, it was Garcia who was the true man of the match in my view. His presence in the middle (as well as Giles Barnes’ pace in attack) made the Dynamo a far more dangerous side than they were last season.

That Cascio went down in the 2nd half with a knee injury and had to be taken off  is concerning, not only because Cascio has been an influential player but also because it may mean Garcia sliding back out to the right. If Garcia does line up on the right side of the midfield next week against Montreal, then I suspect we will see a slightly less dangerous offensive performance out of the Dynamo, particularly if he is replaced in the middle by a more defensive minded player like Creavalle or Servando Carrasco.