The Houston Dynamo were beaten 1-0 by the Columbus Crew in the first leg of the Round of 16 Concacaf Champions Cup series. Alexandru Matan scored deep into second half stoppage time to give the Columbus the win and the edge heading into Tuesday’s second leg.
MATCH SUMMARY
Houston Dynamo FC 0-1 Columbus Crew
Wednesday, March 6, 2024
Venue: Shell Energy Stadium - Houston, Texas
Referee: Armando Villarreal
Assistants: Cory Richardson, Logan Brown
Fourth Official: Victor Rivas
VAR: Oscar Mejia
Attendance: 4,379
Weather: 74 degrees, partly cloudy skies
SCORING SUMMARY
CLB: Alexandru Matan (Aidan Morris) 90+6’
DISCIPLINE SUMMARY
HOU: Ethan Bartlow (caution; foul) 64’
LINEUPS & STATS
Houston Dynamo FC: Steve Clark; Franco Escobar, Micael, Erik Sviatchenko (Ethan Bartlow 23’), Griffin Dorsey; Artur, Ján Greguš, Adalberto Carrasquilla; Aliyu Ibrahim (Brad Smith 88’), Gabe Segal (Sebastian Kowelczyk 72’), Amine Bassi
Unused Substitutes: Xavier Valdez, Daniel Steres, Stephen Annor, Tate Schmitt, Kieran Sargeant, Ousmane Sylla, Brooklyn Raines
Total shots: 11 (Franco Escobar 3)
Shots on goal: 4 (four players tied with 1)
Fouls: 9 (Franco Escobar 3)
Offside: 3 (three players tied with 1)
Corner kicks: 5
Saves: 5 (Steve Clark 5)
Columbus Crew: Patrick Schulte, Rudy Camacho, Yavhen Cheberko, Mohamed Farsi (Max Arfsten 68’), Steven Moreira; Darlington Nagbe (Yaw Yeboah 90’), Aidan Morris, Sean Zawadzki; Diego Rossi (Alexandru Matan 78’), Marino Hinestroza (Juan Hernadez 46’), Jacen Russell-Rowe (Christian Ramirez 68’)
Unused substitutes: Nicholas Hagen, Evan Bush, Philip Quinton, Will Sands, Derrick Amaniampong, Taha Habroune, Malte Amundsen
Total shots: 19 (Diego Rossi 3)
Shots on goal: 6 (Diego Rossi 2)
Fouls: 5 (five players tied with 1)
Offside: 2 (Christian Ramirez and Alexandru Matan tied with 1)
Corner kicks: 4
Saves: 4 (Patrick Schulte 4)
HOUSTON DYNAMO HEAD COACH BEN OLSEN
On the game:
“There were a lot of chances at both ends, but Columbus ended up making the one that mattered. Our effort for large stretches of that game proved to be a good performance against one of the best teams in the league, but it still hurts us and the fans to lose games that late after the guys give so much for each other. We have a little bit of a break now, which is nice, because these guys have played every three or four days for the last few weeks.”
On facing multiple top MLS teams:
“If we can continue to perform like we did tonight, we can continue to go toe-to-toe with teams like Columbus, Red Bulls, St. Louis and Kansas City. We’ve played some good teams so far this year, and they’ve come fast and furious. We will look at some of the positives from what we’re building and not panic about winning or losing to a very good team.”
HOUSTON DYNAMO MIDFIELDER ARTUR
Sobre el partido:
"Sí, es difícil. Especialmente porque creo que tuvimos un buen partido contra un buen equipo. Y creamos chances y tenemos que arreglar esos detalles. No podemos tomar un gol en el último minuto. Sabemos que tenemos que seguir trabajando".
Sobre un fin de semana sin partido:
"Creo que mucho, nos va a ayudar mucho. Hemos jugado como cuatro o cinco partidos en dos semanas, entonces eso cansa un poco. Es importante para nosotros ahora descansar y estar listo para el martes".
HOUSTON DYNAMO DEFENDER ETHAN BARTLOW
On the result:
“It hurts and it stings to lose that way. We did not play our best, but we definitely got full effort from everyone that was out there. Giving up a goal on the last kick like that and losing really hurts.”
On looking to the second leg in Columbus:
“The conversation postgame was that this result stings a little, but we have a couple of days off here to rest and reset. We will regroup on Saturday and be ready to put our best foot forward in Columbus next week.”
HOUSTON DYNAMO DEFENDER FRANCO ESCOBAR
Sobre el partido:
"Da bronca que después del golpe no tuvimos tiempo para reaccionar y nos tocó un partido muy difícil en cancha de ellos, que son muy fuertes, son el último campeón. Estaba a un solo gol y el equipo tiene que trabajar y redoblar el esfuerzo que hicimos hoy, que evidentemente no alcanzó con un equipo como ellos. Ahora toca trabajar y esperar el próximo partido".
Sobre todos los partidos del equipo sin jugadores claves:
"Hay que intentar volver a lo que nos trajo hasta acá, lo que nos dio esa ilusión a todos, lo que nos hizo salir campeones de un torneo y llegar a la final de la conferencia de MLS. Siempre jugar asociado al equipo, buscar el arco contrario, tratar de mantener la pelota y por un momento hoy no lo hicimos y terminamos con una derrota que nos duele".
