MLS: HOUSTON DYNAMO VS THE REAL SALT LAKE 1-2 (3/15/2025)
- Michael Thervil
- Mar 17
- 3 min read
Written by Michael Thervil
This past Saturday marked the second game of the season for the Houston Dynamo and Shell Energy Stadium was packed. There was a lot of excitement in the air as well as the “El Battalion” band played the famous stadium tunes and added even more zest to the game. With all the excitement coming from the fans that’s when Murphy's Law decided to kick in. Murphy’s Law states [paraphrased]: “whatever can go wrong will”; as it most certainly did for the Dynamo’s before the one-minute mark upon the match resulting in the Real Salt Lake scoring the first point. For many Dynamo fans this was a huge let down for the second game of the season as they felt that the Dynamo’s “gave up” the first goal before the game really got started.
It wouldn’t be until roughly 19 minutes later in the first half that the Houston Dynamo would score their first point of the game, which was considered a breath of fresh air for Dynamo fans. Unlike the Houston Dynamo’s extremely poor game which was previously played against International Miami; Saturday’s game was a great game the restored many of the Dynamo fans faith in the newly formed team. The new additions to the Houston Dynamo team are fast on the pitch and they played with a lot more solidarity against the Real Salt Lake then their last game. Stat wise, the Houston Dynamo took 15 shots resulting in 2 shots on target while the Real Salt Lake’s took 10 shots total and resulted in 5 shots on target.
The Houston Dynamo also had possession of the ball 53% of the time when compared to the Real Salt Lake having ball possession 47 % of the time. The Houston Dynamo’s had 464 successful passes with a pass accuracy rate of 85%. However Real Salt Lake performed only marginally better, having 440 successful passes with an 83% pass accuracy rate. When it comes to aggression on the pitch, both teams never shied away from wanting to dominate the other during plays. This resulted in the Real Salt Lake picking up 13 fouls and one yellow card and the Houston Dynamo’s acquiring 9 fouls and 3 yellow cards. Neither team was issued any red cards.
The Houston Dynamo received 4 calls for being offsides, the Real Salt Lake had 0 calls when it came to being called offsides. The Houston Dynamo’s took 9 corners while the Real Salt Lake took 6. The Houston Dynamo had a total of 4 big chances with 3 of those big chances missed. In contrast, the Real Salt Lake fared better by making the best of 2 big chances with 0 big chances missed. The Houston Dynamo’s blocked 4 shots while the Real Salt Lake only blocked 2 shots.
Real Salt Lake had 2 keeper saves but the Houston Dynamo led in this category with 3 keeper saves. When it came to interceptions, the ball laid in the Dynamo’s favor with 6 interceptions while the Real Salt Lake’s had 4 interceptions. The final score resulted in the Houston Dynamo losing to the Real Salt Lake 1 – 2. Saturday's match up leaves the head-to-head record between the two teams equally tied with 3 wins apiece for the last 5 matches.
The next game scheduled for the Houston Dynamo will be against El Salvador on Wednesday march 19, at 7:30pm at Shell Energy Stadium. Ticket prices start at $50.00 and can be purchased by clicking here. We look forward to seeing you there.
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