The Houston Dynamo rolled to a 5-0 preseason win against USL affiliate Rio Grande Valley FC in a match played at H-E-B Park in Edinburg, Tex. And this time they didn't even need Darwin Quintero.
Quintero didn't feature in a match which saw Tomas Martinez, Mauro Manotas, Michael Salazar, and Tommy McNamara hit the back of the net over 120 minutes of action with the match split into four 30-minute periods.
"Darwin's having a good preseason and he's working really hard," head coach Tab Ramos said after the match. "With him we have to take every precaution possible. In training he took a hit and we didn't want to risk it. We sent him to Houston and in the coming days we'll see what happens."
The Dynamo decided to also play it safe with star winger Alberth Elis. The Honduran international left the match in the 23rd minute and although he didn't have any details of the injury, Ramos said that his staff "told the players from the start that if they feel anything, we need to take precautions because we're not in a moment in which we need to take risks."
The Dynamo will return to Houston for training ahead of their final preseason road trip to Tucson, Arizona where they will face the NY Red Bulls (Feb. 15), Real Salt Lake (Feb. 19) and Columbus Crew SC (Feb. 22).
The Dynamo kick off their 2020 MLS regular season on Saturday, February 29 when they host Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez and the LA Galaxy (3:30 pm ET on Univision, Twitter).
Goals:
- HOU - Tomas Martinez (Adam Lundkvist) - 23rd min
- HOU - Mauro Manotas (Maynor Figueroa) - 37th min
- HOU - Michael Salazar - 93rd min
- HOU - Michael Salazar - 111th min
- HOU - Tommy McNamara (PK) - 118th min
Lineups:
Houston Dynamo starting lineup: Marko Maric -- Adam Lundkvist, Maynor Figueroa, Kiki Struna, Jose Bizama -- Matias Vera, Boniek Garcia -- Tomas Martinez -- Memo Rodriguez, Mauro Manotas, Alberth Elis (23' Christian Ramirez)
Houston Dynamo (30th min): Marko Maric -- Adam Lundkvist, Maynor Figueroa, Kiki Struna, Jose Bizama -- Matias Vera, Boniek Garcia -- Tomas Martinez (60' Niko Hansen) -- Memo Rodriguez, Mauro Manotas, Christian Ramirez
Houston Dynamo (60th min): Cody Cropper -- Andrew Samuels, Alejandro Fuenmayor, Victor Cabrera (65' Sam Junqua), Zarek Valentin -- Darwin Ceren, Isidro Martinez, Tommy McNamara -- Niko Hansen, Christian Ramirez, Nico Lemoine
Houston Dynamo (90th min): Michael Nelson -- Andrew Samuels, Alejandro Fuenmayor, Sam Junqua, Zarek Valentin -- Darwin Ceren, Josh Hallenberger, Isidro Martinez -- Tommy McNamara, Michael Salazar, Nico Lemoine (Juan Carlos Obregon)
