HOUSTON – The Houston Dynamo were just 15 minutes from ensuring Tigres UANL left BBVA Compass Stadium without an all-important road goal and setting up a winner-take-all second leg at Estadio Universitario next week.
The Dynamo tried to hold down the defensive fort, but leaked two goals late in a 2-0 loss in the first leg of the Concacaf Champions League quarterfinals Tuesday night.
“The problem for me was in the second half that we were losing the ball too easy up front and we didn’t hold the ball the way we needed to hold the ball and when you don’t hold the ball against a team like this they punish you,” Dynamo coach Wilmer Cabrera said. “We got punished. We got punished at the end twice with good quality and that cost us the game.”
Meanwhile, the Dynamo’s potent attack was stymied by the visitors, leaving Houston’s offense little chance to break through their barriers.
"Well, the players [Tigres] were very attentive and focused,” Cabrera said. “They did not make mistakes. I think they managed to disconnect us because we could not create good combinations.”
Cabrera added that his team was very isolated on attack in the second half, making it easier for Tigres to defend.
“We did not combine much, and we did not generate much danger,” he said. “To be able, at this level, to create difficulties, you have to get together."
The late Tigres goals were a shock to the system to Dynamo players resulting in a final scoreline they weren’t ready for.
”This hits us hard, we came with the mindset that we were going to win, especially at home,” Dynamo midfielder Boniek Garcia said. “Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case.”
It will be an uphill fight for the Dynamo in the second leg at Estadio Universitario, a place where a visiting team seldom leaves with a win.
Adding to that, Tigres coach Tuca Ferretti said he had no plans of letting off the gas in the second leg despite the two-goal cushion.
“I insist, next week we will receive them [Dynamo], and we will continue thinking that we are zero to zero," Ferretti said.
