The Tulsa Defense Proves Strong Once Again as the Club Wraps up its Preseason Road Trip
HOUSTON – With a second match in less than 48 hours and facing strong opposition, a heavily rotated FC Tulsa lineup held its own against Houston Dynamo 2 on Monday morning in its final road preseason match. While the final score favored Houston by a 1-0 scoreline, the Dynamo organization used the opportunity to get extra minutes for several experienced MLS players, which made for great experience for FC Tulsa’s young roster.
FC Tulsa came out with a Starting XI that featured two Academy players, Jesus Hernandez and Tony Mota, and only three players over the age of 25. Matched up against a team made up of largely MLS players, FC Tulsa allowed just one goal, a 28’ minute Houston tally that separated the sides. The visitors created chances of their own, however, with Mota, Ronald Rodríguez and Machuca all having shots saved or just missing the frame of goal in the first half.
Chances were hard to come by for either side in the second half and around the 60’, both teams made changes, with the Dynamo shifting to a younger lineup with more traditional “2” players, while FC Tulsa inserted a mixture of trialists and some starters from its preseason match on Saturday. Darío Suárez, Joaquín Rivas, Rodrigo da Costa, Petar Čuić, Gabi Torres and Matheus Silva, who all played significant roles in Saturday’s win over San Antonio, each played around 15-20 minutes in the second half.
THREE THINGS TO KNOW
1) Chance for Youngsters to Shine
Head coach Michael Nsien featured a young roster for a second match in three days to allow for players who hadn’t seen many minutes in preseason so far to get a chance to shine. The challenge was even steeper than expected with Houston fielding a team full of MLS experience. FC Tulsa’s young talent didn’t disappoint and played the Dynamo nearly even throughout the 60 minutes that both sets of starters were on the pitch. Monday’s experience could prove vital as some of these younger players will be competing for spots in the XI and the 18.
2) Positive Defensive Performance
In its last two preseason matches in Texas, FC Tulsa’s defense has been very organized and disciplined, allowing just one goal in 180 minutes of action. That’s quite the turnaround after the unit allowed six total in the first two matches of the slate. The improvement speaks to chemistry that is being built with each match played. As Nsien said after Monday’s match (read below for full quote), “I’m really impressed so far with just the team identity and understanding of what we want to do.”
3) Regular Season Routine Starts Now
With just one more preseason match on the books, a Saturday match against Sporting KC II, and only 12 days before the regular season kicks off, Nsien and his coaching staff will be implementing more of a normal routine. That means no more two-a-day training sessions or weeks broken up with long preseason road trips. A regular training schedule with a Saturday matchday has Nsien viewing the final preseason match as a dress rehearsal for the real thing on March 12.
POSTMATCH QUOTES
Head Coach Michael Nsien
“I would say from [Houston’s] perspective, it’s a lot of guys in the first team that tried to get fully match fit from what their coach explains. So, I think that the level of intensity was going to be there naturally in the game, because you have a group of our players that look to compete and get into the 18 and 11. They had a group of good level professionals that are trying to get to the highest level for the regular season.
“Conditioning wise, I’m impressed with the tactical discipline. The organization of the defensive lines were extremely in form, and then when we were in possession, we were able to hold long possessions at times and we created good chances. I think at this point what we’re looking at in the season is executing the final third conditional chances, but I’m really impressed so far with just the team identity and understanding of what we want to do.”
“We have to look at [Saturday’s final preseason match] as a dress rehearsal for the real thing, getting our two-a-days days behind us now, so the guys should be close to 80% fit or so. It’s still going to take a few weeks during the season to get fully match fit, but this is our last dress rehearsal for the real thing, so the players that have shown well will get the first crack at that game vs Sporting KC II, and then guys will continue to compete from there.”
