You know what's fun? Copa Tejas in April is fun! Austin FC travels to Houston tomorrow night for its first intrastate match of 2025, playing a 1-4-4 Dynamo that just got a new impact player, after making a big surprise offseason player-for-dumptruck-full-of-money trade.
We talk about that all with Dustyn Richardson of Dynamo site Bayou City Soccer; we returned the favor with answers to quite a few questions that went up earlier today.
I imagine that 1-4-4 is not the way you envisioned the 2025 season starting (or maybe you saw the outgoing vs. incoming players and did) ... what do you attribute the slow start to?
The outgoing players are definitely a big reason. Losing Hector Herrera, Coco Carrasquilla, and Micael was a big blow, and the Dynamo have taken their time to replace them. Jack McGlynn has shifted to the Carrasquilla role in recent weeks, and that has been a spark for the team. That move, however, leaves the Herrera role still with a big question mark. Micael's loss on the back line has been maybe the biggest as the Dynamo have had to use Femi Awodesu at center back and Erik Sviatchenko has battled injuries. Not to mention, Houston has used four different starting goalkeepers this season. With new signings now getting into the team, hopefully for the Dynamo, their slow start is behind them.
Being in the room where it happened when Pat Onstad revealed (sort of) the Jack McGlynn-for-cash trade, what do you make of him so far?
As I mentioned in the previous answer, McGlynn has already changed positions and he is excelling in that role. He started the year playing deeper in the midfield and just wasn't on the ball as much as the coaching staff wanted. He moved to the right midfield role in the win over LAFC and scored his first goal for the club. McGlynn has played that inverted winger role ever since and he is much more involved in the offense and he's very good shooting from distance with his left foot. I think, overall, he has been as advertised and he still has a lot of growth ahead of him as he doesn't turn 22 until the summer.
The Dynamo just brought in Ondřej Lingr; how do you think he'll fit in with McGlynn and the rest of the front six, and how do you think Lingr and McGlynn will compare to Coco Carrasquilla and 2023 Hector Herrera? (We won't make you revisit 2024 Hector Herrera)
Judging by one game, Lingr is going to win the Ballon d'Or. Kidding, of course, but scoring a late equalizer on his debut has created even more buzz around the Czech attacker. I think that remains the big question – just where Lingr fits into the lineup when he starts.
If you ask Ben Olsen and the front office, it seems their original plan for Lingr was to play him in that right midfield role, but McGlynn is doing so well there, it will be hard to move him from there. If I had to guess, I think they either move McGlynn back in the midfield, which Olsen has said is a possibility based on matchups, or he plays in the pocket behind Ezequiel Ponce with Amine Bassi moving wider.
That Coco-HH midfield of 2023 was among the best in the league but if Lingr and McGlynn can click and get on the same page quickly, they should have a lot of success. All of these options are a good problem to have, and that is without even mentioning Duane Holmes getting into the lineup soon and Lawrence Ennali and Nelson Quinones returning from injury in the next month or so.
When Wolff was first announced, there were a number of fans who seemingly didn't want anything to do with him because of his Austin ties. Olsen talked him up in one of his press conferences as his biggest signing this offseason (a tweet which we are still getting engagement on!) and that seemed to only spark things more. The Dynamo have a coaching staff with a few guys who have been head coaches, including Kenny Bundy (Dynamo 2) and Juan Guerra (Phoenix Rising), so adding Wolff, in my opinion, just adds another voice that they can lean on throughout the year. It's much ado about nothing really as Wolff is not really seen from or heard from to fans and even us in the media.
You know what's fun? Copa Tejas in April is fun! Austin FC travels to Houston tomorrow night for its first intrastate match of 2025, playing a 1-4-4 Dynamo that just got a new impact player, after making a big surprise offseason player-for-dumptruck-full-of-money trade.
We talk about that all with Dustyn Richardson of Dynamo site Bayou City Soccer; we returned the favor with answers to quite a few questions that went up earlier today.
I imagine that 1-4-4 is not the way you envisioned the 2025 season starting (or maybe you saw the outgoing vs. incoming players and did) ... what do you attribute the slow start to?
The outgoing players are definitely a big reason. Losing Hector Herrera, Coco Carrasquilla, and Micael was a big blow, and the Dynamo have taken their time to replace them. Jack McGlynn has shifted to the Carrasquilla role in recent weeks, and that has been a spark for the team. That move, however, leaves the Herrera role still with a big question mark. Micael's loss on the back line has been maybe the biggest as the Dynamo have had to use Femi Awodesu at center back and Erik Sviatchenko has battled injuries. Not to mention, Houston has used four different starting goalkeepers this season. With new signings now getting into the team, hopefully for the Dynamo, their slow start is behind them.
Being in the room where it happened when Pat Onstad revealed (sort of) the Jack McGlynn-for-cash trade, what do you make of him so far?
As I mentioned in the previous answer, McGlynn has already changed positions and he is excelling in that role. He started the year playing deeper in the midfield and just wasn't on the ball as much as the coaching staff wanted. He moved to the right midfield role in the win over LAFC and scored his first goal for the club. McGlynn has played that inverted winger role ever since and he is much more involved in the offense and he's very good shooting from distance with his left foot. I think, overall, he has been as advertised and he still has a lot of growth ahead of him as he doesn't turn 22 until the summer.
The Dynamo just brought in Ondřej Lingr; how do you think he'll fit in with McGlynn and the rest of the front six, and how do you think Lingr and McGlynn will compare to Coco Carrasquilla and 2023 Hector Herrera? (We won't make you revisit 2024 Hector Herrera)
Judging by one game, Lingr is going to win the Ballon d'Or. Kidding, of course, but scoring a late equalizer on his debut has created even more buzz around the Czech attacker. I think that remains the big question – just where Lingr fits into the lineup when he starts.
If you ask Ben Olsen and the front office, it seems their original plan for Lingr was to play him in that right midfield role, but McGlynn is doing so well there, it will be hard to move him from there. If I had to guess, I think they either move McGlynn back in the midfield, which Olsen has said is a possibility based on matchups, or he plays in the pocket behind Ezequiel Ponce with Amine Bassi moving wider.
That Coco-HH midfield of 2023 was among the best in the league but if Lingr and McGlynn can click and get on the same page quickly, they should have a lot of success. All of these options are a good problem to have, and that is without even mentioning Duane Holmes getting into the lineup soon and Lawrence Ennali and Nelson Quinones returning from injury in the next month or so.
Bonus question: So, former Austin FC head coach Josh Wolff is now Houston Dynamo assistant coach Josh Wolff. How is he being received by a fan base that rooted against him for four years?
When Wolff was first announced, there were a number of fans who seemingly didn't want anything to do with him because of his Austin ties. Olsen talked him up in one of his press conferences as his biggest signing this offseason (a tweet which we are still getting engagement on!) and that seemed to only spark things more. The Dynamo have a coaching staff with a few guys who have been head coaches, including Kenny Bundy (Dynamo 2) and Juan Guerra (Phoenix Rising), so adding Wolff, in my opinion, just adds another voice that they can lean on throughout the year. It's much ado about nothing really as Wolff is not really seen from or heard from to fans and even us in the media.
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