23, a run of 12 games in the regular season and playoffs. Torres hasn’t scored since bagging a brace against FC Dallas on Aug. His stellar play continued throughout the first half of the season, but the goals came screeching to a halt down the stretch. He followed that performance with goals in his next three games, including his first professional hat trick on Apr. 1 against New York. The former Chivas USA player delivered on opening day, curling home a free kick against Seattle to help Houston to a surprising 2-1 win against the defending champs. His solid campaign comes on the heels of two disastrous years that saw him spend time on loan in Liga MX and fail to record a single goal for the Dynamo.Ĭoming into 2017, Torres knew an early goal would do wonders to set the tone for what he hoped would be a comeback season. The Mexican striker is Houston’s leading scorer with 14 goals on the season. The suspension of forward Alberth Elis, who had 11 goals and four assists on the year, due to yellow card accumulation will only make things tougher, but Houston have a solid option to replace him in Erick “Cubo” Torres. The Dynamo dropped the first leg of the series 2-0 in Houston last week, putting themselves in a serious hole heading into Thursday’s decisive second leg at CenturyLink Field (10:30 pm ET ESPN, ESPN Deportes in the US | TSN1, TVAS2 in Canada). There could be an influx of Mexicans in MLS, national teamers too, and when the league is at that level, it will be interesting to see how it is viewed both at home, and in Mexico.įor now, it is just Cubo, who is getting very different feedback from his manager than many MLS-based Americans are getting from their national team manager.HOUSTON – The Houston Dynamo know what they must do in Leg 2 of the Western Conference Championship series against the Seattle Sounders on Thursday night: score goals, and plenty of them. It will be on that level and it may even begin competing with the league for players. "… MLS is a growing league and very strong, with very good teams and players."Īs MLS grows, it will begin to challenge Liga MX for regional superiority. "I think, without a doubt, that Erick has done an outstanding job here in MLS," Herrera said. He's pushing one of his brighter young talents to the league. Still, it is notable that at a time when MLS has been under attack and is looking to its next phase in 2015, Herrera is heaping praise upon the league. Liga MX is also an established league that has fueled El Tri for its entire existence, so there has never been a need to push players to Europe. The system, from top to bottom, doesn't need an overhaul, like Klinsmann is trying down to the youth levels because Mexico changed their youth development several years ago. There is no great push to overhaul things within Mexican soccer and to constantly challenge a status quo that, in the opinion of the manager, has grown stale. Klinsmann also manages a very different team with a very different culture than El Tri. His opposition to the league has probably being misconstrued, with criticisms of MLS - some of them very valid, like season length, competitiveness and depth - being taken too far by observers. Of course, to say that Klinsmann is vehemently MLS would be unfair. That he is happy with someone in the league, is pushing him to the league and is valuing guaranteed playing time as opposed to always challenging themselves in Europe is very different than what we've heard from the American boss. It appears as if the Mexican manager is a bigger fan of MLS than Jurgen Klinsmann. What we want is for him to have the same activity he had this year." "It's his decision and his agent's and his family's, and what he thinks is best for him. "Without a doubt, for his benefit and for me, should continue in MLS," Herrera told in Miami last week.
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