Broken Metro smashed in Houston, 4:0
July 3, 2019
A strange lineup. An inept performance. Two red cards. Awful defending. Worse attacking. In the worst performance of the year -- by far -- Metro got destroyed in Houston, 4:0. We wish we didn't have to recap this game, but such is our lot, so let's get to it.
The strange 5-3-2 formation saw Connor Lade (!), Amro Tarek, and Michael Murillo at center back, Kyle Duncan and Alex Muyl on the outside, Sean Davis, Cristian Casseres, and Andreas Ivan in the middle, with Tom Barlow and Brian White up front. (Yes, two strikers, for the first time in years?) You would think that have five defenders would make a difference... but it didn't in the 39th minute, when a low cross left Tarek and Murillo ball-watching, and Mauro Manotas tapped it in from close range.
Houston doubled the lead in the 56th. Off a corner kick that followed a hit crossbar, Metro failed to clear the ball. Tomas Martinez sent a low shot through the penalty area that went through traffic and tucked into the bottom right corner. In the 72nd, the home side made it academic when Alberth Elis headed one in off the goalpost.
Things got worse for Metro in the 83rd, when Murillo got his second yellow and the marching orders that followed. Houston got the fourth in injury time, after Luis Robles' touch on an Elis shot was not enough to push it out. A scuffle followed that saw red cards issued to both teams... in Metro's case, to Kaku, meaning he will miss the weekend game versus Atlanta. (It takes a large brain to get into it four goals down, doesn't it?)
If you are wondering why we didn't mention anything about Metro's chances, it's because there really weren't any. The lineup might have been bad defensively, but it was even worse offensively, failing to produce anything from the midfield on forward. It was that bad.
Lineup: Robles, Lade, Tarek, Murillo, Duncan, Muyl, Davis, Casseres, Ivan, White, Barlow. Subs: Romero Gamarra, Royer, Wright-Phillips.
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