HOUSTON â For perhaps the first time in club history, the Houston Dynamo are dealing with a âgood problemâ in terms of how to dole out playing time on their forward line.
Every week, head coach Wilmer Cabrera must pick two or three starters out of the five-man group of Erick âCuboâ Torres, Alberth Elis, Romell Quioto, Mauro Manotas and Andrew Wenger. The group isnât lacking for talent â the forwards have scored 14 of Houstonâs 15 goals this season, with Torres leading MLS with seven strikes, Quioto and Elis tallying three each and Manotas scoring once.
Torres and Elis got the nod on Saturday, with both finding the back of the net to power the Dynamo to a 2-0 home win over San Jose that moved Houston into third place in the West.
âThereâs definitely competition. We [forwards] all want to play and be on the pitch and weâve all had the chance to play,â Torres said. âWeâve been able to generate a great internal competition and thatâs important because thatâs what has helped the team to continue scoring goals.â
Manotas, who along with Wenger was the leading Dynamo goal scorer last season with six goals, says internal competition â especially among the forwards â is something that Cabrera preached to the team since the beginning of the season.
The 21-year-old was Houstonâs breakout star last season, but heâs mostly come off the bench this season as Torres returned from loan and Quioto and Elis have claimed starting roles in their first season in Texas. Of the five forwards, Manotas (256 minutes) and Wenger (119) have played the least in 2017.
âItâs a tough competition,â Manotas said. âErick [Torres] is playing well. [Alberth] Elis is in good form. Romell [Quioto] as well.â
Manotas maintained that all he can do is keep working hard and make the most of his minutes when he gets them. The 22-year-old will likely get starting opportunities when Elis and Quioto are on international duty with Honduras.
Quioto, who missed two games after picking up a shoulder injury while with Honduras in March and has come off the bench in the Dynamoâs last two matches, said itâs great to have players in front of him on the forward depth chart who are performing well.
âWhen I was in the starting XI I was playing well,â Quioto said. âHaving internal competition is great and weâre all supportive of each other when one plays or when one doesnât.â
The Honduran international noted that heâs about 80 percent healthy and still working on regaining his full strength.
Elis, who scored for the second straight game on Saturday, agreed that the forward competition is yielding better results for Houston.
âThe important part is to win no matter who scores,â Elis said. âIt doesnât help the team if a forward scores a goal but we lose the game.â
Cabrera knows the glut of forwards he has at his disposal. On Saturday, he tried to put the nail in the coffin by shifting from a 4-4-2 formation, which the team used for the first time this season, to the teamâs regular three-forward setup in the second half. They didnât end up adding a third goal, but the shift was illustrative of the excellent depth Houston have up top.
âWe ended playing with three forwards and we created a lot of options,â Cabrera said. âSadly we couldnât score more [goals], but definitely we had more options and it was good.â