North Texas Crushed by Dynamo Dos, 4-0

North Texas continued its winless skid as Dynamo Dos blew past them at home, even if it wasn't the worst performance. Hear from NTSC head coach Michel on the loss.

New North Texas Soccer Club head coach Michel Garbini was blessed to start his tenure with a team on fire and at the top of the MLS Next Pro Western Conference.

That, unfortunately, hasn’t lasted.

After winning the first two games in charge, including a 4-0 beatdown of the lowly Minnesota United FC 2, the squad has suffered two straight losses, disappointments that were no doubt bound to happen in the midst of rotation, injury, and missing players. Even good times struggle from time to time on the road.

On Sunday night, the loss from North Texas at Houston stung particularly badly.

Michel acknowledged that in some ways the scoreline was unfair. At moments, North Texas looked the part of the stronger team but unfortunately could not capitalize on their attacking opportunities. When Houston counter-attacked, they quickly slotted the ball home, sometimes off of shots that were unsaveable. It was simply a tough night for the defense and for goalkeeper Michael Collodi, as he prepares to head off to participate in MLS Next Pro all-star fun.

Of course, North Texas had some positives on the night, including young players from the academy making their debut with the team.

However, a loss like this does ground the team in the work to be done if they are to compete to be the best in MLS Next Pro. They will have to regroup and improve.

I do it find it fascinating that North Texas and FC Dallas have sort of mirrored each other in play this season. FC Dallas is coming off of a strong 7 point week, and at the same time, North Texas falters a bit in league play. Did Tarik Scott being needed with the senior team disrupt some of the rhythm that North Texas had built around the young phenom?

In the short term, this is the first big test for Michel. He inherited a great team in great form. Now they have suffered setbacks in the past two weeks. Can he wake them up? Can he help them improve?

We’ll be watching.