Austin FC gets shut out by Houston Dynamo, eager to put its week in the rear view

This won’t be a week to remember for Austin FC.

Four days after being eliminated from CONCACAF Champions League, El Tree suffered a 2-0 loss to the Houston Dynamo on Saturday at Shell Energy Stadium in a derby and its first Copa Tejas match of the season.

Amine Bassie converted a penalty and Hector Herrera had a nice finish off a string of passes in the box for the Dynamo in the second half.

Here are some thoughts from the match as Austin FC will have a week off before hosting Colorado.

El Tree again the recipient of a controversial penalty decision

In its Champions League match Tuesday, Austin FC was not awarded a penalty after a blatant tackle on striker Gyasi Zardes in the box, even with VAR consulted. On Saturday, El Tree’s bad luck with VAR continued, as referee Drew Fischer gave Houston a penalty on a ball that hit left back Adam Lundqvist’s arm.

It was an interesting decision to say the least, as one can easily argue that Lundqvist’s arm was in a natural position and the ball deflected off a Houston player on a bang-bang play, two defenses that can be used to determine it’s not a handball.

But Fischer decided differently, and Bassie finished the penalty in the 71st minute to give Houston its 1-0 lead.

Austin FC coach Josh Wolff in previous seasons has expressed frustration over the fact it’s still not clear what is and is not a handball, and this decision would only play into that frustration.

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First-half chances not converted

Emiliano Rigoni and Jon Gallagher both had scoring chances in the first half off crosses that they sent directly at Houston goalkeeper Steve Clark.

It continues a trend for Rigoni of failing to put the ball in the back of the net, which — as noted multiple times in this space before — is a problem due to him being one of the club’s three highest-paid players. He is good with the media, seems to be a good person and by all accounts is a very good teammate, but his salary is in the millions and he’s not living up to his contract.

Gallagher’s chance was a bit more forgivable, especially since he’s a defensive player, isn’t paid extraordinarily high and has generally been exceptional this season.

But in road games, early chances need to be taken advantage of, and Austin FC wasn’t able to in this situation.

Overall, Austin FC was very average

El Tree wasn’t terrible Saturday, but it certainly wasn’t good.

It had the better run of play in the first half — which, frankly, isn’t saying a whole lot as Houston wasn’t exactly all that impressive, either — but the Dynamo dictated the game in the second half and created more notable attacking plays.

On the second goal, Houston put together a few quick passes in the box, but Austin FC was bunched up defensively, Lundqvist was in poor position on Griffin Dorsey, who provided the assist, and Rigoni didn’t stay with Herrera on his run.

It was a poor sequence of play that puts El Tree into a bigger deficit in goal differential in the Copa Tejas standings.

If you had to give Austin FC a grade on the game, a C would be fair.

Man of the match: Brad Stuver

Neither of the goals were Stuver’s fault, and he made several clutch saves that kept the El Tree in the game and the scoreline from being worse. He also guessed correctly and got a hand on Bassie’s penalty, and was probably an inch off by hand placement from blocking it completely.

This was Stuver’s best performance of the year, and it’s too bad Austin FC couldn’t take advantage.

Glass half-full take

El Tree is 2-2 with six points over its four MLS matches.

While its Champions League performance was disappointing, losing a road match in MLS play isn’t a reason to panic, even though Houston is thought of as one of the worst teams in the league.

Austin FC had a bad week, but the MLS season is a marathon, and more than 60% of the teams will make the playoffs — which gives room for plenty of error — and there’s still 30 matches and two more competitions to go.

Beat Colorado next week and the team can go into a short two-week break on a bit of a boost.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Austin FC falls to lightly-regarded Houston Dynamo in MLS play