HOUSTON (April 20, 2026) \u2013 Houston Dynamo 2\u00a0goalkeeper\u00a0Pedro\u00a0Cruz\u00a0was named the\u00a0MLS NEXT Pro Player\u00a0of Matchday 7, the league announced today.<\/p>\n
Dynamo 2 extended their unbeaten streak to six matches on Sunday after earning a\u00a01-0 shutout road victory<\/a>versus Real Monarchs at Zions Bank Stadium behind forward\u00a0Jahmani \u201cJJ\u201d Bell\u2019s\u00a0second goal of the season.\u00a0<\/p>\n The result marked Houston\u2019s fifth clean sheet this season, with Cruz contributing seven saves to the shutout, including a crucial double save in the 37th\u00a0minute, denying a shot with his feet before reacting quickly again to tip a long-range shot effort over the crossbar. Notably, the 22-year-old Brazilian leads the league with four cleans sheets.\u00a0<\/p>\n Houston broke the scoreless tie in the 73rd\u00a0minute when midfielder\u00a0Samir\u00a0Mohammad\u00a0beat a Real Monarchs defender to his left and dribbled into the box before finding Bell in the middle, who finished into the upper right corner. The play marked Mohammad\u2019s first professional assist.<\/p>\n Dos currently sits second in the Western Conference with 17 points and 5-0-1 (WLD) record. They remain the only team in the league to have conceded just one goal (a penalty) in 2026 and none from open play. Dynamo 2 also leads the league in shutouts (five) and ranks third in goals scored (15). The team has totaled 26 goal contributions since the start of the season, with 12 different players already finding the back of the net.<\/p>\n Notably, Cruz earned\u00a0**MLS NEXT Pro Goalkeeper of the Month**<\/a>\u00a0honors for March, finishing with three clean sheets, eight saves and a perfect 100% save percentage.<\/p>\n Houston next travels to face Sporting Kansas City II on Sunday, April 26, at Victory Field at Swope Soccer Village, with kickoff scheduled for 7:00 p.m. CT. Fans can watch the action live via\u00a0MLSNEXTPro.com<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0OneFootball<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HOUSTON (April 20, 2026) \u2013 Houston Dynamo 2\u00a0goalkeeper\u00a0Pedro\u00a0Cruz\u00a0was named the\u00a0MLS NEXT Pro Player\u00a0of Matchday 7, the league announced…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":259232,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[6963,56,6964,58,57,97210],"class_list":{"0":"post-259231","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston","8":"tag-dynamo-dos","9":"tag-houston","10":"tag-houston-dynamo-2","11":"tag-houston-headlines","12":"tag-houston-news","13":"tag-pedro-cruz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259231","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=259231"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259231\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/259232"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=259231"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=259231"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=259231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}