{"id":407912,"date":"2026-08-16T06:50:45","date_gmt":"2026-08-16T06:50:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/407912\/"},"modified":"2026-08-16T06:50:45","modified_gmt":"2026-08-16T06:50:45","slug":"guilherme-fires-houston-dynamo-to-top-of-west","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/407912\/","title":{"rendered":"Guilherme fires Houston Dynamo to top of West"},"content":{"rendered":"

Western Conference MLS teams, you\u2019ve got a Houston<\/a> problem.<\/p>\n

With a sold-out crowd of 21,063 at Shell Energy Stadium on Saturday night, Houston Dynamo FC picked up a 1\u20130 win<\/a> over the LA Galaxy<\/a>, securing their fourth straight victory, all of which have come via clean sheets.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And once again, it was offseason Designated Player signing Guilherme<\/a> making the difference with his fourth goal in as many games.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Brazilian, firmly in contention for the 2026 MLS Newcomer of the Year Award, beat Galaxy goalkeeper J.T. Marcinkowski<\/a> from the penalty spot in the 21st minute, giving his side a lead they wouldn\u2019t surrender and bringing him to 12g\/7a in 19 games in his debut campaign.<\/p>\n

\n Best of the West<\/p>\n

The victory pushed the Dynamo into the top spot in the Western Conference after Saturday night’s fixtures\u00a0with 35 points (11W-6L-2D).<\/p>\n

It also teased trophy dreams on a night when the club celebrated the 20th anniversary of their 2006 MLS Cup presented by Audi title.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’re in a good moment… Performance-wise, it could have been better, and we’ll keep getting better,” said assistant coach Juan Guerra, who took charge of the game due to head coach Ben Olsen\u2019s yellow card accumulation suspension.<\/p>\n

“But when November comes, when we see the table and the points, we will understand the importance of being able to win games like tonight.”<\/p>\n

\n Clean sheet prowess<\/p>\n

While Jonathan Bond<\/a> didn\u2019t have to make any saves against his former side, he secured a fourth straight clean sheet, bringing him to eight in 2026, second among all MLS goalkeepers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Through his entire spell with LA from 2021-2023, Bond secured four clean sheets in 89 games. Now, he has four in a row for the Dynamo, becoming the first goalkeeper in club history to achieve that mark.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got good momentum,\u201d Bond said. \u201cIt’s just now we have to keep it going and stay humble.<\/p>\n

“From a defensive point of view, it obviously takes good defending, but we say it takes the attacking players to play and work hard to work back. And I feel like it’s down to absolutely everyone that we keep these clean sheets.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n Top-of-table clash looms<\/p>\n

Enjoying some of their best form in recent years, the Dynamo will have a quick turnaround to another massive game on Wednesday when they visit Vancouver Whitecaps FC<\/a> in a Western Conference top-three battle (10:30 pm ET | Apple TV<\/a>).\u00a0<\/p>\n

While Vancouver will have the opportunity to reclaim the top spot on Sunday Night Soccer presented by Continental Tire against\u00a0Seattle Sounders FC<\/a> (10:30 pm ET | Apple TV<\/a>), Wednesday’s clash at BC Place is vital for two clubs looking to make an Audi 2026 MLS Cup Playoffs run.<\/p>\n

\u201cWednesday night in Vancouver is all we’re thinking about,\u201d said Guerra. \u201cWe go one game at a time, with the same level of responsibility, with the same level of motivation, with the same level of commitment.<\/p>\n

“… We’re hungry, and we push the guys in every game we play. We want to win, and we\u2019ll take it one game at a time.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Western Conference MLS teams, you\u2019ve got a Houston problem. With a sold-out crowd of 21,063 at Shell Energy…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":407913,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[45614,70212,56,58,57,142674,70776,9441],"class_list":["post-407912","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-club-houston-dynamo","tag-guilherme","tag-houston","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-news","tag-houvsla-08-15-2026","tag-match-reaction","tag-sendtonews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/407912","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=407912"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/407912\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/407913"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=407912"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=407912"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=407912"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}