Pat Onstad will admit that he occasionally gets stressed out by the boldness and flair of the Houston Dynamo side he played a leading role in building, first and foremost by the confidence of their captain, Héctor Herrera.
Powered by the vision and chemistry of HH and his midfield mates Artur, Amine Bassi and Coco Carrasquilla, La Naranja are one of the most possession-dominant teams in MLS, ranking among the league's elite in possession, field tilt, passes (both attempted and completed) and pass accuracy. MLSsoccer.com’s Armchair Analyst Matt Doyle recently went so far as to dub them “the Western Conference version of Columbus,” a flattering comparison to the reigning MLS Cup presented by Audi champions.
Inevitably, that also involves risks – the sort the rugged, direct, championship-winning Dynamo sides Onstad starred for in the club’s early years would scarcely have dreamed of taking.
“It gives me a heart attack,” Houston’s general manager told MLSsoccer.com this week, “when you see Héctor dummying balls through his legs at the top of the D in their own [penalty] box – sometimes you wonder! But it's also how the group plays.
“Héctor's been a big part of that group; they’ve come together and they enjoy each other's company. It's a little different than the teams that I played on; certainly we were a little more straightforward, physical. These guys love being around one another. I think that's why it probably works on the field … The possession, it starts and ends with Héctor."
WATCH: Héctor Herrera on Breakaway
Foundational piece
Herrera was widely tagged as the biggest acquisition in club history when he arrived from Atlético Madrid just over two years ago. With annual guaranteed compensation north of $5 million according to MLS Players Association documents, the longtime Mexico international was a statement signing, one Houston hoped would be transformative both on and off the pitch.
While they haven’t reached the promised land just yet, HH has undoubtedly fashioned the team in his image, inspiring a sea change in identity that’s already reaped one major trophy and could lead the Dynamo to greater heights in the months and years ahead. Herrera has played 52 key passes in 2024 league play and ranks eighth in MLS total passes completed despite playing just 20 league matches, fewer than anyone else in the top 10, due to a knee ailment that sidelined him at the start of the season.
He is Houston’s nexus.
“He is a huge part of the last year and a half's growth of this club,” head coach Ben Olsen explained on Tuesday. “When I say we go as Héctor goes, it's true. We're at our best when he's on the field, when he's touching the ball, his ability to find relationships on the field. He's a very easy guy to play with.
“So whether it's him and Amine Bassi or him and Artur’s relationship, his ability to link up with Coco, the way he reads our back line and gives them relief, he's a lot of fun to play with. And I think he's allowed us to play the way we're playing, in a little bit more methodical buildup game where things go through him.”
HH's persona
As is the norm among elite professionals, Herrera is a big personality, with high expectations for those around him. For Olsen, that’s a feature, not a bug, even if friction arises.
“He is a very loving guy, to his teammates, to staff,” said the coach, no shrinking daisy himself. “He's at times extremely passionate, like most great players are, and it's why he's been able to be in a few World Cups and play at the highest level. Because he has that ability to go to a very passionate place, and at times, yeah, that spills over, but I'll take that any day of the week, because of what he offers when the lights come on.
“It's been a real joy to work with him since the first time we sat down and had a conversation.”
That makes the Olympic gold medalist and two-time World Cup veteran both the face of the club and the soul of the locker room. As the latest edition of “Breakaway” reveals, he and his family have settled comfortably in the Bayou City, cruising the H-town highways in a large SUV and spending hot afternoons in the backyard pool like millions of other Texas households.
“I'm very happy with what I'm experiencing here in Houston, what we're achieving as a team,” Herrera told reporters in Spanish during a June media availability. “I personally feel very happy with the way they’ve received me here in the city, how they treat me and my family; that's very important. I try to live day to day as best as possible, prepare myself as best as possible to be able to help the team to be at the top – that's what we all want.”
Herrera’s bought in – so much so that Dynamo owner Ted Segal, whose primary residence is in New York, revealed last year how his club’s star player urged him to spend more time on the ground in Houston, to help speed the organization’s ongoing resurgence.
“He jokingly calls me ‘the big boss man,’ and said that I’ve got to be here more and set the example, and he's right,” Segal told MLSsoccer.com. “And so I'm here several times a month.”
At home in Houston
It’s just the kind of marquis figure the Dynamo and their fans wished for over their years of underachievement, hungry to elevate their relevance in a sprawling, soccer-mad metropolis that’s home to more than a million Mexicans and Mexican-Americans. That’s a lofty level of responsibility for a player who has lived in the shadow of bigger names at previous destinations.
“Certainly, Héctor is a huge part of the organization. He's a big part of the community. He seems to love Houston, he loves living here,” said Olsen. “I think that's important as well when you're talking about a guy who is looking to inspire a fan base and get more butts in the seats.
“He's enjoying being a leader,” added the coach. “I don't know if he's ever had the keys to the car before in the way he does here. Whether it was Mexico or Atlético, I think this is really the first time he's been quote-unquote The Man on a team, and I think he's really enjoying that experience, whether it's working with the fans and being good to the community, whether it's being a good teammate to everyone.”
After weathering a rough start to life in Houston in the back half of the 2022 campaign, Herrera began to impose himself in earnest after Olsen was hired the following winter. La Naranja ended a five-year Audi MLS Cup Playoffs qualification drought last year, then made a surprise run to the Western Conference Final before falling to defending league champs LAFC.
They also stunned a global audience with a comprehensive away defeat of Inter Miami in the US Open Cup final, Leo Messi watching from a fieldside suite at Chase Stadium as HH pulled the strings en route to Houston’s fourth piece of major hardware. Herrera’s spirit lit up a behind-the-scenes feature on the match produced by The Athletic, as “El Zorro” playfully urged Segal to buy celebratory Rolexes for the entire squad in the champagne-soaked locker room postgame.
Along the way, the Dynamo blossomed into one of the most aesthetically pleasing teams on the continent, consistently dictating the tempo and making opponents chase as they knit together fluid passing combinations. Yet that was decidedly not the original plan envisioned by Onstad and Olsen.
“No,” said Onstad. “Part of it is our weather and our climate here, so we know when we're on the ball for long periods, it's very difficult to defend for long periods. So that was one thing we wanted to do. But we were thinking we were going to be a little bit more of a 4-3-3, pressing-type team.
“Once Héctor got into the lineup, and then trying to find a position for Coco Carrasquilla, and with our personnel, this thing almost naturally evolved. And I give Ben Olsen and his staff a ton of credit for figuring out what I think right now, with our personnel, is an excellent way to play.”
More trophies to come?
A Tijuana native who rose through the ranks at CF Pachuca, Herrera says he’d only play for Los Tuzos if he ever returned to LIGA MX, and earlier this summer sounded keen to stay in H-town a while longer, joking he has to wait and see if the Dynamo renew his contract. He’s in the final guaranteed year of his current deal, with the club holding an option for 2025.
“I would be delighted to be able to finish here with Houston,” he said. “I am very happy with the city, with the team, with the people, the way they treat me here, and I think that is the most important thing, no?
“I personally am very happy with the decision I made to come here,” he added with regards to his MLS experience. “It is a very competitive league that seems easier than it is from outside … I like that any team can win. That attracts me a lot. It is very physical with a lot of quality as well.”
The home stretch of the current campaign figures to reveal much about the state of Houston’s HH-centered project. A litany of dropped points at Shell Energy Stadium has undermined their intention to live among the Western Conference elite – they currently sit seventh in the table – and frustrated the bigger vision of cultivating “Hell in the Shell,” the fans' shorthand for a potent home-field advantage in the South Texas heat.
But their tactical identity is crystal clear, revolving around the wily fox in their engine room, providing a sturdy foundation for the playoff push to come.
“We play with a swagger,” said Onstad. “We're pretty confident, and it doesn't matter who we're playing, whether we're playing a New York Red Bull press or a St Louis press, we're still going to try to play and try to play our style of soccer, whether it's at home or away.
“Now, the big question for us will be, [can] we put it all together for a stretch run here and try to see if we can compete for the big trophy?”
WATCH: Héctor Herrera on Breakaway
