The Houston Dynamo Academy U-15 and U-18 teams played their opening games on their trip to Guadalajara, Mexico Saturday, facing Chivas San Rafael, which is a lower-division club associated with Chivas de Guadalajara.
The U-18 team, featuring mostly 16- and 17-year-olds, had the best result of the day by producing a dominating 3-0 win. Forward Alvin Onyewuenyi (Eclipse, Bellaire Lamar) scored his first two goals for the Dynamo Academy, and 15-year-old forward Abe Matamoros (Texas Premier, Strake Jesuit), stepped up a level and added a goal to cap what Director of Youth Development James Clarkson termed "a fantastic performance."
The U-15 team, which featured six players who are just 13 years of age, led 1-0 behind a goal from Carlos Farias (Texas Premier, Pasadena South Houston) before a red card and penalty kick equalizer turned the tide in a 3-1 Dynamo loss.
"We had a number of players making their competitive debut for the academy," Clarkson said. "Everybody played, and they all did really well."
With games on tap tomorrow against both Atlas de Guadalajara and Chivas de Guadalajara, Clarkson said the players were looking forward to attending Saturday night's Primera División match between the senior teams of Atlas and Club América.
"The spirits in the camp are very high," Clarkson said. "We play Atlas [Sunday] at 9 a.m. and Chivas at 3 p.m., and these games will be even tougher."
