Mateusz Bogusz is back in MLS after a year in LIGA MX with Cruz Azul, and he’s eager to embrace great expectations as Houston Dynamo FC’s newest Designated Player.
“I like the project, I like a lot of movement of the club. That's why I chose Houston,” the Polish international and former LAFC standout told MLSsoccer.com on Wednesday morning, having recently joined his new teammates at their preseason camp in Tampa, Florida upon conclusion of an extensive negotiation between the clubs.
“I came to MLS [in 2023] and I get to the national team from there,” he added. “MLS gave me a lot, so that's why I decided to come here.
"I know there is a lot of opportunity in Houston. Let's focus on now, and I want to come back to play good, to enjoy the time on the field. And I know if I play good, good things are going to happen.”
MLS return
Dynamo president of soccer Pat Onstad credits Bogusz for doing more than his part to ensure this deal – it could reportedly cost Houston upwards of $10 million, in addition to their new star’s wages – reached fruition.
“It's a big deal for our club. We're spending a lot of money, and they [Cruz Azul] spent a lot of money on him as well. So they want to protect themselves on the upside,” Onstad told MLSsoccer.com. “But Mateusz, he put some skin in the game as well. So he helped get this thing over the line when we were kind of at a roadblock towards the end.
“You have to give him a lot of credit. It also shows his eagerness to get back to MLS and to play for our club here in Houston.”
Onstad envisions the slick-passing possession style Houston have crafted under head coach Ben Olsen will remain, albeit with dashes of directness from Bogusz’s final-third instincts and the counterattacking nous of Brazilian inverted winger Guilherme, their other new DP.
“What we're missing is this vertical 10,” Onstad said of Bogusz. “We have Jack [McGlynn] that can come in as more like a playmaker, but we needed that guy that can kind of get into the box, get on the end of things, score from outside the box, run behind when he needs to. And I think he was the perfect complement to this group that we've built so far.
“Now we have two vertical guys in transition that will help us try to score goals, and that piece, we were, I think, dead last [in MLS] in transition opportunities last year. So certainly something that we consciously said, we need to improve that part of our game.”
Olsen likes the flexibility and diversity offered by the upgrades, calling it “probably one of the most competitive teams” he’s had in his 15-plus years as a head coach.
World Cup aspirations
Bogusz rocketed to prominence as a dangerous, if complementary, attacking piece over two seasons (2023-24) with LAFC, helping the Black & Gold win a US Open Cup and reach the finals of Concacaf Champions Cup, MLS Cup presented by Audi and Leagues Cup before making a reported $10 million-plus move to Cruz Azul last winter.
Bogusz proved instrumental in Cruz Azul's run to the 2025 CCC title, notching a goal and three assists in that tournament, only to find his role dwindle after the subsequent departure of manager Vicente Sánchez. He badly wants to play with more regularity, mindful that Poland – he was last called up in June 2025 – will vie for one of the final spots at the 2026 FIFA World Cup in the UEFA playoffs this March.
“I'm just 24, I want to be playing. I want to enjoy my life, but I'm enjoying when I play. That's why I'm excited to move,” said Bogusz, who will soon become a father, with his partner Wiktoria expecting a baby girl in a few months.
“What I learned for sure is the patience. These three or four months was difficult for me, but now after that, I'm very happy. I feel stronger, and feel even more hunger.”
Culture-changers
The Dynamo have now made major reinforcements on every line this winter, two of them DPs, in a roster overhaul that could go down as the biggest spending spree in club history.
La Naranja have also added Brazilian center back Lucas Halter and Argentine midfielder Agustín Bouzat, all while welcoming back Mexican icon Héctor Herrera. The common thread that runs through it all, according to Onstad?
“We went for captains – captains and winners,” Onstad explained, reeling off the accomplishments of Houston’s newcomers, several of whom wore the skipper’s armband at their previous clubs.
After getting a taste of the high life in 2023, when they won the Open Cup and reached the Western Conference Final during Olsen’s first season in charge, Houston backslid over the past two years and have identified experience and depth as key deficits.
“Last year, because we got young, these guys are still learning how to be pros, and we didn't have enough guys in the locker room. We had some leaders in there – Antonio Carlos, Erik Sviatchenko, Artur – but we didn't have enough,” Onstad explained at a press conference introducing Houston’s high-profile signings earlier this month.
“I think now with these guys, that will really help our locker room. It'll help Ben be able to manage, and we're excited to have that sort of pedigree.”
Golden opportunity
It figures to be a pivotal season in Houston, a 2026 FIFA World Cup host city.
Dynamo president of business operations Jessica O’Neill recently told the Houston Business Journal that the club “is in a place to have the biggest year yet in terms of the size of our season ticket base and the biggest year yet in terms of our corporate partnership revenue” as World Cup fever sweeps across the massive Texas metropolis of 7.8 million residents. The technical staff feel an urgency to harness that “incredible momentum” with a quality product on the pitch.
“We’ve got to win,” said Olsen. “We got to take care of our home games. We got to entertain and send these people home happy to come out and support us, right? They'll spread the word if things are going well and we're playing in the right way.
“Certainly, there's going to be more eyeballs and more headlines and cameras as the World Cup starts to creep nearer.”
