Wilmer Cabrera OUT in Houston

Wilmer Cabrera is OUT as manager of the Houston Dynamo. Cabrera has been fired after a poor recent form that has seen four straight MLS regular season losses and 5 straight losses if you want to include their loss to Club America in the Leagues Cup. Cabrera may not have the most talented roster or most supportive upper management in MLS but Cabrera possessed a roster this season that should have been good enough to make the playoffs on their offensive presence alone.

Cabrera had a front three that consisted of Mauro Manotas, Alberth Elis, and Romell Quioto. Coming into this season Manotas had over 30 goals in just over 3 seasons at the club. He also came off of a 19-goal season and was finding his form. Rumors were all around the striker that a Liga MX club was interested, European clubs were interested, and Houston still has him today… A similar story could be said about Alberth Elis. Was he going to be sold in the off-season? The Summer? But no, for now the Dynamo still have the talented winger. Elis racked up 21 goals and 14 assists in two season at Houston heading into 2019. Finally, Quioto who is the final piece to that what should be stellar counter attacking squad. Quioto was coming off a season where he had 6 goals and 12 assists. He is international teammates with Elis and is faster than so many guys in MLS. With a front three like this how could the Dynamo be struggling to score AND be sliding down the Western Conference standings.

Now people might argue that the defense was something that needed to improve from 2018 and heading into 2019. Houston added a veteran CB in Maynor Figueroa, got back a healthy AJ DeLaGarza, added Kiki Struna, and signed a DP defensive midfielder in Matias Vera. But for some reason at this point the Dynamo are in the bottom half of the league in goals allowed. At some point the coach needs to take the blame after a poor season that started so amazing for them.

Now don’t get me wrong. I’ve heard nothing but amazing things personally about Wilmer. He sounds like a fantastic man, personable human, and someone you want as a friend… but at the end of the day he was not getting the most of this team and it was his time to go.

Cabrera managed 112 games for Houston from 2017-2019. In those 112 games he won 43, drew 23, and lost 46 of them. He won the 2018 U.S. Open Cup with the Dynamo last year and was able to add that as his first ever coaching trophy as a head coach. Assistant coach Davy Arnaud will take over as interim head coach of this club that is still fighting for a playoff spot.