Player of the Match: Maikel Chang dangerous in RSL’s 1-1 draw against the Houston Dynamo

No disrespect to Justen Glad for his one-touch wonder to give RSL the lead in the first half, but Maikel Chang is the player of the game for RSL’s 1-1 draw against the Houston Dynamo.

Although Glad scored the lone goal for RSL and had a clean game, with many key tackles, Chang’s all-around performance kept RSL in this game in a lot of ways. Houston and frankly RSL didn’t play pretty soccer, but Chang did.

Not only did Chang get a shot off, but he also had a 71% success rate on 12 duels and five key passes. He was all over the pitch and kept RSL looking dangerous offensively in a game that they probably should’ve capitalized with more goals in.

One moment of Chang’s brilliance that stuck out was Chang’s cross into Damir Kreilach midway through the second half. The ball, placed on a dime, found Kreilach’s head and created a near goal in a moment that RSL needed it.

Chang has been doing this in all the time he’s seen. He may have only seen 66 minutes of action tonight, but he was consistently creative and good at tracking back to help defensively when needed.

In addition to Glad, an honorable mention does go to Donny Toia tonight for his defensive and offensive work. He had the second-most shots on the team, trailing Damir Kreilach’s six with his own four. Toia nearly took Glad’s thunder with a defender goal of his own but found himself unlucky. Toia had a solid performance in this one, despite not earning the shutout.