HOUSTON – When it comes to watching Erick “Cubo” Torres, the Houston Dynamo are in a strange position.
On the one hand, the club want their striker to perform well on his loan to Mexican giants Chivas de Guadalajara.
On the other, the Dynamo know that with every goal Torres bags in Mexico – he had two off the bench on Saturday to propel relegation-threatened Chivas to a 2-1 win at Puebla – the longer they’ll likely have to wait for him to arrive in Houston.
Torres, 22, signed a Designated Player contract with the Dynamo in December after his loan from Chivas Guadalajara to Chivas USA expired at the end of the 2014 season. Part of the deal to acquire Torres on a permanent basis from Guadalajara included a six-month loan back to Chivas, though there were clauses included in the contract that could bring the striker to Houston early.
He hasn’t played much during his loan in Mexico, sparking hope that he could join the Dynamo ahead of schedule. His recent exploits with Chivas has put that scenario in jeopardy, however, and if Torres doesn’t arrive before May 13 he will have to wait until July 1 to join the Dynamo.
“That’s a fair assessment, but it’s like anything else, you only ever want the best for our players,” Dynamo head coach Owen Coyle said when asked about Torres’ newfound success and its effect of the loan. “I’m paying attention because we wish we had him just now. We wish we had Cubo here now but we don’t. When it comes about it’ll fall into its natural timing but we just have to patient on that.”
Until things change, Coyle and the Dynamo will watch from afar and keep tabs on how their big dollar signing is progressing. The more goals Torres scores, the more in-form he is, the better it is for Houston in the long run. But a delayed arrival would be tough for a team that’s a work in progress in attack, and could certainly use a striker with his goalscoring prowess – he had 22 goals in 44 league games in a season-and-a-half with Chivas USA.
“We know he’s a natural finisher and the more match winners you have in the team the better,” Coyle said. “His two goals were fantastic. I actually enjoyed his second goal better because he was nearly on his backside and he still had the awareness the goalkeeper was coming out so he just put in the corner. That’s a thing people are blessed with and [he’s] certainly got that.
“You want [those players] at your disposal as soon as possible, so the sooner that happens the better.”
Darrell Lovell covers the Houston Dynamo for MLSsoccer.com.
