© Kelvin Kuo-Imagn Images
The Houston Dash suffered their first loss of the 2026 National Women’s Soccer League season last Saturday, succumbing 2-1 away to league-leading Angel City. However, despite the end result, the performance was positive, and another sign of the Dash being a serious, competitive force for the first time in a while.
When Houston won the inaugural NWSL Challenge Cup in 2020, they did so with a game built on aggressive pressing in midfield and quick counterattacking. Two years later, when Juan Carlos Amorós took charge on an interim basis, they made the playoffs for the first and only time in their history by becoming even more aggressive. Once again, the cornerstone of their game was pressing, only now they did it higher up the field, backed by an audaciously proactive back line that caught opponent after opponent offside.
Then, the Dash lost their way.
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