The Portland Timbers had posed a steady threat to Houston’s playoff push as the MLS regular season drew ever-closer to its conclusion. A sound 2-0 victory by the Dynamo at JELD-WEN Field on Friday helped put distance between the two teams and ease Houston’s anxiety as it enters the final stretch in a tight playoff race.
Houston and Portland entered the night’s match jockeying for position amongst a pack of teams looking to separate and pull ahead of the post-season bubble. With the MLS regular season drawing to a close next weekend, the Dynamo sat three points in front of the Timbers, although Portland held a game in hand. The tenacious Timbers had not lost a home match since July 10 when the team fell to Seattle on a late goal. Up against 20,000 Portland supporters witnessing the team’s home finale and battling the characteristic Northwestern rain showers, Houston attempted to do something it has only done on one other road trip this season: win.
Courtesy of two Dynamo goals on either side of halftime, the team would achieve its ambition. A physical match marked by 30 fouls and two yellow cards would come back to haunt Portland after Houston snatched the lead in the 36th minute when Lovel Palmer tackled Carlo Costly just outside the penalty area. Brad Davis stepped up to take the free kick, which found the head of Andre Hainault. The Dynamo defender flicked the ball past Portland goalkeeper Troy Perkins for the 1-0 advantage.
The goal celebrated Hainault’s first of the season and gave Davis his 15th assist of the year to bring him tied for the league lead with David Beckham. Hainault, as fate would have it, had made the decision to turn down an appearance with the Canadian National Team in order to rest his injuries and be present in Portland to focus on his team’s playoff drive.
His decision would prove to be a game-winning one as Hainault then helped anchor a hard-wearing Houston defense that kept the Timbers off the scoreboard. The defensive tension was alleviated considerably when Danny Cruz placed a left-footed strike into the top corner of the goal from 30 yards out. The 21-year-old’s second goal of the season clinched a critical 2-0 advantage in the 59th minute that the Dynamo was forced to doggedly defend for the final half an hour.
Portland did not bow out without a fight, but instead gave home fans a grand finale as the team pelted the Dynamo goal to no avail. Palmer’s cross in the 64th minute was deflected off of Costly’s foot and ricocheted off the post before being swept away by Houston goalkeeper Tally Hall. Kenny Cooper pushed his header just wide of the net minutes later. David Horst made a last-gasp effort to give fans something to cheer about, but Hall knocked away his header as the final whistle sounded.
The Timbers closed the book on home matches in its inaugural MLS season and will conclude play on the road with a match at DC on Wednesday before wrapping up its schedule at Real Salt Lake next Saturday. Houston will head home for its regular season finale against league-leading Los Angeles Galaxy next Sunday.
