Saturday’s game featuring the Houston Dynamo versus Sporting KC was a game of numbers as Houston spent over 25 minutes with nine men and Kansas City extended its unbeaten streak to eleven games, the second-longest in MLS this season.
The straightforward 1-1 score line would hardly do justice when accurately recounting the action and adventure of this Eastern Conference matchup. Better put, “feisty” would define the flavor of play as the Dynamo lost men and gained a spirited, hostile hunger.
Thanks goes to Brad Davis for opening up the game in just the eighth minute of play when he curled a 30-yard free kick opportunity over the Kansas City wall that coolly tucked into the near post past a flat-footed Jimmy Nielsen in the visitor’s goal.
Davis’s third goal of the season awakened the sleeping giant that is the Sporting KC squad that hadn’t suffered MLS defeat since May 21. Dynamo goalkeeper Tally Hall and his defensive counterparts felt the wrath of the Kansas City offensive front that pelted the Houston goal with 24 shots, 8 of which landed on frame. These statistics quadrupled the Dynamo’s piddling attacking threat and complemented 10 corner kicks on the night for the visitors as well.
To its credit, Kansas City did have the better run of play in the first half, but Colin Clark’s straight red card in the 51st minute resulting from a studs up tackle on Aurelien Collin only furthered and foreshadowed the tough road ahead for the Dynamo to guard its narrow 1-0 lead.
Embittered by a perceived soft ejection, Houston put its nose to the grindstone and showed signs of an offensive presence for the next 20 minutes of play. Brian Ching started and almost finished a cheeky opportunity in the 63rd minute on what would have been a Lovel Palmer assist, but Nielsen would yield only a corner kick chance for the Dynamo to squander.
Ching’s true impact on the game would come in the 70th minute with a foolish decision that later prompted the captain to say, “I owe the team two points.” The veteran kicked Sporting KC’s Collin and earned a straight red card, putting his team in an awfully sticky predicament with nine men in orange behind the ball.
Nevertheless, first-year starter Hall nearly proved the Dynamo to be a one-man show. Hall recorded seven saves on the night in addition to playing strongly off his line on several occasions. In an effort that almost appeared as if it would mirror the miracle that the US Women’s National Team accomplished against Brazil, Houston and Hall successfully thwarted the Kansas City assault for 20 minutes. Defender Collin, ironically the booed villain of the night, would spoil the Dynamo dream in the 90th minute, however. His low, driven shot from deep range deflected off the crowd as Hall dove helplessly to his right.
Although Houston may have been fortunate to bow out of the match with a draw, the single point does little to distance the Dynamo from Kansas City in the Eastern Conference race. Sporting KC hosts road-winless Toronto FC on Saturday and hits the road itself on only three more occasions this season after opening LIVESTRONG Sporting Park. Meanwhile, the Dynamo treks to Los Angeles to take on Chivas USA, a squad carrying a nearly identical record. Teams will then break for the All-Star game against Manchester United at Red Bull Arena on July 27.
