Seattle Takes Down Houston

After coming off a victory in their first game at CenturyLink Field against Toronto FC, the Sounders faced a tough test against an in form Houston Dynamo, who are on a monster away stretch due to the building of their new home.

The two teams started off brightly but it was Houston who pressed early, with Will Bruin seeing his snap shot from the edge of the area, tipped over the bar by Gspurning.

Moments later, they were nearly in again after a corner was poorly cleared, Dynamo defender Geoff Cameron found himself on the edge of the area with the ball bouncing nicely for the half volley. By more luck, than anything else, the ball was blocked by the turning Seattle player and the rebounded cross was put wide by the head of J-Vaughn Watson.

After all of the early pressure Houston had been piling on Seattle, they were undone by a wickedly deflected shot by in form striker David Estrada. Off an Alvaro Fernandez corner, the ball was cleared only to the feet of Estrada, who hit it first time towards goal. The shot looked like it was going wide but clipped of the trailing leg of a Dynamo defender and flew into the far side of the goal, past the already diving keeper.

And within the blink of an eye, Seattle found themselves 2-0 up courtesy of a Brad Evans penalty kick. From another Fernandez corner, Patrick Ianni found himself pulled down in the area by Geoff Cameron as he went to head the ball towards goal, and ultimately the referee pointed to the spot. Brad Evans stepped up and slotted the ball to the right, just passed Tally Hall, who guessed the right way.

Just after the break Seattle had a glorious chance to put the game to bed, as Roger Levesque found himself inside the Houston box, all alone and managed to fire wide. After a great through ball by Freddy Montero, Fernandez once again found himself in space to run at the defence. With Geoff Cameron being pulled out of position to meet the advancing Fernandez, it left a huge hole in the Dynamo defence, as Fernandez picked out Levesque in the middle. Roger tried to open up his body and get his feet ready for the shot, but he angled himself a little too much and the ball sailed past the right hand post.

Straight after this, Houston broke down the other end, as Bruin was played in with a lovely chipped ball, but his timid header was no challenge for Gspurning.

Towards the latter stages of the match, the tables had turned as Fernandez found himself being put through on goal, rather than him assisting the play. After a clearance by Alonso found the feet of Freddy Montero, the striker turned and battled his way through a number of challenges, and holding onto the ball, which he looked to have lost, put Fernandez through on the edge of the area. The midfielder opened up his body and fired a curling inside foot shot just over the bar, leaving the match to finish at 2-0 and Seattle handing Houston its first defeat of the season.

Seattle now face San Jose at CenturyLink Field on March 31st, looking for another great home performance and a third straight home victory.

(image courtesy of Getty Images)