Rain cleared out of the Houston area making for a nice night at BBVA Compass Stadium. The result on the field however was very disappointing. The Dynamo let an early lead slip away and a late TFC equalizer meant just 2 points from 2 matches against TFC at home. You could just see the frustration in coach Dominic Kinnear’s face in the postgame press conference. Goalkeeper Tally Hall said walking off the field and in the locker room it felt like a loss.
It was a tale of two halves Kinnear would say after the match and the first half saw the Dynamo in control. Will Bruin found his goalscoring boots in the 21st minute after a lengthy drought. DP Boniek cut inside and played a fantastic through ball to Bruin. Bruin took a touch and lobbed the ball over Toronto FC keeper Freddy Hall. If there was an Assist of the Week in MLS Boniek would win it running away for that pass to Bruin. The Dynamo DP just sliced open the TFC defense. Bruin’s goal should have opened the floodgates but the Dynamo could not find another goal to kill off Toronto early.
The Dynamo took their 1-0 lead into the half. Houston finished the half with 7 shots and 6 corner kicks. Each team had 2 shots on target in the first half.
The Dynamo tried to find a second as the second half played on but they just didn’t have the energy and drive that they did early. This is very disappointing considering they were at home against the team at the bottom of the East. The closest they’d come to a goal was from a Mac Kandji snap header right into Freddy Hall’s hands in the 67th minute.
The Dynamo would push for goals with the substitutions of Adam Moffat for Kandji in the 73rd, Je-Vaughn Watson for Ricardo Clark in the 77th, and Brian Ching for Bruin in the 83rd. It was Toronto however who would score the second goal of the match to earn themselves their second point of the season at BBVA Compass Stadium. Terry Dunfield got the goal in the 85th minute to tie the game at 1. The goal came on a header from Darren O’Dea’s cross that beat Tally Hall to his left. Hall said after the match that he makes that save 9 out of 10 times. Hall can’t be given all the blame as three Toronto players got behind the Dynamo defense on O’Dea’s cross, giving Dunfield a free header.
The Dynamo pushed hard for winner after conceding but TFC defended well with 9 men behind the ball. A Watson header in the final minute of stoppage time right at Freddy Hall was the closest they’d come before full time was blown. With the Eastern Conference being so tight this was 2 points the Dynamo couldn’t afford to drop. The offense just did not click and unfortunately the Dynamo reverted back to what we saw when the 4-3-3 was first introduced. Wednesday brings another international trip in Champions League, this time to Honduras, before returning to the States for a game at Chicago on Saturday. Chicago is just one point behind Houston for third in the East so this match will be huge for both teams.
(image courtesy of Getty Images)
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