Mother Nature remained undefeated Sunday night, causing the Chicago Fire and Houston Dynamo to end their match early. The match was halted in the 66th minute and a 1-1 draw was the final result. After suspensions, injuries, and bad weather, a point on the road is a good result for the Dynamo.
Bad weather in the Chicago area played a role in the match from the beginning. Rains poured down on Toyota Park as the match got underway. With the rains came lightning and the first delay of the night. Referee Geoff Gamble blew the whistle and sent the players back to the locker room after a scoreless 13 minutes. After a 70 minute delay the teams were brought back on to the pitch and the game restarted.
Houston opened the scoring in the 24th minute. Brian Ching got the ball in space and was able to play a through ball to Will Bruin. Bruin was kept onside by Chicago defender Jail Anibaba and he made the most of the first big opportunity of the match. Fire keeper Sean Johnson, making his first start of the season, came out to stop Bruin and when he dove low the 2nd year forward fired a left footed shot over the keeper and into the net. The goal from Bruin was the Dynamo’s only shot on goal.
The Fire wasted no time in equalizing. After a silly foul by Ching, Chicago was given a set piece near the top of the box in the 27th minute. Pavel Pardo’s kick deflected off teammate Logan Pause’s back, hit the underside of the cross bar and went in to tie the game. Pause was lined up next to the Dynamo wall and ducked to avoid Pardo’s shot. Good thing for Fire fans, he was unsuccessful in getting out of the way.
Other than the two goals the match was very uneventful. The bad weather could be blamed for that as well as an all new Dynamo midfield. JeVaughn Watson moved to right wing and defender Corey Ashe was moved into the midfield at left wing. Nathan Sturgis and Luiz Camargo both made their first starts of the season in the center midfield. In the 63rd minute Camargo made way for former Chicago Fire player Calen Carr. Watson moved back into the center while Carr played on the right wing. Because of the weather stoppage this lasted only 3 minutes but it will be interesting to see if Carr is used more in the midfield going forward.
The Dynamo have now earned 7 points in the first four matches of their seven game season opening road trip. Getting a draw last night on the road, against an East rival and without 3 starters (1 being their best player) is what I expected and Kinnear and the team will likely be pleased with it. The Dynamo travel to Columbus on Saturday to take on another Eastern Conference opponent in the Crew.
(image courtesy of houstondynamo.com)
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