After being booed all night and playing the role of villain in the eyes of Dynamo fans, Sporting Kansas City defender Aurelien Collin scored in the 90th minute to take a win away from a 9 man Houston side. Houston and Sporting Kansas City met Saturday night in Houston at Robertson Stadium in an improtant Eastern Conference match up. The temperature at kickoff was a pleasant 88 degrees, definitely much warmer than it has been in Houston in recent weeks.
Houston and Sporting KC played a very entertaining first half of soccer. Brad Davis opened the scoring on a beautifully placed free kick in the 8th minute. Davis’ shot came from outside the box on the right side and beat SKC keeper Jimmy Nielsen to his near post. Davis looked very alive in the first half, perhaps spurred on by his omission from the commisioner’s All Star picks earlier in the day. Sporting also had their chances in the first half, the best coming in stoppage time. Graham Zusi’s long free kick found Matt Besler in the six yard box and his volley was excellently saved by Houston keeper Tally Hall. Hall’s reactions were superb as he made 4 saves in the half and the Dynamo took their 1-0 lead in to the halftime break.
There was a scary moment in the first half when SKC’s Chance Myers and Houston’s Jermaine Taylor collided in the box on a corner kick. Both players stayed down for some time but were able to finish the half. Taylor could not however answer the bell for the second half as he was replaced by Bobby Boswell to start the second half.
The game took a turn in the 51st minute when Dynamo midfielder Colin Clark was shown a straight red card for a two footed tackle on Sporting defender Aurelien Collin. Houston was forced to play with ten men, at least until the 70th minute. Forward Brian Ching tried to beat Collin in the corner and after the French defender won the ball from him, Ching kicked Collin and was shown a straight red card from referee Kevin Stott. Houston brought on defender Hunter Freeman and desperately tried to defend and hold on to a 1-0 win.
They nearly got that win until the 90th minute when Sporting found a goal. The ball was worked to the top of the box and Aurelien Collin was involved again. Collin hit a shot from about 25 yards out that deflected off Houston defender Kofi Sarkodie and keeper Tally Hall was sent the wrong way as the equalizer found the back of the net. The draw extended Sporting KC’s MLS unbeaten run to 11 games.
The Dynamo played a new 4-3-3 formation, something I have never seen them play. The formation seemed to work very well with Colin Clark and Danny Cruz up to on the wings, wide of Brian Ching. The red cards obviously forced the Dynamo to change the game plan but it will be interesting to see if this formation is used going forward or if it was just something used to counter Sporting’s own attacking formation.
Both teams will take on English Premier league sides Wednesday before resuming their MLS schedules. Sporting will host Newcastle United while the Dynamo host Bolton Wanderers. Sporting KC’s next MLS game is Saturday at home against Toronto and Houston will travel to the Home Depot Center to take on Chivas USA Saturday.
(image courtesy of Anthony Vasser/Houston Dynamo)
