Six minutes into Saturday night’s 1-1 draw with Sporting Kansas City, and the Houston Dynamo had already shown how poor they have played at times this season. However, for the balance of the game, the club showed promise, and thanks to some redemption for Ricardo Clark, pulled away from a tense road matchup with a draw.
Clark, who was beaten by Dom Dwyer to a header for the games opening goal in the sixth minute, made amends late-on in the most poetic of fashions when he leaped over an unknowing Dwyer in the 78th minute to get onto the end of a brilliant Brad Davis free kick and knot the score.
“He gives everything he’s got and it’s no surprise he popped up in front of goal,” Houston head coach Owen Coyle told MLSsoccer.com by phone after the game about Clark. “He’s surpassed his goal scoring record and for me he’s been a joy to work with.
“Of course he was annoyed he got beat by Dwyer for the first one but that’s Ricardo Clark. He picks himself up, his performance was great and he scored another very good goal.”
Glory immediately turned to agony for Clark however, as the former U.S international was forced to leave the game due to a leg injury that appeared to happen on the goal. After scoring, the midfielder immediately grabbed his left hamstring and exited the game after the restart.
Coyle said Clark will be evaluated in the coming days.
The balance of the game was eccentric, to say the least. Soft foul calls, and non-calls seemingly overshadowed the game’s goals.
The game was turned on its head when Houston's Nathan Sturgis was shown a straight red for a serious foul on Sporting midfielder Roger Espinoza, who had previously come under question for a rough challenge on Houston goalkeeper Tyler Deric.
“We were put down to 10 men and I thought it was harsh,” Coyle said. “The game was played at high intensity by two fiercely competitive teams, that goes without saying, but that’s three times we’ve had to play them with 10 men [this season].
“Nathan’s not out of control, he’s not hit him with his studs; he’s just mistimed the challenge. Is that a foul? Yes. Is that a yellow card? Absolutely. But for me [it’s] not a red.”
Down a man the final eight minutes of the game Houston was put under pressure, and found themselves on the favorable side of two important decisions. First, Sporting forward Krisztian Nemeth had a potential stoppage-time winner waved off due to an offside call, and then, just before the final whistle, Houston substitute Luis Garrido’s hand appeared to make contact with the ball in the box after a Sporting corner kick, but referee Jorge Gonzalez declined to point to the spot.
“It was judged not to be deliberate,” Gonzalez responded to the pool reporter after the game regarding the play with Garrido at the end of the game. “The arm was judged to be in a natural playing position.”
Calls and non-calls aside, Houston preferred to reflect on the team’s response after the early goal. Though on the road against a rival, the team won the possession battle, took the run of play, and created plenty of chances – especially golden first half chances ones for Clark and Will Bruin right in front of goal.
Now the Dynamo, who sit four points behind Real Salt Lake for the final playoff spot in the West, just need to finish them if they want to make a post All-Star break run.
“Obviously they had a restart goal from a header five minutes in, that’s not the ideal start,” Bruin said. “But instead of putting our heads down, we kept playing and we had chances. I could have scored on a little half-breakaway [in the first half]. We never put our heads down.”
“We had chance after chance, not half chances but I’m talking about real goal scoring chances, “Coyle said. “I’ve got to say it was an outstanding team performance tonight…and we feel aggrieved we’re not leaving with 3 points truth be told.”
