Dynamo Fall 1-0 in New England, Playoff Hopes Dashed?

Another late goal and another disappointing loss might spell the end of the Houston Dynamo's playoff chances. After 61 minutes of back and forth play, Sainey Nyassi found Ilija Stoica free near the top of the box and the striker settled the pass and drilled a low shot past Tally Hall.

All season the Dynamo have struggled with one key defensive mistake that turned the tide of games and tonight was no different. Stoica's goal was the direct result of poor marking as the Serbian was allowed entirely too much space and time to unleash a hard shot that Hall had little chance to save. 

Simply put, it just wasn't meant to be.

Despite a run of heavy pressure for the final 25 minute of the match, the Dynamo were unable to find an equalizer and struggled to even pressure Matt Reis in goal. Meanwhile, the Revs took advantage of every counter attacking opportunity forcing good saves from Hall or just missing the target.

The lone bright spot of the night was Geoff Cameron who stepped back in to a central defense roll and looked like a player who'd been there all season. Late in the match as Nyassi got loose on the left, Cameron came streaking across the box as Nyassi closed on Hall. Cameron's tremendous sliding tackle forced a corner and likely prevented a second goal. No matter how you feel about the result, it was great to see Cameron go 90 minutes.

The question now becomes where do the Dynamo go from here. While they are not mathematically eliminated from the playoffs, it's hard to see things turning around quickly enough to make a legitimate run. Does Kinnear stick with the same lineups or do we begin to see the like of Navas Cobo and Appiah getting a chance to log some minutes and start gaining meaningful experience?

It's probably still to soon to throw in the towel, but no matter what happens down the stretch, you have to think some serious changes are in order to this roster.