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In front of more than 18,000 fans, the Houston Dynamo set a new standard for home dominance in Major League Soccer with their historic win against the Chicago Fire. Behind a solid performance from captain Brad Davis (1 goal, 1 assist), the Dynamo beat the Fire 2-1 to set a new MLS record for a home unbeaten streak. With the win, the Dynamo moved past Real Salt Lake with a record setting 35th straight game without defeat.
In the 21st minute, Andrew Driver broke free and found some space to send in a nice cross into the box. Giles Barnes was there for the shot, but his header went over the crossbar for a goal kick.
It didn't take much longer for the Houston pressure to mount to a goal scoring opportunity. In the 26th minute, Davis received the ball on the left and was able to get past Wells Thompson and create a ton of space. Davis sent in a perfectly placed cross to a completely unmarked Will Bruin, who headed the ball in for the early lead.
The celebration didn't last long, as Chicago came right back and leveled the match. Just three minutes later, the Fire got the ball into the box off a throw in. The ball was cleared towards the top of the box, and Dan Paladini tried to control the ball but it bounced into some open space. Chris Rolfe was in the perfect position and fired a shot past Tally Hall to bring the game level.
While the Dynamo controlled the match early on, Chicago quickly settled in and the match was pretty even all around going into the half.
In the second half, both teams had chances to finish the other off and missed opportunities. In the 51st minute, Sean Johnson saved his club from an own goal after Thompson knocked a Ricardo Clark cross towards the goal. In the 63rd minute, Clark again was involved in a solid chance for Houston collecting the ball in the midfield and feeding Andrew Driver a nice through ball into the box. Driver was alone and took a nice shot, but Johnson made a huge save to keep the score level.
In the 70th minute, Patrick Nyarko beat Corey Ashe towards the endline and was able to get the ball to Maicon Santos who tapped it wide of the net.
Ten minutes later, Brad Davis sent a free kick out wide to Kofi Sarkodie. Kofi looked around, but didn't see any open targets and passed it back to Davis who had a world of space around him. Davis sent in a cross in the crowd, but the ball bounced by everyone and past Johnson for the go ahead goal. Bobby Boswell was called out at the stadium as the goal scorer, but later would be corrected as Boswell didn't touch the ball.
Chicago didn't go down easily after the goal, even hitting the cross bar in the 83rd minute. In the end, the Davis goal was the difference as the Dynamo got another solid home result.
With the win, the Dynamo earned their 35th straight unbeaten match at home, setting a new MLS record. The Dynamo improved to 4-2-0 (12 points) on the season and now sit in second place in the Eastern Conference.
Next up for the Dynamo is another opportunity to improve their road performances when they visit BMO Field on April 20 and face Toronto FC (1-2-3, 6 points).