Dynamo Unable to Finish Off 10 Man Seattle, Draw 0-0 on the Road

The Houston Dynamo have dropped back-to-back games after winning two in a row for the first time all season. With the playoffs officially out of the picture for Houston, interim manager Wade Barrett elected to give some new players a chance at Seattle including Keyner Brown, Jose Escalante, and Eric Alexander.

Keyner Brown showed some of his quality early in the match as he stepped into a low cross intended for Herculez Gomez, but the Costa Rican international Brown was able to step into the pass and deny a point blank chance on goal. The Dynamo responded with a breakaway chance after recovering the ball inside Seattle’s half. The ball would come to Ricardo Clark who had made a darting run forward, but his shot was easily saved although Clark would claim he was fouled prior to the effort.

Seattle had a fantastic opportunity in the 10^th minute to get the opening goal. Jordan Morris sent a perfect through ball to Andreas Ivanschitz who nearly had the ball taken away after an Eric Alexander slide tackle, but then his final shot was right at Dynamo goalkeeper Joe Willis. Unfortunately for Ivanschitz, his night would end soon after his effort due to an injury he picked up on the play.

The Dynamo had two great efforts that should have gone in the back of the net around the 30 minute mark. First, Will Bruin fired a shot from the top of the 18 yard box that forced a finger tip save by Stefan Frei which pushed the ball into the post. Then, Jose Escalante found DaMarcus Beasley with a beautiful through ball. Beasley then made his way into the box and squared a pass to Andrew Wenger who just barely missed the ball.

For the majority of the half the Sounders had pinned the Dynamo within their own half of the field, at times within their own 18 yard box exemplified by Cristian Roldan’s run through several defenders after Seattle pressured the Dynamo defense into turning the ball over.

Joe Willis made a strong argument for save of the week after a fantastic double save on Erik Friberg. Friberg was 1v1 with Willis who made an initial save, but the ball stayed with Friberg who couldn’t get his 2^nd effort off as Willis stretched through and made an athletic save to keep the game level at 0.

The two sides would go into halftime level. Seattle had dominated most of the game, but Houston had a few chances of their own to go up a goal.

To begin the 2^nd half, the Dynamo hit the post again. This time coming off a corner kick as Keyner Brown’s header hit the corner of the woodwork. The Sounders had a pair of good chances in the 61^st minute. Nicolas Lodeiro had a chance from a tough angle on Joe Willis, but Keyner Brown was able to nervously clear the ball over the top of his own goal. The next corner led to a close header by the Sounders, but the effort was just wide of the target.

Osvaldo Alonso was sent off for scratching the face of Will Bruin, and Bruin saw yellow for his role in the scuffle. Alonso losing his cool in the situation really put his team in a hole for this game, the next game, and any additional games he may miss out on for the incident.

In the 87^th minute, Jose Escalante was subbed off due to a non-contact injury. During a breakaway it looked like Escalante was caught in Seattle’s artificial turf and tripped without contact from anyone. The injury likely eliminates him from being available Sunday, and if the injury is serious enough, it could keep him out the rest of the year.

Despite a man advantage, the Dynamo were only able to get a point in Seattle in a 0-0 draw. The Dynamo had drawn Seattle in the previous two meetings, but it’s unfortunate that the Dynamo couldn’t get more offense going up a man.

The Dynamo’s next opponent is the LA Galaxy in the last home game of the season. The game is Sunday, October, 16^th at 4:15 PM CT at BBVA Compass Stadium.