Houston Dynamo vs Colorado Rapids Final Score: Late goal by Rapids downs Dynamo

The night was meant to be a celebration of what it meant to be #HoustonStrong as the team honored the heroes who helped Houston after Hurricane Harvey flooded the city. Members of the Louisiana Cajun Navy fired El Capitán before the game and Houston Fire Department Chief Samuel Peña and Houston Police Department Chief Art Acevedo lead the two teams out of the tunnel before kick off. What started out as a night of celebration and strength turned into one of frustration and loss as the Dynamo fell 0-1 to the Colorado Rapids.

The Houston Dynamo are a team that is built for the counter attack and they had little opportunity to counter in the first half. The Colorado Rapids looked like they had shaken up the Dynamo game plan by allowing the Dynamo to possess the ball. Houston lead the possession stats in the first half finding the ball at their feel 65% of the time. The men in orange struggled to do anything with the ball. While they had nine shots in the first half none of them came close to getting back Tim Howard in goal.

After subbing Romell Quioto on for Mauro Manotas to start the second half the Dynamo looked more alive than they had in the first half. Romell Quioto crossed the ball into Alberth Elis who’s header was just over the bar. It started off a second half that held more hope than the first.

In the 58th minute Alex was issued a yellow card for a reckless tackle on Mohammed Saeid. Alex’s cleat came down on Saeid’s shin taking the midfielder down. The call went to video review to see if the card should have been red which would have Alex sent off the field. After a very long review the yellow card was upheld though it looked on replay that it could have easily gone the other way and the Dynamo were lucky to play on with eleven men.

Houston had a great chance in the 82nd minute with Elis was brought down by Williams giving Houston a free kick from 25 yards out. The attempt from Tomas Martinez went into the wall. A minute later Martinez found Elis on the run down the right side of the field. Elis got off a great shot that went just past the post.

As time ticked off the clock (or went up on the clock however you want to look at it) the Dynamo’s desperation to score because very apparent. Cubo Torres very nearly scored on a header from a ball from Martinez but Howard denied the striker the chance to score at home.

It wasn’t until stoppage time that one of the squads was finally able to break the deadlocked game. Unfortunately for the Dynamo it was Colorado who was able to score. Stefan Aigner found Dominique Badji at the back post in the 92nd minute of the game. DaMarcus Beasley was caught out as Badji was able to get back behind him as the pass came in from Aigner. Badji’s shot went right past Deric to give the Rapids a 0-1 lead and the win.

It was the first road win of the season for the Rapids just as it was the first loss at home for the Dynamo this season. Dropping points did nothing to help Houston’s chase to make the playoffs. Just six points currently separate fifth-place Houston from first place. The San Jose Earthquakes are the first team below the red line in seventh place but they are just two points behind Houston in the Western Conference.

Next up for the Dynamo is a trip to California to play the San Jose Earthquakes next Saturday.

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