Houston Dynamo fail to advance in US Open Cup after loss to Sporting Kansas City

Houston Dynamo FC are coming off an amazing league match victory over the LA Galaxy and were hoping to follow that up with a Lamar Hunt US Open Cup win over rivals Sporting Kansas City in a must-win game. Despite a promising start by the Dynamo, including the game’s opening goal, Kansas City sprang back to life in the second half and were able to win 2-1 to advance to the next round.

The visiting Dynamo were quick out of the gate with Memo Rodríguez forcing a big save by Kansas City goalkeeper John Pulskamp following a great pass by Darwin Quintero. The game from there would get a little chippy with each side committing a few fouls leading to a yellow card for Darwin Cerén and later Oriol Rosell for SKC.

Cerén’s foul set up a set piece opportunity for Johnny Russell and even though the effort was close, it wasn’t enough to get the home side up in the 18^th minute. The Dynamo possessed the ball well throughout the half and maintained an aggressive posture which led to an attempt by Griffin Dorsey who had a great ball by Brooklyn Raines.

After more pressure and a little more rivalry physicality we saw the Dynamo breakthrough to open up the scoring. Darwin Quintero would thread the absolute perfect through ball to put Corey Baird in towards goal. Baird, with defenders around him, somehow kept the ball and managed to take his touches with them around and put the ball into the net. 1-0 Houston.

Kansas came close to equalizing early into the second half with Dániel Sallói finding space on the wing and sending it in to the halftime substitute Khiry Shelton who sent the ball just wide of goal. Right out of the gate Kansas City flipped the first half as they took charge of the possession and the pressure which did end up tying the game in 52^nd minute. Johnny Russell would not give up on a play as he kept going down and fought through it to push through and find the back corner from distance. 1-1.

The Dynamo responded a little better following the equalizer as they began to increase their possession in Kansas’s half of the field, but they weren’t able to really threaten to gain the edge again. Kansas however seized several opportunities to look dangerous with their possession with Johnny Russell and Khiry Shelton making trouble for Houston, though the Dynamo defense was somehow able to keep things level.

A brilliant run by Sallói down the wing saw him brought down by Griffin Dorsey just outside the edge of the 18 yard box. The following effort was poor and cleared, though SKC wasn’t done as they retrieved the ball and tried to put it in, but Houston again was somehow up to task to clear it.

A few minutes later KC would get their penalty with Daniel Steres bringing down Sallói, but this time in the box. Russell would step up and even though Dynamo goalkeeper Michael Nelson would guess the right way, the shot was too well taken into the corner of the net. 2-1 SKC.

Houston made their changes and tried to get their way back into the game with Adalberto “Coco” Carrasquilla and Tyler Pasher coming into play. Pasher had some good looks coming from the wing and Coco had a long range effort that went over the top, but they were unable to come up with an equalizer deep into the second half. Meanwhile, Kansas City, despite ceding some possession and ground, continued to threaten for an insurance goal.

Even though the Dynamo made some good last ditch efforts it would be the home side Sporting Kansas City that would advance to the next round of the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup. Houston had looked the stronger side in the first half, but KC was better in the second and never looked out of control on either end of the field. The Dynamo had threatened for an equalizer, but nothing close to as dangerous as the opportunities they saw in the first half.

The Dynamo will be back on the road for their next fixture as they head to Rio Tinto Stadium to take on Real Salt Lake Saturday, May 28^th at 8:30 PM CT.

Goals:

41’ HOU: Corey Baird (assisted by Darwin Quintero)

52’ SKC: Johnny Russell

73’ SKC: Johnny Russell (penalty kick)

Disciplinary:

18’ HOU: Darwin Cerén (yellow card)

29’ SKC: Oriol Rosell (yellow card)

51’HOU: Darwin Quintero (yellow card)

69’ HOU: Griffin Dorsey (yellow card)

88’ SKC: Kortne Ford (yellow card)

Lineups:

Houston Dynamo:

57’ Adalberto Carrasquilla on, Beto Avila off

57’ Matías Vera on, Brooklyn Raines off

72’ Tyler Pasher on, Corey Baird off

72’ Fafà Picault on, Memo Rodríguez off

Sporting Kansas City:

46’ Khiry Shelton on, Ben Sweat off

46’ Roger Espinoza on, Oriol Rosell off

64’ Kayden Pierre on, Logan Ndenbe off

76’ Nicolas Isimat-Mirin on, Andreu Fontàs off