In its final game of the Texas Pro Soccer Festival, D.C. United battled severely windy conditions to earn a 1-1 draw with the Houston Dynamo in Cibilo, TX. A late goal from trialist Cezar came following a tally from Houston's newest signing, Carracio.
With the wind at their backs in the first half, Houston had the first significant chances on goal. In the sixth minute, Richard Mulrooney got on the end of a long cross from the left side, striking the ball out of the air towards goal. Goalkeeper Zach Wells was in good position, however, and made the save at the near post.
In the 24th minute, the Dynamo's Ricardo Clark collected a turnover near midfield and carried the ball towards goal. The midfielder wound up as he came up to the 18-yard box, but he was not able to get a solid shot off and Wells made an easy save.
Neither team was able to put the ball in the net before the halftime whistle and both Tom Soehn and Domminc Kinnear made wholesale changes to their lineup.
Eight minutes into the second half, Houston got on the board fist following a free kick 25 yards from goal. From the dead ball, John Michael Hayden struck a shot on goal that substitute Jose Carvallo got a hand to, but could not reel in. The rebound fell directly into the path of Carracio, who had an easy putaway from inside the six yard box.
Just two minutes later, in the 52nd minute, Guy-Roland Kpene almost collected the equalizer. Midfielder Justin Moose corralled the ball on the right sideline and slid past a defender toward the end line, before whipping in a well-placed cross to the far post. Kpene was in good position, but sent his header just to the left of the goal.
Moose was again the instigator in the 71st when he gathered the ball just on the offensive side of the midfield line. He fed a ball into Cezar's feet, who made a first-time pass to Jamil Walker who, in turn, slide his first touch back to a streaking Moose behind the defense. The fleet-footed midfielder held off his defender and moved toward goal, but his low shot was saved by a diving Pat Onstad.
Seconds later, Moose forced a Houston turnover deep in their defensive third, before sending a cross to the far post and a waiting Kpene. The forward brought the ball down off his chest and with his second touch sent the ball towards goal, but a recovering Onstad was able to get a foot on the ball and deflect it out of bounds.
United would not be denied on its next opportunity when Moose spread the ball wide right to Quavas Kirk, who fed it back to Moose, who then found Jamil Walker with his second touch. Walker sent a cross to the back goalpost and into the sights of Cezar, who sent a diving header over the outstretched arms of Onstad and into the far side of the goal.
D.C. almost snuck away with a win in the 89th minute, when Santino Quaranta lined up a free kick from 30 yards. His well-driving bending ball found the head of Walker, but the low shot did not beat Onstad, who kept the draw intact with a diving save to push the ball wide of the goal.
Game summary.
Scoring Summary
HOU: Caraccio (unassisted) 53
DCU: Cezar (Jamil Walker, Justin Moose) 78
Lineups.
DCU - Zach Wells (Jose Carvallo 45); Marc Burch (Galen Thompson 45), Domenic Mediate (Pat Carroll 45), Gonzalo Peralta (Dane Murphey 45), Bryan Namoff (Quavas Kirk 45); Fred (Ryan Cordeiro 45), Clyde Simms (Justin Moose 45), Rod Dyachenko (Santino Quaranta 72), Devon McTavish (Jamil Walker 45); Jaime Moreno (Cezar 45), Luciano Emilio (Guy-Roland Kpene 45).
HOU - Pat Onstad, Craig Waibel (Mullan, 67'), Eddie Robinson (S. Wondolowski, 46') Bobby Boswell (Alcaraz, 46') Wade Barrett (Cameron, 46') Richard Mulrooney (Hayden, 46') Ricardo Clark (Hatzke, 46'), Dwayne De Rosario (Ustruck, 46') Corey Ashe (Hall, 46'), Chris Wondolowski (Caraccio, 46'), Brian Ching (Brown, 46').
New arrival
Assistant Coach Mark Simpson and wife, Amanda, are the proud parents of their second daughter. Amanda gave birth to Lyla Rose early morning on March 8. Mother and baby are both doing well. It is the Simpson's second daughter, as the family had another toddler named Nina. Simpson was not with the team in San Antonio in order to be with his wife, but he will likely join the team in Kingston for the club's game versus Harbour View on Wednesday (8 p.m. EST, Fox Soccer Channel, Fox Spores en Español).
