Houston Dynamo cruised into the final of the Pan-Pacific Championship with a 3-0 victory against Sydney FC in Wednesday night's second semifinal at Aloha Stadium.
Dynamo struck three times in the first half and closed out the Hyundai A-League side to keep alive hopes for a tournament champion from Major League Soccer.
Dwayne De Rosario, the 2007 MLS Cup MVP, opened the scoring after 27 minutes with a fierce strike from 25 yards out which evaded goalkeeper Clint Bolton.
Stuart Holden added a second just a minute later and Chris Wondolowski rounded off the scoring with a low shot two minutes before halftime.
Hawaiian hero Brian Ching was unable to get on the scoresheet but helped to set up the first and third goals.
"It was fantastic for me to be able to play in front of my home crowd," he said. "For us to get the win and produce a good performance was even better.
"Hopefully I am saving my goals for the final and we can go on and lift the trophy on Saturday."
Ching was replaced by Geoff Cameron after 64 minutes as coach Dominic Kinnear implemented changes to keep his side fresh.
Sydney coach John Kosmina was philosophical after his team's defeat, which means it will play the Los Angeles Galaxy for third place on Saturday.
"Houston has got some clever players," said Kosmina. "Houston has got a lot to play for and we are on the way down after our season. We were a bit off the pace in the first half."
Houston Dynamo vs. Sydney FC
Aloha Stadium, Honolulu, Hawaii
Scoring Summary:
HOU -- Dwayne De Rosario 27
HOU -- Stuart Holden 28
HOU -- Chris Wondolowski 43
Houston Dynamo: 18-Pat Onstad, 4-Patrick Ianni, 8-Richard Mulrooney, 24-Wade Barrett, 32-Bobby Boswell, 13-Ricardo Clark (17-Mike Chabala 84), 14-Dwayne De Rosario (11-Brad Davis 58), 22-Stuart Holden (6-Eric Ustruck 84), 26-Corey Ashe, 7-Chris Wondolowski, 25-Brian Ching (20-Geoff Cameron 64). Substitutes not used: 30-Corbin Waller, 16-Craig Waibel, 19-John Michael Hayden
GOAL ATTEMPTS: 12; SAVES 4; FOULS 7; CORNERS 4; OFFSIDE 1
Sydney FC: 1-Clint Bolton (20-Ivan Necevski 46), 2-Iain Fyfe, 5-Ryan Walsh, 6-Tony Popovic (17-Jacob Timpano 73), 26-Brendan Renaud, 10-Steve Corica (21-Adam Biddle 64), 14-Alex Brosque, 15-Terry McFlynn, 29-Mark Robertson, 11-Brendon Santalab (12-Patrick 73), 13-Benjamin Vidaic (3-Nikolas Tsattalios 64).
GOAL ATTEMPTS: 10; SAVES 2; FOULS 13; CORNERS 2; OFFSIDE 5
Misconduct Summary
HOU -- Patrick Ianni (caution) 77
SYD -- Brendon Santalab (caution) 49
SYD -- Ryan Walsh (caution) 60
Referee: Alex Prus
Referee's Assistants: Chris Strickland, Anthony Vasoli
Fourth official: Kevin Stott
Attendance: 15,128
