this time from a corner kick -- provided the set-up, Eddie Robinson thumping a header home to hand the Galaxy their sixth consecutive defeat.
The teams played to a scoreless draw on Victoria Street on June 24, the Galaxy seeing their winless streak reach 10 games while Dynamo played to a fourth consecutive road draw.
It was the first meeting for Galaxy head coach Frank Yallop against long-time assistant Dominic Kinnear and the group that once played for him in San Jose. Each welcomed back World Cup performers to their lineup: Chris Albright starting at right back for the Galaxy, while Brian Ching started up top for Houston.
While Ching wasn't able to add to his goalscoring total -- a Kevin Hartman save of his bullet header in the first half was the best chance of the entire evening -- Albright saw his night end early. But it was for the best of reasons: Albright left the game to attend to his wife Leah, who went into labor with the couple's first child.
It was Dynamo's first trip to Carson since the shift of the San Jose Earthquakes during the offseason, and a couple of hundred fans made the trip down from northern California, taking over a corner of the stadium and wearing Quakes blue to cheer on the Houston side.
Here's Yallop's team (4-4-2): Kevin Hartman - Chris Albright (Troy Roberts 62), Ugo Ihemelu, Tyrone Marshall, Nathan Sturgis - Quavas Kirk (Cobi Jones 62), Paulo Nagamura, Marcelo Saragosa, Josh Gardner - John Wolyniec (Peter Vagenas 74), Herculez Gomez. [Substitutes Not Used: Benjamin Benditson, Steve Cronin, Michael Enfield, Alan Gordon]
Here's Kinnear's team (4-3-1-2): Pat Onstad - Craig Waibel (Kelly Gray 76), Ryan Cochrane (Patrick Ianni 89), Eddie Robinson, Kevin Goldthwaite - Brian Mullan, Ricardo Clark, Wade Barrett - Dwayne De Rosario - Alejandro Moreno (Ronald Cerritos 85), Brian Ching. [Substitutes Not Used: Chris Aloisi, Stuart Holden, Zach Wells, Chris Wondolowski]
HOUSTON DYNAMO
Houston Dynamo drew for the second consecutive match at home, coming back to claim a 1-1 tie with the New York Red Bulls and surviving the final 20 minutes a man down on July 29 at Robertson Stadium. Dynamo are still in second place in the Western Conference with 32 points from 20 matches, seven behind pace-setting FC Dallas, and now four points ahead of the Colorado Rapids in third place.
LAST MATCH
Dynamo came into the game off their first loss since May 20, a 1-0 loss away to Colorado that put an end to a 10-match unbeaten run. The Red Bulls entered riding a three-game winning streak that answered a three-game losing streak and had moved them from sixth to third in the Eastern Conference.
The game burst into life midway through the second half. In the 67th minute the Red Bulls found a spark of genius. Amado Guevara connected with Chris Henderson behind Dynamo's back line, and from the corner of the goal area Henderson beat Onstad low and inside the far post for the opener.
Dynamo's reaction was immediate. After a counterattack by the home side, O'Rourke fouled Ricardo Clark from behind as he raced into the area, before Clark was able to get off a shot. Referee Tim Weyland didn't hesitate and pointed to the penalty spot.
Dwayne De Rosario stepped straight into the shot and knocked it to Conway's left, leaving the goalkeeper no chance for the equalizer. It was the first goal allowed by the Red Bulls in 397 minutes, since a 2-1 loss to FC Dallas on July 8.
A minute later the teams were left a man down each after De Rosario and O'Rourke were sent off after they engaged in a scuffle; O'Rourke had already been shown a yellow card, while for De Rosario it was a straight red. But neither side was able to find anything else afterwards.
Dynamo head coach Dominic Kinnear made one change to the team that lost 1-0 to the Colorado Rapids at midweek. Wade Barrett returned from suspension and came back in at his usual left back post, replacing Kelly Gray in the team.
Here's Kinnear's team (4-3-1-2): Pat Onstad - Craig Waibel, Ryan Cochrane (Adrian Serioux 79), Eddie Robinson, Wade Barrett - Brian Mullan, Ricardo Clark, Brad Davis (Stuart Holden 83) - Dwayne De Rosario - Brian Ching, Alejandro Moreno. [Substitutes Not Used: Ronald Cerritos, Kevin Goldthwaite, Kelly Gray, Zach Wells, Chris Wondolowski]
"After the red cards we went to three defenders in the back and they switched to four in the back, so it was one team trying to win the game and one team trying to hold on," Kinnear said.
TEAM NEWS
While Dynamo are still holding on to second place in the West, they've now tied eight games this season, one fewer than the MLS high held by Chivas, New England and New York.
"I feel sick to my stomach (and) I know the guys do, too," Kinnear said. "The chances we created were enough to win the game. We're not finishing off our chances and it's not because of lack of effort." Said Eddie Robinson: "We're frustrated. It's now two games in a row that we have played the other team out of the park but things just don't fall in our favor."
It was also a second consecutive draw at home, and a second match in a row where the visitors scored first but Houston responded just three minutes later.
"We are 8-4-8, but I think that the way we are playing it's like how many games can you play that we aren't coming out on top when you are doing everything to win the game?" Kinnear said. Added Brian Ching: "It is really frustrating when we dominate the play for almost the entire game and it takes them scoring on us to give us that real sense of urgency."
The following Tuesday, Dynamo advanced to the fourth round of the U.S. Open Cup with a 4-2 victory against the Carolina Dynamo of the PDL (fourth tier). Alejandro Moreno scored a pair of goals four minutes apart in the first half, then when Ronald Cerritos made it 3-0 on 58 minutes, the match seemed over. But Wells Thompson and Randi Patterson scored 10 minutes apart to pull the Carolina Dynamo within one, but Eddie Robinson headed home eight minutes from time to put the game away.
Here's Kinnear's team: Zach Wells, Kelly Gray, Eddie Robinson, Adrian Serioux (Chris Aloisi 85), Wade Barrett, Brian Mullan, Ricardo Clark (Patrick Ianni 85), Brad Davis (Dwayne De Rosario 46), Stuart Holden, Ronald Cerritos (Chris Wondolowski 60), Alejandro Moreno. [Substitutes Not Used: Brian Ching, Kevin Goldthwaite, Pat Onstad]
LOS ANGELES GALAXY
The Los Angeles Galaxy return to league action for the first time since July 22, when they came away from Columbus with a 1-1 draw against the Crew. The Galaxy are now tied for fifth place in the Western Conference with 20 points from 20 matches, level with Real Salt Lake as both clubs sit seven points behind fourth-place Chivas USA and the final place in the MLS Cup Playoffs.
LAST MATCH
The Galaxy came into the game riding a five-game unbeaten streak -- and a shutout streak that was at better than 8 1/2 hours -- while the Crew hadn't won in nine games.
The teams traded goals in the opening quarter-hour. Columbus put an end to the Galaxy's shutout run after just nine minutes with a well-worked goal. Jacob Thomas ran onto a big ball over the top from Ryan Coiner, and he drove in a cross from the right corner that Eddie Gaven dove in to head home from close range. It was the Galaxy's first goal allowed since June 17, a span of 520 minutes.
The visitors pulled even just six minutes later however. A corner wasn't fully cleared, falling to Josh Gardner just beyond the area. He brought the ball down and laid it square to Peter Vagenas, whose first-time left-footed took a deflection off Chris Leitch and looped over Bill Gaudette. Gaudette was the Crew's fifth goalkeeper of the season, tying an MLS record set in 1998 by the Miami Fusion.
Galaxy head coach Frank Yallop made two changes to the team that played to a scoreless draw with Chivas USA a week earlier at The Home Depot Center. With Tyrone Marshall and Chris Albright suspended, Troy Robers and Benjamin Benditson came into the team, for Benditson his first MLS start.
Here's Yallop's team (4-4-2): Kevin Hartman - Benjamin Benditson (Kyle Veris 85), Ugo Ihemelu, Troy Roberts, Nathan Sturgis - Quavas Kirk, Paulo Nagamura (Kyle Martino 66), Peter Vagenas, Josh Gardner (Cobi Jones 58) - Herculez Gomez, Landon Donovan. [Substitutes Not Used: Steve Cronin, Michael Enfield, Alan Gordon, John Wolyniec]
"We got a tie out of it. We could have scored more than one goal. It was a bit of a scrappy game, it wasn't really pretty, especially in the second half. I think a draw was a fair result for both teams," Yallop said. " ... I think we've come to a point now where we're kind of disappointed if we can only get a point. We are sort of building, but we feel we can win every game. We know that we're pretty close to scoring more goals than just one a game."
TEAM NEWS
Despite the feelings and desire to win, Yallop thought it was a fair result for the second of four consecutive away matches. "It was a scrappy game. It wasn't really pretty, especially the second half," he said. "I think a draw was a fair result for both teams."
With Albright and Marshall suspended, Yallop was forced to field a backline that came in with a combined total of 77 MLS regular season appearances. Two were second-year players who saw considerable time in their rookie seasons (Roberts and Ihemelu), while Sturgis is a rookie. Benditson is in his second season, but made just one appearance as a substitute in his first year.
"I have to commend the young lads that came in. A lot of them haven't played in a lot games," said Yallop. "But we have to defend better than we did today."
While the Galaxy have now not lost in six games, it was a second consecutive draw after three wins on the trot. "We are pretty disappointed with the tie. It wasn't our best performance. A positive from today is that we got a point even when we didn't play our best," said Vagenas. "There is room for improvement. I don't think individual players in this room are happy."
In their last competitive match, the Galaxy advanced to the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open Cup, putting an end to the Cinderella run of amateur side Roma FC of Dallas with a 2-0 victory on Aug. 1. Quavas Kirk scored his first professional goal in the first half, then Alan Gordon finished off the game with an opportunistic goal in the second half. The Galaxy will face the Rapids in the final eight, the match to be played at The Home Depot Center on Aug. 23.
"We didn't want to be another MLS side to lose to these guys. (Roma FC) did well to get here," said Gordon. "We knew they had something. They definitely did well against two teams, and we didn't take them for granted, which I think was a plus for us."
