Houston Dynamo started off their five-game road trip in forgettable fashion.
Against a streaking Real Salt Lake team determined to make the playoffs for the first time in its short history, Dynamo could only score one goal and struggled to come back after a controversial call at the end of the first half in a 3-1 loss on Saturday.
Salt Lake got ahead 1-0 on a goal that appeared to bounce off the crossbar and out. Real's Chris Klein hit the shot from just above the penalty area; the ball bounced down, and hit the artificial surface at Rice-Eccles Stadium near the goal line.
Dynamo were both angered and discouraged when referee Jorge Gonzalez ruled it a goal. Houston coach Dominic Kinnear protested avidly; Dwayne De Rosario was given a yellow card for his arguments. The four officials were escorted off the field by stadium security for halftime.
"It was a bit unlucky for us," Houston defender Kevin Goldthwaite said. "I think it kind of got us down a little bit. We came out the second half trying to get back into it, but didn't get the chances we needed."
Both teams did not play well in the first half. To be sure, Houston struggled with the artificial surface. And even though Real held training sessions on the field, the last time they played full-game speed on the surface was three weeks ago.
It was Real that figured things out after halftime.
"We didn't play well, obviously," Kinnear said. "It's unfortunate to go in 1-0 at halftime. It makes the job a little more difficult. Overall, player to player, as a team, we didn't play well. I don't think we deserved to win the game."
The bright moment for Houston was in the 72nd minute when Adrian Serioux headed home a corner kick from Brad Davis. Davis' corner from the right found Serioux near the far left post; Serioux elevated above the defense to head the ball in, but it only narrowed the score to 2-1. It was Serioux's first goal of his MLS career.
"I wish I could enjoy it with a win," Serioux said. "It's one of those fluke things. Sometimes the luck is on your side, sometimes it isn't. We get opportunities to score and we don't put them away, and they get only a few and they capitalize on them. Hopefully the next game we just smarten up, because three goals against us, that's unlike us."
Douglas Sequeira and Jeff Cunningham also scored for Real, in the 64th and 82nd minutes, respectively. The loss is Houston's third in six games; Dynamo have won only one of their last six.
To be sure, it hurt Houston to play without Brian Ching and Eddie Robinson. Ching is recovery from a right knee injury. Robinson has eight yellow cards on the season, and was forced to sit out the game.
"It's hard to find positives on a night when you lose 3-1," Kinnear said. "I think if we had more of a killer instinct around the goal in the first half, we could have maybe had a different story. But you have to give [Real] credit for playing with confidence."
Peter Richins is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
