Houston Dynamo increased their lead over FC Dallas in the Western Conference, but it was not by the three points they wanted Saturday night. Houston struggled to get anything going offensively out of the gate, before getting a late goal to salvage a tie against the Columbus Crew at Robertson Stadium.
After the game, the frustration was evident in the Dynamo locker room.
"I don't think we started off too well," said Dynamo midfielder Ricardo Clark. "Obviously, they got the first goal. We could have done a lot of things to sharpen up our game. I think overall communication, passing, finishing wasn't going our way today. Even though we got the tie, which is a decent result, it feels like a loss. It feels like we should have gotten the win."
The Crew put Houston down 1-0 with a goal by former Dynamo forward Alejandro Moreno in the 17th minute. After Guillermo Barros Schelotto went through two Houston defenders and drew the attention of a third defender, Moreno was left open right in the center of the box. Schelotto crossed it to Moreno, who fired first-time inside the left post for the lead.
After Marcos Gonzalez was sent off for a second caution within six minutes near the end of the first half, Houston took a man advantage and finally capitalized in the 79th minute when Nate Jaqua stabbed a rebound of a saved Joseph Ngwenya shot into the net. Ngwenya took a shot from the right side of the area that Columbus goalkeeper Will Hesmer blocked, but Jaqua was at the front of the six-yard box to knock it home.
"It was a right place, right time goal," Jaqua said. "Give Joseph all the credit for doing all the work and getting a good shot. The 'keeper was able to get a hand on it, but he wasn't able to catch it. I was able to get a shot and put it in the back of the net."
But that was the lone goal of the game for the Orange, which left some of the players beating themselves up.
"I had three clear chances I wish I could have put away," Ngwenya said. "I think I need to get back to training and start being serious again. I need to start putting away chances again. I think I was a bit too relaxed.
"We started out a little slow, but we came on strong near the end of the half. We started the second half on top of them, but we couldn't put the ball in the back of the net."
The Orange were missing a good number of players as forwards Brian Ching and Paul Dalglish and midfielders Brad Davis and Stuart Holden were out due to injury. Defender Eddie Robinson was suspended for Saturday's game to yellow-card accumulation, and defender Craig Waibel was available as a substitute, but he didn't play either, missing his second consecutive game due to an abdominal injury.
"It's a long season, especially with SuperLiga and the Open Cup," Clark said. "We played a lot of preseason matches. It takes its toll on the body. I think that's why you see so many guys out right now. Hopefully, everybody is recovering as fast as we can, and I hope we get them back for the playoffs, which we still haven't clinched yet, but I think that's our main focus.
The injuries might have been part of the reason for the slow start, as Houston didn't get their first shot until 30 minutes into the game. Yet Dyanmo head coach Dominic Kinnear wouldn't use injuries and lack of depth as an excuse as he wanted the three points.
"The positive was that we came back and took advantage of the man advantage," Kinnear said. "We scored on one of those opportunities. We defended well. We swatted balls and blocked chances. We missed some chances.
"We didn't start the game very well, and that was evident by the scoreboard at halftime. We kind of regrouped and played a little better in the second half. It helps when you play a man up the second half. It was a frustrating night. We didn't play particularly great. We came out with a point, which is better than nothing. We would have preferred to have three."
Jeremy Rakes is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
