Missed opportunities forced Houston Dynamo to miss out on their first-ever final on Wednesday.
Dynamo missed several scoring chances against the Los Angeles Galaxy -- none clearer than Dwayne De Rosario's botched penalty kick at the stroke of halftime -- and Dynamo went on to lose 3-1 to the Galaxy in a Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup semifinal at The Home Depot Center.
The Galaxy advanced to the Open Cup Final scheduled for Sept. 27 at Toyota Park against Chicago.
Their Open Cup hopes dashed, Dynamo now will focus on reaching the Major League Soccer playoffs.
"The guys are disappointed but I think come Friday it's time to focus on Sunday," Dynamo coach Dominic Kinnear said. "The quicker we forget about this the better we are."
Dynamo will play the Galaxy here in a regular-season match on Sunday. The Galaxy trail Dynamo by four points in the Western Conference table and if Wednesday was any indication, the two teams will play contest another physical battle.
Dynamo generated offense Wednesday but could not put the necessary finishing touch on several scoring opportunities. In the 25th minute, Alejandro Moreno sent a cross into the penalty area. Chris Wondolowski was unmarked and had the right side of the net open but headed the shot wide.
The Galaxy took the lead in the 44th minute when Landon Donovan scored on a free kick from 22 yards out that froze Dynamo keeper Pat Onstad. However, Dynamo received a penalty kick when Galaxy defender Ugo Ihemelu tripped Moreno inside the penalty area in stoppage time.
De Rosario took the spot kick, but Galaxy goalkeeper Kevin Hartman stopped the shot.
Kinnear said he told the team not to fret too much about the missed chances.
"That happens. Don't be upset about missing chances because that's just lack of execution," Kinnear said. "On the other hand, that's the troubling part is the soft goals we're letting in."
With such an enormous swing between Donovan's goal, Ihemelu's foul and De Rosario's missed penalty kick, Dynamo could have lost hope at halftime.
Nevertheless, the club came out confident.
"We still had 45 minutes to go and I felt that we were creating enough chances that we were good enough for a goal. Missing chances is lack of execution. Losing some of the goals that we did is absolute mental breakdowns," Kinnear said. "We were good enough around the goal tonight. It was just a lack of execution in front of the goal let them keep going and made us keep chasing."
De Rosario scored Dynamo's only goal in the 12th minute when he unleashed a rocket from the left side of the field that found its way past Hartman and over the goal line. The goal canceled out Alan Gordon's sixth-minute goal but was not enough to propel Dynamo past the Galaxy.
The loss stings but what's most important is to make sure it does not happen again in four days, Kinnear said.
"We're not in the Final now but there is a game on Sunday," Kinnear said. "You'd like to be in the locker room, happy, and talk about how we're going to Chicago for the Open Cup Final. But now our focus is on Sunday. It didn't happen tonight but we've got to make sure it happens on Sunday."
Luis Bueno is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
