After a scoreless night at The Home Depot Center, the mood inside the Houston Dynamo locker room was one of disappointment and frustration.
While Chivas USA loudly celebrated their first-place Western Conference finish in their locker room, Dynamo players and coaches down the hall were left trying to look ahead to their first-round playoff series against intrastate rival FC Dallas.
Despite playing with a man advantage for the final 50 minutes of the match, Dynamo were unable to convert any of their scoring opportunities and instead saw the top seed in the conference -- and guaranteed home-field advantage throughout the playoffs -- fall into the hands of Chivas.
"It would have been nice to finish in the top spot," said Dynamo coach Dominic Kinnear. "But it was one of those nights where balls were getting stuck between people's feet, we were hitting balls over the top, and we rushed our chances -- probably because guys were looking at the clock."
After Chivas midfielder Lawson Vaughn was sent off in the 40th minute for a dangerous tackle on Richard Mulrooney, the home side bunkered in, knowing full well that they only needed to earn a draw in order to claim the top spot in the West.
"Getting a man sent off takes away the fluidity of the game, it makes them defend more," said Kinnear.
Added Dwayne De Rosario: "Chivas did a good job of conserving the tie. We went out to win and they went out to get a point."
Dynamo pushed numbers forward in an attempt to pressure the Chivas defense and were able to get the ball wide on several occasions and play dangerous crosses into the Chivas area.
The most dangerous of the goal-scoring opportunities came midway through the second half when Brian Ching was left unmarked inside the penalty area as a ball was played into him. Ching, however, sent his point-blank header over the crossbar.
"They defended well but I missed my opportunities," said Ching. "I should have put them away. I just wasn't able to finish, but that's the way it goes."
On the defensive side of the ball, Dynamo held Chivas to few opportunities, as they have against opponents throughout the year en route to allowing a league-low 23 goals all season.
The defense performed well even without the two center backs -- Eddie Robinson and Ryan Cochrane -- who both sat out with yellow card accumulation.
Heading into their playoff match with FC Dallas, though, Dynamo will be able to count on the services of the two key defenders.
"It'll help to get Robinson and Cochrane back," Kinnear said. "We were the best defensive team in the league this year and we were very strong in the middle because of those two."
In looking ahead to Houston's playoff opponent, Kinnear expects a difficult series though Dynamo beat FC Dallas three times and tied once during the season.
"[Regular season results] go out the window and everyone starts from square one," he said. "It's going to be a difficult series and we're going to have to be on our game to come through this."
Although Dynamo players did not want to look past a difficult conference semifinal series, they were left wondering whether they would see Chivas again in the playoffs.
"This game could well be a preview of the Western Conference final," said De Rosario. "Things didn't fall our way tonight but now we've played here, we know what the atmosphere is like and we know what they're like playing at home and we know how to adjust if it comes down to playing them here again."
Colin Walsh is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
