After being reduced to 10-men for the last hour of the match on Saturday at The Home Depot Center, Houston Dynamo battled back to within a goal of Chivas USA late in the second half and were on the verge of being rewarded for their efforts when Dwayne De Rosario was brought down in the penalty area by Jason Hernandez in stoppage time.
Instead of pointing to the penalty spot, however, referee Alex Prus allowed the play to continue. The no call elicited an outcry from Dynamo players and bench and prompted coach Dominic Kinnear to sprint across the field towards the official after the final whistle of his team's 3-2 loss to Chivas USA.
"The excuse I got from the official was comical," Kinnear said of the referee's decision not to call a penalty kick. "He said that (Hernandez) played the ball. With two eyes and decent vision, you know that wasn't the case. I'm not going to hide my displeasure with the performance of (the referee). It took points away from us."
The controversial no-call came after De Rosario raced past two Chivas defenders and into the penalty area. Hernandez chased De Rosario down and took the Canadian international down without touching the ball.
"The referee said (Hernandez) played the ball but he didn't touch the ball, he took my feet out," said De Rosario. "It's sad to see a good game go down like that."
The non-penalty was not the only controversial call of the match.
In the 31st minute, Dynamo midfielder Ricardo Clark was ejected after shoving both Sacha Kljestan and Orlando Perez.
"One of their guys came in my face and I pushed him, he flopped, and the referee fell for it," said Clark. "It was a bad call. The referee had a bad game."
Kinnear, however, expressed disappointment that Chivas' players went unpunished in the incident, particularly after Perez raced to confront Clark.
"When people run at you, you have to defend yourself," he said. "I thought it was a red card for Clark for pushing twice but there was one-way traffic on the cards there. The person who retaliates always gets in trouble."
Clark's sending off put Dynamo in a difficult position for the final hour of the match as they were struggled to fend off the Chivas attack and maintain the 1-1 tie after the sides traded goals in the first 30 minutes.
Ante Razov gave Chivas a 2-1 lead just before halftime, converting a Jonathan Bornstein corner kick.
Then Razov made it 3-1 in the 57th minute before De Rosario pulled Dynamo to within a goal 10 minutes later.
Despite Chivas' man advantage, Dynamo were able to keep the match close and nearly found the chance to equalize in stoppage time.
"I thought my team showed great character in the second half trying to get back in the game especially going down 3-1," said Kinnear. "I feel sick to my stomach for them, because for all their work and all their effort, there should be something earned."
The early stages of the match were a sign of the physical play to come.
De Rosario was on the receiving end of several hard tackles but no cards were shown to Chivas.
"We were told in preseason that tackles from behind would be punished and three were thrown at De Rosario in the first 10 minutes and they were only punished with fouls," said Kinnear.
De Rosario pointed to those first 10 minutes as decisive factors.
"If he would have pulled out a card it would have calmed the game down a little bit but he let it build up to what it did," he said. "There was no balance whatsoever in this game. When you have 12 men against you, including the referee, you can't win no matter what you do."
Dynamo must find a way to put the disappointing loss behind them as the gap between the Western Conference second placeholders and the four teams on their trail shrinks. With the win, Chivas pull to within one point of Dynamo for second place.
The loss also marks a poor start to a five match road trip that will next take Dynamo to Chicago on Wednesday.
"We have to put this behind us and go to Chicago with a positive mindset and get a win," added De Rosario.
Danny Bueno is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
