Houston Dynamo extended their unbeaten streak to four games, defeating Real Salt Lake 2-1 at Robertson Stadium on Saturday night.
The Orange shined in their attacking prowess all night long, from the opening minute. Brian Mullan, in the 36th minute, and Alejandro Moreno, in the 83rd minute, scored the goals that gave Dynamo the victory, while Jason Kreis converted a consolation penalty in the 89th minute.
From the opening whistle Dynamo controlled the midfield, with the central pair of Dwayne De Rosario and Ricardo Clark arming the Houston attacks. They came down both flanks, through Mullan on the right and Wade Barrett on the left, creating a constant danger in the goalmouth for Real Salt Lake goalkeeper Scott Garlick.
De Rosario was particularly active in generating chances, even facing a Real team aligned with four defenders and two mainly defensive central midfielders, that generally soaked up the pressure from the home side. But the Real defense was finally breached in one of those movements when De Rosario was held back by Kenny Cutler in the RSL penalty area and referee Ben Jones had no choice but to whistle for the penalty.
Ronald Cerritos stepped up to take the penalty, but Garlick dove well to his left to push it away. But Mullan came streaking in from the right to reach the rebound first, and he fired it inside the left-hand post to the back of the net to give Dynamo a deserved first-half lead after controlling much of the opening 45 minutes.
In the second half, Dynamo continued with the same attacking bent, but the heat and humidity in Houston meant an inevitable slowing down of the game.
Only a goal ahead, the home side's nerves were settled in the 83rd minute, when it converted a counterattack for the second goal. Mullan was freed on the right, and after lifting his head, saw Alejandro Moreno accompanying him toward the far post. Mullan lifted a bending cross and Moreno, diving in with his right foot lifted, flicked the ball into the goal for the Dynamo second.
Six minutes later, Real were able to pull a goal back after Jones whistled for a second penalty on the night, when Dynamo center back Ryan Cochrane fouled RSL striker Atiba Harris. Kreis converted the resulting spot kick, his fourth goal of the season and the 104th of his MLS career.
Real spent the final few minutes putting Dynamo on their heels, but the home side held out without allowing the equalizing goal to extend their unbeaten streak while sending the visitors to a second consecutive defeat after a club record four-game unbeaten run of their own.
Carlos Mojica is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
