The New York Red Bulls earned their second tie in as many games in Los Angeles after playing the reigning MLS Cup champion Houston Dynamo to a 1-1 draw on Tuesday morning. John Wolyniec had the tally for New York and goalkeeper Ronald Waterreus came up huge with a penalty kick save and a stop on the subsequent rebound.
"I thought the guys played pretty well overall," said assistant coach Richie Williams. "We created a lot of chances in the first half, played pretty well defensively and put together a nice build up to lead to our goal."
Wolyniec opened the scoring in the 11th minute after a brilliant sequence of passes. Dema Kovalenko started the push by sending a diagonal ball from the right flank to Dave van den Bergh on the left. Van den Bergh then slipped a pass to an overlapping Todd Dunivant, who one timed a perfectly placed cross into the box which Wolyniec headed past Dynamo 'keeper Zach Wells.
"I've been fortunate to be on the end of some quality service so far this preseason," said Wolyniec. "Todd played a great ball right where it needed to be and I was able to put it away."
Just two minutes later, the Red Bulls almost went up 2-0, when an alert Seth Stammler caught Houston offguard and unleashed a low, hard shot from 35 yards out that caught the right post.
Houston nearly equalized in the 14th, when Brian Mullan made a nice run down the right side and sent in a cross that Paul Daglish headed over the bar.
The Dynamo would level the match in the 21st, when Mullan found Brian Ching with an arcing 20 yard ball from the right side. Ching maneuvered through the Red Bulls defense and got his right foot on it, deflecting the ball past Waterreus.
In the 30th minute, the referee awarded a penalty after Taylor Graham got tangled up with Brad Davis inside the box. Paul Dalglish stepped up and tried to beat Waterreus to his right, but Waterreus read correctly and made a great diving save. The ball bounced back out towards Dalglish who put a diving header back on frame on the rebound, but Waterreus was there again to make the save.
Neither team tested the opposing 'keeper much in the second half, with the Red Bulls having a few chances in the early going, but weren't able to convert.
"We can definitely take some positives from today," said Williams. "There's still a lot of work to be done, but we are pleased with the effort the guys are showing day in and day out."
The Red Bulls are now 3-1-3 in the preseason and will be in action on Friday when they play the University of California Berkeley at 10:00 am PT at the Home Depot Center.
Scoring Summary:
NYRB: John Wolyniec (Todd Dunivant, Dave van den Bergh) 11'
HOU: Brian Ching (Brian Mullan) 21'
Discipline Summary:
HOU: Mullan, Caution, 52'
HOU: Cochrane, Caution, 84'
New York Red Bulls: Ronald Waterreus, Todd Dunivant (Eric Denton 74'), Carlos Mendes (Hugh MacDonald 68'), Taylor Graham (Sal Caccavale 60'), Marvell Wynne, Dave van den Bergh (Ansu Toure 72'), Dema Kovalenko- captain, Sinisa Ubiparapovic, Dane Richards (Joe Vide 77'), John Wolyniec (Jerrod Laventure 65')
Houston Dynamo: Zach Wells (Jordan James 60'), Kevin Goldthwaite (Mike Chabala 60'), Eddie Robinson (Ryan Cochrane 60'), Patrick Ianni, Kelly Gray (Craig Waibel 60'), Brad Davis (Corey Ash 60'), Rico Clark (John Michael Hayden 60?), Alejandro Moreno (Mpho Moloi 60'), Brian Mullan (Nick Hatzke 60'), Paul Dalglish (Chris Wondolowski 46'), Brian Ching (Erik Ustruck 60')
