The bounces did not go the way of the Houston Dynamo Sunday night and not just because of the turf at Century Link Field.
In a relatively even game, it came down to chances. The Seattle Sounders converted theirs, and Houston didn’t.
It left the Dynamo to lament another loss, a 2-0 decision against the Sounders, a week after getting back in the win column following an eight-game winless streak.
“Made a couple of mistakes and a little bit of luck goes their way and there you have it,” head coach Dominic Kinnear told the media after the game. “I thought it was a pretty even game, thought we looked real good in the first half, but they came out with a good push of energy in the second half. Thought we looked good and it takes a little deflection and the momentum swings their way.”
Kinnear’s team controlled the first half and had the two best chances with a penalty kick by Brad Davis and a free header by Ricardo Clark. Those chances went by the wayside.
Davis tried a stutter step on his PK attempt that Seattle goalkeeper Stefan Frei gobbled up with a diving save. Houston have converted just two of their five penalties this season. Soon after that, Clark got loose on a corner kick but his header sailed over the crossbar.
“You look at tonight, we have an opportunity with the penalty I missed in the first half, I had the opportunity to put my team up 1-0,” Davis told the media. “We’re playing well, we’re getting good opportunities on the road and it’s just things like that. It’s not like we were played off the park by any means. It was a wide-open game; we were just unable to take our chances.”
Seattle didn’t miss with theirs. Marco Pappa got a helpful bounce off David Horst in the 69th minute for a goal, and Gonzalo Pineda converted his penalty kick. Houston goalkeeper Tally Hall also guessed right, but Pineda’s shot up the middle snuck under his gloves.
“No, I think I was going to save it before the deflection,” Hall said of Pappa’s goal. “It changes direction, it’s difficult. … And then the penalty comes, and it hits the wrong part of my knee and bounces in. Game of inches changes everything.”
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Those inches worked against Houston in a game that was there for a result. When asked if there were any positives from the night Kinnear found it hard to get past the score line and summarized the night well.
“When you lose two-nothing, no,” he said. “I thought we played well, but that only gets you so far.”
Darrell Lovell covers the Houston Dynamo for MLSsoccer.com.
