Houston Dynamo 0, New England Revolution 2 | 2018 MLS Match Recap

The New England Revolution added to their early season run of results, as well as to the Houston Dynamo's current woes, winning 2-0 in a Saturday night tilt at BBVA Compass Stadium.


Early in the match, the Dynamo looked as they might dominate the match, winning six corners in the first ten minutes to the Revolution's zero. But in the 15th minute, the Revolution sprung a counter attack, and Teal Bunbury buried a shot from close range to give New England a goal against the run of play. It went from bad to worse for the home side in the 37th minute when DaMarcus Beasley, beat on a 1-on-1 situation against Cristian Penilla, made a goal-saving, but red-card-worthy foul. That left the Dynamo down to 10 men. 


In a second half flush with chances but short on scoring, Penilla scored the only goal with a 71st-minute strike to double the Revolution's advantage.


Goals


  • 15' – NE – Teal Bunbury Watch
  • 71' – NE – Cristian Penilla Watch


Three Things


THE BIG PICTURE:
 Houston no longer has the look of home invincibility about them as they had in 2017 — they've just secured one point in their last three matches, including two home games, after looking so good against Atlanta in their season opener. The Revolution, meanwhile, have followed up two home results with a road win (following their season-opening loss) to put them in the playoff mix.

  • MOMENT OF THE MATCH: The first goal came on an amazing counter-attack, particularly from Penilla, who started the break by pouncing on a Darwin Ceren giveaway, flew down the right flank, and delivered the perfectly-weighted assist to Bunbury. What started as one in a series of Dynamo goal-scoring threats completely changed the tenor of the match.

  • MAN OF THE MATCH: Even before Penilla scored the match's second goal to seal the win, he was having a phenomenal game, engineering the counter-attack that led to the first goal, and drawing the foul that further deflated the Dynamo's chances.

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