Houston ended the game with eight players, Arabe Unido with nine -- a draw is just fine, especially after Houston opened the group stage with a 1-0 win against Metapan at Robertson Stadium last week.
"I think it was a hard-fought point," Dynamo goalkeeper Tally Hall said. "It's always difficult to play here, so I think we're coming out with high spirits. We did get a point, and we're looking good in the group. We're disappointed that we gave up a late goal, but happy enough with the result."
With Arabe Unido already down two men, Kei Kamara scored the game's first goal in the 69th minute, collecting a long ball from the back and beating goalkeeper Carlos Bejarano from the top of the 18-yard box.
"It was a good ball from the middle, and when the defender was going up, I kind of knew the ball was going to go over his head, so my thought was to run right past him," Kamara said. "When the ball passed him, I took the first touch and saw the keeper backing up instead of coming out, so I was like, 'I got this,' and I was able to finish it. I thought it was going to take us out with three points, but we were unfortunate at the end."
In a span of five minutes late in the second half, Dynamo had a pair of players sent off as Andrew Hainault was issued his second yellow card and then Stuart Holden was booked twice for dissent in a matter of seconds and was given his marching orders by Trinidadian referee Neal Brizan. Corey Ashe was shown a straight red 10 minutes into the second half.
"It was really crazy," Kamara said. "We kind of expect stuff like that when we come down here. We tend to play kind of physical in the U.S., so when we come over here, they like playing kind of stylish football and not be touched, and that's not how we play. We get in and we hit each other, but they're not used to it, and the referee's not used to it either, so it was rough today with all the cards, and it was a physical game."
Arabe Unido, who share the Group A lead with Houston, struck for the dramatic equalizer as Orlando Rodriguez headed Jose Justavino's cross in the first minute of stoppage time.
The drama wasn't over yet as, with about 90 seconds left in stoppage time, the stadium's floodlights turned off, causing yet another delay.
"It was a difficult environment to play in," Hall said. "I felt the calls didn't exactly go our way, but my guess is they probably feel that happened to them as well. They work very hard on and off the ball, so it was difficult for us to find our rhythm of play."
Next up for Dynamo in the Champions League is a trip to Mexico to take on Pachuca, which lost to Arabe Unido, 4-1 on Matchday 1, on Sept. 16. The lone MLS team to ever earn a draw south of the border, Houston will attempt to be the first Major League Soccer team to win a competitive match in Mexico.
"We come here and we try to take points away, whether it's three or it's one point," Kamara said. "We just don't want to come out here and go back with zero points. We're happy with the point, because we get to host them later at our house. Pachuca came over here and they got pounded, and we came over and were able to get away with 1-1, so that's good, and it's going to be a different result when they come to Robertson Stadium."
Dylan Butler is a contributor to MLSnet.com.
