Dynamo, Pumas battle to shootout draw

and goals -- continued at a remarkable pace.

After Ashe was taken down on a clumsy tackle inside the box by Juarez, Quesada pointed to the spot where Kamara scored his second goal of the half, beating Bernal to his left, as Dynamo regained the lead 3-2 in the 33rd minute.

Kamara nearly had a hat trick seven minutes later, but he put the ball wide of the net from 10 yards out.

The fireworks weren't done though, as the hosts scored twice in the final four minutes of the half. Palencia first equalized when he tapped in a cross from eight yards out and, after Jaqua pushed a header just over the crossbar from six yards out, Dario Veron beat Jaqua to Palencia's free kick from the right side and headed it past Onstad in the second minute of first-half stoppage time.

After seven goals in the opening 45 minutes, halftime did little to slow down the end-to-end action, as just five minutes into the second half, Waibel nodded the ball home to level the score at four. A freekick wasn't cleared, eventually finding its way to Mullan outside the area on the right, and he looped a cross to the far post where Waibel was completely unmarked.

Dynamo coach Dominic Kinnear made a tactical change when Richard Mulrooney replaced Ricardo Clark in the 61st minute. Houston's final substitution came four minutes later when Dwayne De Rosario came on for Cameron.

De Rosario nearly snatched the full points deep into second-half stoppage time, but his rasping drive from well outside the area was punched away by Bernal.

Houston, which played Panama's San Francisco FC to a scoreless draw seven days earlier, returns to MLS action Saturday when the Dynamo face Colorado at Dick's Sporting Goods Park. It's then back to Robertson Stadium to meet San Francisco in the Champions League Oct. 7. Houston is currently tied for second place in Group B with San Francisco, which faces winless CD Luis Firpo of El Salvador Wednesday.

Dylan Butler is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
Houston Dynamo (0-0-2) vs. Pumas UNAM (1-0-2)
September 30, 2008 - Estadio Olimpico Universitario

Scoring Summary:
HOU -- Craig Waibel 1 (Stuart Holden 1) 4
HOU -- Kei Kamara 1 (Corey Ashe 1, Geoff Cameron 1) 16
PUM -- Dante Lopez 1 (Francisco Palencia 1) 19
PUM -- Efrain Juarez 1 (unassisted) 26
HOU -- Kei Kamara 2 (penalty kick) 34
PUM -- Francisco Palencia 1 (Fernando Morales 1) 41
PUM -- Dario Veron 1 (Ismael Iniguez 1) 47+
HOU -- Craig Waibel 2 (Brian Mullan 1) 50

Houston Dynamo -- Pat Onstad, Craig Waibel, Bobby Boswell, Eddie Robinson, Wade Barrett, Geoff Cameron (Dwayne De Rosario 65), Ricardo Clark (Richard Mulrooney 61), Stuart Holden (Brian Mullan 23), Corey Ashe, Nate Jaqua, Kei Kamara.

Substitutes Not Used: Tony Caig, Patrick Ianni, Mike Chabala, Chris Wondolowski.

Pumas UNAM -- Sergio Bernal, Efrain Juarez, Humberto Gonzalez, Dario Veron (Marco Antonio Palacios 50), Efrain Velarde, Ismael Iniguez, Israel Castro, Jehu Chiapas, Fernando Morales, Francisco Palencia (Martin Bravo 77), Dante Lopez (Juan Carlos Cacho 64).

Substitutes Not Used: Odin Patino, David Cabrera, Fernando Espinoza, David Toledo.

Misconduct Summary:
HOU -- Eddie Robinson (caution; Reckless Tackle) 26

gameSumLabel">referee: Walter Quesada (CRC)
gameSumLabel">Referee's Assistants: Leonel Leal (CRC); Edgar Mora (CRC)
gameSumLabel">4th official: Jorge Gasso (MEX)
gameSumLabel">attendance: 25,000
weather: Clear -and- 64 degrees

All statistics contained in this boxscore are unofficial