and the first road victory of their history.
Despite Houston's domination of the first half, Real capitalized on an error to take the lead. A pass back escaped center back Eddie Robinson and Jeff Cunningham quickly raced onto it, carrying into the penalty area before hitting a bouncing shot that beat Pat Onstad inside his right-hand post (57).
But it took Dynamo just three minutes to equalize. Brad Davis whipped in a corner kick from the right, and Craig Waibel shook his marker and rose up alone at the top of the goal area to powerfully head home.
Then six minutes from time Houston hit for the winner. A long ball from midfield from Robinson was chested down by Brian Ching to De Rosario in full stride, and he thundered into the area before coolly slotting home under the dive of Scott Garlick to return Dynamo to their winning ways at home.
Real head coach John Ellinger made one change to the team that came back to claim a 1-1 draw with the New York Red Bulls the weekend before. Jason Kreis made his first start of 2006, coming into an attacking midfield role as Chris Brown was dropped, Ellinger going with three in the back.
Here's Ellinger's team (3-4-1-2): Scott Garlick - Carey Talley, Eddie Pope, Daniel Torres - Chris Klein, Kenny Cutler, Douglas Sequeira, Mehdi Ballouchy (Atiba Harris 46) - Jason Kreis - Andy Williams (Ryan Johnson 74), Jeff Cunningham. [Substitutes Not Used: Nelson Akwari, Chris Brown, Christian Jimenez, Jay Nolly, Kevin Novak]
"It sounds like a broken record, but you feel like the effort is there and you look in our locker and you feel the guys are there, but at the end of the day the results aren't there, and we're not seeing fruits for our labor," said Chris Klein to the Deseret Morning News.TEAM NEWS
Jason Kreis hit a remarkable free kick that nearly gave Real the lead in the 70th minute. It cleanly beat Pat Onstad, thundered off the inside of the right post, bounded across the goal line and hit the inside of the left post, somehow staying out of the goal until Ricardo Clark could clear the line.
"Honestly, it might have been the best free kick I've ever hit," he said. "To have it not go in is obviously very disappointing, because nobody will ever remember it."
At halftime, Ellinger brought Atiba Harris off the bench to partner Jeff Cunningham in attack, moving Andy Williams to the wide right-sided midfield role. "It wasn't that Mehdi [Ballouchy] was playing bad, we just needed something different," said Ellinger. "(Mehdi's) playing against Brian Mullan, and I just trust Andy's experience more than I trust Mehdi."
Harris had started in attack in the first match. "I'm going to get my opportunities. I'm still young. I'm still in the developmental process," said Harris to the Deseret Morning News. "I'm just trying my best to help the team. Hopefully I'll be here for many years."
Real is still looking for a victory in what must seem like forever. Their last win came Aug. 6 of last year, a 2-1 victory against Chivas USA; since, they've managed just two draws in 16 games. They've even gotten off to a worse start this year than last; the club's inaugural victory came in their third-ever game a year ago.
"Seriously, I don't know," forward Andy Williams said to The Salt Lake Tribune. "The effort was there again. We played well again ... and deserved at least a point. I don't know. It's tough being in this position."LOS ANGELES GALAXY
The Los Angeles Galaxy saw their winless skein in home games continue, a stoppage-time goal giving the Columbus Crew a heart-wrenching 1-0 victory on Saturday evening at The Home Depot Center. The Galaxy now have four points from three matches, tied for third with the Colorado Rapids, two points behind second-place Houston Dynamo and four adrift of pace-setting FC Dallas.
LAST MATCH
Sigi Schmid returned to Southern California for the first time as coach of the Crew, still looking for their first victory on the year after two losses and a draw in their first three games. The Galaxy came into the match winless on the season in home matches - though their one victory did come in Carson, as the "away" team in the Chivas USA derby.
As has been the case for both teams all season, goals weren't seemingly coming. Just when it looked as if the game would drift to a scoreless draw, Eddie Gaven put a cross into the six-yard box that Kevin Hartman couldn't catch, and Kyle Martino latched onto the ball and drove it past a pair of Galaxy defenders on the line for the winner.
Galaxy boss Steve Sampson made one change to the team that came back to defeat Chivas USA 2-1 at The Home Depot Center the previous weekend. Troy Roberts came into central defense for Tyrone Marshall, who was unavailable after suffering a knee sprain.
Here's Sampson's team (4-3-2-1): Kevin Hartman - Chris Albright, Ugo Ihemelu, Troy Roberts, Todd Dunivant - Paulo Nagamura (Herculez Gomez 66), Peter Vagenas, Ned Grabavoy (Michael Enfield 89) - Cobi Jones (Josh Gardner 75), Landon Donovan - Cornell Glen. [Substitutes Not Used: Steve Cronin, Brian Dunseth, Marcelo Saragosa, Nathan Sturgis]
"We didn't finish our chances, that was the bottom line. It seems to be a recurring theme; we need to finish our chances in front of the goal. If we do that it is a whole different story," Sampson said. "It is inexcusable to lose the way we did in the last minute of the game. It is not only about creating chances, but finishing chances. We can't win games if we don't score goals."TEAM NEWS
The Galaxy began the season with three "home" games in their first four matches - even their "road" game was at home, the Super Clásico against Chivas USA. The Galaxy managed just two points from their three home games and needed a remarkable comeback to claim the full three points against Chivas USA - the Galaxy now hit the road for three consecutive matches, where they had failed to win more than a year until last Aug. 20.
"No question it is a lost opportunity. Now we have to go on the road and we know how difficult that is, but this is a team that can do that and win," Sampson said. "I think we are very close to being very good, but that small measure comes in the way of scoring goals and we need to get better doing that. The only way we are going to recover from this is do well in training and go to Salt Lake and get a result there."
Cornell Glen has been preferred to Herculez Gomez at striker the last two matches, Glen getting the two late goals against Chivas after Gomez failed to score in the opening two games on the season.
"What are you going to do? I know I was good last season and that nothing is guaranteed this season,'' Gomez said. ''I want to keep my head up and when I find a chance, I will find the back of the net." Said Sampson: "We have not given up on Herculez. We're waiting for him to find his way and he will find his way."
The Galaxy have allowed just four goals in four matches on the season. Still, the manner of how those have been conceded is still an issue.
"Again we're giving up free kicks at the end of a game. We were able to win in extra time last week, this week we took a loss," said Hartman. "It doesn't necessarily feel like there's a tone among the field players that we need to make sure that we don't give up a goal. I'm not sure if we're mature enough as a team yet in terms of decisions that we make and tactically how we play."
The Galaxy have managed just three goals in four games and have been shutout twice already at home. Teams have come in and played the Galaxy tough, and have forced them out of their comfort zone, making the L.A. attack one dimensional and ineffective.
"Something's got to change. No rival that we come against should expect us to play the same way," said Sampson. "We're going to have to do things differently to get the kind of results that we need. I will not stop until I find the solution."
Sampson also indicated there could be more changes coming to his first team. He did make just one change for the Columbus match from the team that came back to defeat Chivas USA - that one caused by injury to Tyrone Marshall.
"(The starting lineup) is undefined and the reason it's undefined is because right now we're not playing the kind of soccer we want to play," said Sampson. "Even when we find that starting 11, the next thing will be can they do it consistently?"
