photo by Troy Taormina/USA Today Sports
By FRANCO PANIZO
The Houston Dynamo are no strangers to turning things up a notch late in the season, and they will surely be hoping that Saturday was the start of their latest impressive run.
Ricardo Clark and Raul Rodriguez scored on each side of halftime to help the Dynamo blank a nine-man Vancouver Whitecaps side, 2-0, at BBVA Compass Stadium in Houston on Saturday night. Vancouver was already trailing when it lost Kendall Waston and Matias Laba to second yellow cards in an eight-minute span in the second half.
Waston was sent off for chopping down Giles Barnes near the sideline on a 56th-minute counterattack, and Laba joined his teammate for an early shower after kicking Sheanon Williams near midfield.
The Dynamo were holding a 1-0 lead when those ejections happened thanks to a sliding finish from Clark in the 34th minute, but they did not put the game out of reach for the Whitecaps until Rodriguez headed home a Brad Davis corner three minutes before the final whistle.
It was not all good news for Houston on Saturday, however. The club lost starting left back and U.S. Men’s National Team veteran DaMarcus Beasley to an injury in the first half, and had to replace him in the 24th minute.
What do you think about the Dynamo’s 2-0 win over the Whitecaps? See Houston making another strong late-season run en route to landing a playoff spot this year? How do you expect Vancouver to respond to this defeat?
Share your thoughts below.
Portland and Dallas have a rough schedule ahead of them. I was hoping the Dynamo would capitalize on it but I think Dominic Kinnear is going to do what he always does and have the quakes squeeze in.
In a way this win makes the blown lead in Portland and the loss to Colorado sting even more.
In the east? Sure
In the west? No dice.
Why in both professional sports that have EC vs WC (NBA and MLS) does the Eastern conference have to suck so bad?
I think they would have if they beat a weak Colorado team and held a 2-0 lead against Portland. A little too late for a run. Maybe next year when they can be more consistent.