BY JONATHAN VERA
CARSON, Calif. – The Houston Dynamo came into the Home Depot Center in hopes starting the season as strong as they ended last year, but keeper Dan Kennedy and company held them off for 90 minutes before Canadian defender Andre Hainault helped the visiting Dynamo snatch three points late.
Hainault's stoppage-time winner helped give Houston a 1-0 victory at Home Depot Center on Sunday on a day when the defending Eastern Conference Champs created plenty of opportunities throughout the entire match. So many, in fact, the Head Coach Dominic Kinnear was surprised the final score was a mere 1-0 victory for his side.
“We created some good chances, but we could have scored more than the 1-0,” Kinnear said.
“We made this a little bit more difficult than we should have,” said Dynamo forward Brian Ching. “We created a lot more opportunities than they did. We should have put them away a little bit sooner; we shouldn’t have had to wait till the 90th minute to make it exciting.”
Scoring goals is always the most exciting aspect of any soccer game. Though in this clash, Kennedy’s performance in front of the net made it quite a spectacle to witness. So much so that Kinnear had nothing but praise of the Chivas’ number one.
“I thought he had a good game today,” said Kinnear. “His save on Will Bruin was brave. I’m actually a fan of Dan Kennedy; I think he’s a good goalkeeper. He came out, throw some angles down and made it easier for himself and his shot stopping was really good.”
Despite the praise and performance, Kennedy was still distraught in the disappointing outcome of the game, but managed to acknowledge that the opposition was a really good team.
“They were in the MLS Cup final last year, right?” said Kennedy. “They’re one of the better teams in the league, obviously. They’re organized; we know they’re dangerous in set pieces. We battled them for literally 90 minutes and we did not deserve to lose that game, a tie would have been a fair result.”