Dynamo take home three points in Minnesota
The Houston Dynamo were back on the road Saturday night taking on Minnesota United. After last week’s loss in Chicago, Houston was looking to regain their winning ways. It wouldn’t be easy at a tough Allianz Field against a Minnesota team that has lost just once this season. It ended up being even harder than maybe thought but Sebastian Kowalczy’s moment of magic gave the Dynamo a 2-1 win.
Minnesota began the game on the front foot but couldn’t find many good chances at goal. The Dynamo wanted to possess the ball, as usual, and slowly found themselves into the game. Erik Sviatchenko made a nice move to free himself on the edge of the box in the 29th minute and find Sebastian Kowalczyk in the box. His shot was tame and right into the arms of Dayne St. Clair.
Just minutes later, Sviatchenko suffered an injury and had to be replaced. Micael, coming back from injury himself, came on for the Danish center back after 33 minutes.
A Houston mistake nearly gift wrapped a goal for Minnesota if not for the heroics of Ethan Bartlow in the 35th minute. Goalkeeper Steve Clark gave the ball away but managed to get a piece of the resulting shot. As the ball rolled goalward, Bartlow tracked back and got his foot on it just at the last moment to clear it off the line. VAR took a quick look but confirmed the ball did not completely cross the line.
Not long later, the Dynamo opened the scoring. A corner kick from Amine Bassi was whipped into the box. Micael surged forward to meet the ball and ducked down to get a head on it. The ball, instead, came off the knee of Minnesota defender Alejandro Bran and into the back of the net. The own goal put Houston in front 1-0 in the 38th minute.
The Dynamo nearly had a second at the end of the half after a nice counter but Artur’s shot was blocked from the top of the box. Houston would take the 1-0 lead into halftime.
The home side came out on the front foot in the second half. Sang Bin fired wide after 54 minutes as the Loons piled on the pressure. San Bing then hit the post in the 60th minute and Michael Boxall smashed the rebound wide.
Minnesota’s pressure would pay off in an equalizer in the 70th minute. A clever bit of play on the right side freed Robin Lod. The ball was then squared toward the penalty spot where substitute Franco Fragapane met it and swept the shot into the side netting.
You might think the Dynamo would try and batten down the hatches to hold onto a road point. They did that, to some extent, but they also have Seba Kowalczyk. Houston forced a giveaway at midfield in the 77th minute and Amine Bassi threaded a ball to Kowalczyk on the run. The Polish attacker megged Hugo Bacharach and then smashed the ball into the back post past a diving St. Clair to regive the Dynamo the lead, 2-1.
Minnesota pushed and pushed for an equalizer but the Houston defense withstood the test. Clark made two incredible saves in the 9th and 10th minutes of stoppage time to seal the win and give the Dynamo all three points.
The Dynamo will return to Shell Energy Stadium next weekend to take on in-state rival Austin FC. That match is set for Saturday, April 20, with kick off at 7:30 PM.
