Guilherme’s Penalty Sends Houston Dynamo Top of Western Conference
(image via Aldo Canale)
It was a party-like atmosphere on Saturday night at Shell Energy Stadium in downtown Houston. The stadium was sold out for the match against the LA Galaxy as the Dynamo celebrated the 2006 MLS Cup winning team, with a number of those former players in attendance. Houston also donned their new Archive Kit, celebrating their past, with the club’s old logo on display as well.
Assistant coach Juan Guerra was acting head coach for this match while Ben Olsen served a suspension after receiving his fifth yellow card of the season. On the field, Franco Negri came in at left back with Lawrence Ennali moving to right back in place of the injured Felipe Andrade. Duncan McGuire got the start up front with Ezequiel Ponce sold to Elche in Spain yesterday.
In the 18th minute, the Dynamo won a penalty. Ennali burst into the box on the right side and Galaxy defender John Nelson got his hand up into the head area of the German. Ennali went down and referee Ricardo Fierro pointed to the spot. Houston’s Brazilian superstar, Guilherme, stepped up to take the penalty and buried it into the bottom left corner past LA goalkeeper JT Marcinkowski to put the Dynamo ahead 1-0 in the 21st minute.
New signing Kyogo Furuhashi was lively for the away side but the Galaxy couldn’t find a good chance to equalize. The teams went into the halftime break with Houston ahead by a goal.
LA brough defender Emiro Garces on at half time in place of Maya Yoshida. The Colombian’s night would last less than 15 minutes. In the 55th minute, Ennali was played through on goal and went down after a clash with Garces. The referee waved play on and Ennali was furious, picking up a yellow card for his protests. However, with the stoppage of play, referee Fierro was sent to the monitor by VAR. Garces was adjudged to have pulled Ennali back, just outside the box, and he was shown a straight red card. The Galaxy were down to 10 in the 58th minute.
The Dynamo held the ball, up a man, and the Galaxy had minimal chances to breakaway. Their best opportunity came late on when Joseph Painstil countered and pushed the ball past Ennali at midfield. He drove all the way toward the box but his shot was high and off target.
Marcinkowski made a good, diving save on a shot from substitute Agustin Bouzat in second half stoppage time to keep the game at 1-0. New signing Chucky Lozano, on his debut for the club was fouled just outside the box in the 9th minute of 10 in stoppage time by Aliyu Ibrahim, who was shown a yellow card. A minute later, Aliyu pulled down Paintstil and was shown his second yellow and sent off. It ended up not mattering as the Dynamo cleared the ensuing free kick and the full time whistle blew. The win, the fourth straight clean sheet for Houston, moved them momentarily into first place in the Western Conference.
Next up for the Dynamo is a long, midweek trip to Vancouver for a team that also sits near the top of the Western Conference in the Whitecaps. After that match on Wednesday, Houston will remain on the road next weekend to take on St. Louis CITY SC.
