Houston Dynamo vs Sporting Kansas City: Highlights, stats, and quotes
(image via Omar Duran)
The Houston Dynamo were beaten 3-1 by Sporting Kansas City on Saturday night at Shell Energy Stadium. Sebastian Kowalczyk scored early but the Dynamo could not capitalize.
MATCH SUMMARY
Houston Dynamo FC 1-3 Sporting Kansas City
Saturday, May 31, 2025
Venue: Shell Energy Stadium - Houston, Texas
Referee: Jair Marrufo
Assistants: Adam Garner, Chris Wattam
Fourth Official: Cristian Campo Hernandez
VAR: Sorin Stoica
Attendance: 17,852
Weather: 82 degrees, cloudy
SCORING SUMMARY
HOU: Sebastian Kowalczyk (Ondrej Lingr) 13’
SKC: Dejan Joveljic (unassisted) 45+3’
SKC: Dejan Joveljic (unassisted) 52’
SKC: Santiago Munoz (Daniel Salloi) 88’
DISCIPLINE SUMMARY
HOU: Brooklyn Raines (caution; foul) 45+1’
SKC: Zorhan Bassong (caution; foul) 76’
SKC: Daniel Salloi (caution; foul) 82’
HOU: Griffin Dorsey (caution; foul) 84’
HOU: Felipe Andrade (caution; foul) 86’
LINEUPS & STATS
Houston Dynamo FC: Jonathan Bond; Felipe Andrade, Pablo Ortiz (Franco Escobar 81), Femi Awodesu, Griffin Dorsey; Artur (Lawrence Ennali 81’), Jack McGlynn, Brooklyn Raines (Júnior Urso 53’); Sebastian Kowalczyk (Duane Holmes 79’), Ezequiel Ponce, Ondřej Lingr (Amine Bassi 53’)
Unused substitutes: Jimmy Maurer, Ethan Bartlow, Gabe Segal, Nico Lodeiro
Total shots: 22
Shots on goal: 9
Fouls: 14
Offside: 0
Corner kicks: 6
Saves: 1
Sporting Kansas City: John Pulskamp; Logan Ndenbe (Tim Leibold 63’), Jansen Miller, Joaquin Fernandez, Khiry Shelton (Andrew Brody 46’); Jacob Bartlett, Manu Garica (Memo Rodriguez 90’), Zorhan Bassong, Daniel Salloi, Dejan Joveljic (Santiago Munoz 79’), Erick Thommy (Shapi Syleymanov 63’)
Unused Substitutes: Ryan Schewe, Ian James, Mason Toye, Stephen Afrifa
Total shots: 13
Shots on goal: 4
Fouls: 9
Offside: 0
Corner kicks: 7
Saves: 8
HOUSTON DYNAMO HEAD COACH BEN OLSEN
On the result and the month overall:
“There was a lot going on in that game. With the number of shots, corners and crosses we had, we should certainly have scored more. Overall, it has been a good month, and it feels like we have played more games than anybody else, so we are tired. We looked sharp early on in this game, and I can deal with getting gassed later on, but I cannot deal with complacency. We do not have the luxury to not press at the right speed after scoring a goal and make poor decisions on the offensive end.”
On the return of Lawrence Ennali:
“You can see what Lawrence Ennali brings to us and what a miss that has been. He is a guy with real juice and speed. Even in that short amount of time, he got to the endline once or twice. He is a great player, so it will be nice to build him up into this and see where he fits in. It is the same with Duane Holmes. There are lot of new faces and a lot of transition. This is about picking up points, and over the course of May, we moved in the right direction.”
On the upcoming month:
“The important thing is we keep building and getting better. Now we will have training sessions to fine tune and compete with some tension towards what our best 11 is. As coaches, we will get back to teaching and showing these guys who we are and what our principles are. We have everybody now, and we know who we are. Now it is about putting this puzzle together, putting our best team out there and continuing to grow.”
HOUSTON DYNAMO MIDFIELDER SEBASTIAN KOWALCZYK
On the result and his goal:
“I am happy with the goal. It was definitely one of the most beautiful goals I have scored in my career. But I am not happy overall because we did not secure the points. It was an opportunity for us to jump higher in the table, especially after a busy month with some good results. Before May, we were near the bottom of the table, but after our recent match in New York, we were able to jump into a playoff spot, which is our goal. We are disappointed about result because I believe that we were the better team tonight, but the scoreline did not show that. That is what makes this loss hurt more.”
On the team’s recent results:
“I am not happy with our place in the table because it does not show how good of a team we are. We have new faces in the squad, which is no excuse, but I believe we need to spend more time together to better understand each other. Of course, I would not change a single person from this team because we have a lot of quality, and just because we did not start the season the way we wanted, it does not mean we will not be able to turn things around. We deserve more, as well as our fans.”
On Lawrence Ennali’s return:
“It was great. Lawrence Ennali is a dangerous player on the wing and is extremely fast and has the skillset to take on players. It is unfortunate that he got injured towards the end of last season because he has high potential, but now he is back. I am sure he is going to help the team fight for results this season.”
