FRISCO, TEXAS (May 29, 2008) Houston head coach Dominic Kinnear will admit that his side came out a bit flat and, because of that, the two-time defending MLS Cup champions found themselves down 1-0 at the break thanks to a 35th-minute goal by Kenny Cooper. But in the second half, the Dynamo awakened and got goals from Corey Ashe in the 59th and Dwayne DeRosario in the 93rd minute to leave Pizza Hut Park with a 2-2 draw.
Both sides finished with 10 men after Houston's Eddie Robinson got his second yellow card of the game in the 80th minute following a confrontation with FCD's Andre Rocha, who was also sent off, and Marcelo Saragosa, who got a yellow for his role in the affair in front of the Dynamo goal.
The scrum started when Saragosa pushed Robinson, who then retaliated. Robinson had already been cautioned in the 57th for a deliberate handball and was shown the door. Rocha earned a red card for his role in activities after the initial confrontation.
"I'm disappointed with the red cards tonight because the guy who started it pretended he was hurt and I don't appreciate that," Kinnear said. "I think if a guy gets pushed in the belly and he holds his head, something is wrong. I'm not standing up for my player because what he did was absolutely wrong, he reacted terribly and deserved a red card. But the guy who started it, his reaction to getting pushed was embarrassing."
Overall, Kinnear was pleased with the end result.
"A pretty emotional game, as it always is with these two teams," he said. "They may consider themselves a little unlucky in the two games they played against us with our late goals in both games, but I give our guys credit for the drive and determination to keep on pushing forward."
About 15 minutes in, Kinnear switched to a three-man back line and it was a move that paid dividends.
"We changed the formation to get more guys forward and to get Dwayne (DeRosario) closer to goal," he said. "I don't think our communication was good and we had some new players out there who hadn't played in a while. Sometimes guys are a little bit timid with their voice and their play."
Ashe came on just after halftime when starter Brian Mullan told Kinnear he was exhausted in the locker room.
"I went to him at halftime and asked him how he felt," Kinnear said. "He said that he felt awful and exhausted. In Chicago a few weeks ago, I think he had a viral infection. I think he's slow coming back from that."
Kinnear had nothing but good things to say about Ashe, who got his first career MLS goal in the tie.
"Corey is a good player," he said. "He has played a lot of games for us and a lot of minutes. I'm glad he got his first goal tonight. He does have that threat to get in behind you and get good goals in the box. He brought us good energy tonight."
The other key move came in the 58th when Brad Davis came on for Kyle Brown, who started up top alongside Brian Ching. That allowed DeRosario to move up top and that tandem helped lead to both Houston scores.
"We definitely have a great understanding of each other," DeRosario said. "We played together forward in San Jose and that rubbed off a little bit tonight. When I'm up front, I have an idea of what he's going to do. So, I just try to put myself in a position to make it easy for him so he has an outlet."
Ashe agreed that the pairing paid big dividends.
"Both of them together are definitely a force," he said. "They have speed, strength and read each other well. They know what one another is going to do. What kills teams is their persistence. They're both competitive guys who don't like to lose. In the 90th minute, they're still going full speed. I think that's also what hurts other teams."
Kinnear also liked the results of pairing Ching and DeRosario together.
"It got us two goals," he said. "I think Dwayne's energy was excellent and gave him more freedom to run. Brian has been a horse in there but still needs service no matter who the pairing is and I think we scored goals from good service in the box."
For Ching, this result showed one thing.
"We've got to start working hard," he said. "It's a mental thing, we're letting points slip away and are going to get punished for it. We have to look into ourselves to start these games with a little bit more intensity and a little bit more bite to us like we are the champions. We need an attitude adjustment. If we can do that, I think we have the talent in this locker room to do well."
They get their next chance on Saturday when they host the New York Red Bulls at Robertson Stadium.
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