Stoppage-time goal by Colorado Rapids sinks Houston Dynamo 1-0

Photo by Darla S Tamulitis, La Vita Loca Photography
Copyright 2017 All Rights Reserved 

By Robert H Kelly
Copyright 2017 All Rights Reserved

HOUSTON, TEXAS (September 9, 2017) After 90-plus minutes of heated and spirited play, the Colorado Rapids scored a single goal in second half stoppage-time to down the Houston Dynamo by the score of 1-0 on Saturday evening, September 9, 2017 at Houston's BBVA Compass Stadium. In a game that paid tribute to Houston, rescue personnel, and television and radio broadcasters who gave of themselves during the flooding and aftermath of Hurricane Harvey; the players and fans honored what has become known at "Houston Strong."

Prior to the game, the Dynamo were 10-8-8, with 38 points, while Colorado were 6-16-4, with 22 points. Houston head coach Wilmer Cabrera talked about losing to a lower ranked team.

“It just happens. We can talk about excuses, but you know what? We haven’t played in like two to three weeks. The guys were traveling. The hurricane, we had to travel and practice away maybe that affected that. We cannot make excuses. We thought we played well, but we didn’t played well. They fought and they found a goal and that’s it. Where they good with possession? No. We had the ball, we weren’t good with our possession because possession without purpose is not good. We had the possession without the possibilities, not great possibilities and that’s the reality. We have to understand that and we have to move on for the next game."

Colorado's goal came in stoppage-time from forward Dominique Badji, with an assist from forward Stefan Aigner on a counterattack, as the Dynamo threw numbers forward in search of a game-winning goal of their own. The loss snaps a 12-game home unbeaten streak for Houston, the longest-such streak for the club since a league-record 30-game home unbeaten run from 2011-13.

Goalkeeper Tyler Deric was quoted (after the game) about the game  being a lesson with the past events in Houston. 

“I think there’s a lot of positives to take away from this game. We didn’t play our best, we weren’t clicking, but I thought we played well. Just a little off, but other than that we fought hard. We worked hard and the team is going to stick together. We are united moving forward and we are really excited to get to San Jose next weekend.”

Houston will return to the pitch on Saturday, September 16 when they hit the road to face the San Jose Earthquakes.