Houston Dynamo, Sporting Kansas City battle to 1-1 draw

Photo by Darla S Tamulitis
La Vita Loca Photography
Copyrightr 2019 All Rights Reserved

By Robert H Kelly
Copyright 2019 All Rights Reserved

HOUSTON, TEXAS (June 1, 2019) After a sluggish first half, the Houston Dynamo tied the score at  late in the second half to hold on for a 1-1 draw against Sporting Kansas City at BBVA Compass Stadium in Houston. After uninspired play in the first half, the Dynamo showed more intensity in the second half, but it was not enough to get the lead and the eventual win.

Sporting Kansas City dominated Houston in the first half, both tactically and mentally, to take control of the game and shut down any attempt by the Dynamo to advance the ball and get an advantage in a game that should have been "all Houston."  Houston head coach talked about the Dynamo's slow start in the post-game press conference.

“Well I think we went out the first half a little bit flat. A little bit not well coordinated to do our pressure and sadly the players from Kansas City started to manage the game and delay and it was too much for the referee. Today was really embarrassing how the players noticed that they could waste time—dive, delay, everything and the referee didn’t care. It was embarrassing because the fans, they come to watch a good game of soccer, but the referee Kevin Stott today wasn’t up to the level. He allowed them to waste a lot of time and in this sport, you can win, you can tie, you can lose but the referee needs to do the right things and today, I don’t think he was up to the level for this game. The players noticed right there in the first minute, second minute, tenth minute, the goalkeeper noticed that he didn’t care. He just was comfortable doing whatever he wanted, and they stared to dive. They started to get on the ground and he just—for him, it was fine and that’s not good for the game. Listen, if they go and win and they are better than us they have to get the three points but the referee needs to create a good environment for the game of soccer and he didn’t do it and the people, the fans, they were getting really upset and we all. Of course, for them it was good, but we wanted to play and if they are better than us that’s fine, but it has to be a better situation because he wasn’t up to this game and it’s embarrassing what happened today. It was embarrassing for the fans how they wasted time and he didn’t care.”

A Houston mistake in the 62nd minute allowed Sporting KC to score the first goal of the game by midfielder Yohan Croizet; his first of the season. Houston scored the equalizer seven minutes later off a volley to forward Alberth Elis to even the score and save the Dynamo from defeat. He stated:

“This was a tough game. It was very humid out there today and it was to play with that type of weather. I am grateful to God that we could secure the draw and we have to keep working so we can improve on today’s performance. We have to win at home. We cannot let points go at home and now we shift our focus to the next game.”

The draw earned one point for both squads; pushing Houston to a 7-3-4 record (24 points) with Sporting KC moving to 3-5-6 (15 points). The draw extended Houston's unbeaten record at BBVA Compass Stadium to 7-0-3 and take their record against Kansas City to 11-7-13 all-time and 7-4-6 in Houston. The draw also snapped a two-game losing streak to Kansas City in league play.

Next up for Houston is a Saturday, June 22 meeting with Portland Timbers FC at Providence Park in Portland with a scheduled kickoff of 10 p.m. CDT.