Neither of teams are threatening the top of the Eastern Conference Standings, but this was an important match as far as the playoff chase goes. Coming into the match the Dynamo were just in front of Sporting in the standings. The Dynamo have been fairly solid at home, but Sporting was unbeaten in 10.
The first half was pretty much all Houston. It looked like the Texas heat and humidity were getting to Sporting a little a bit. It was certainly getting to their announcers, who complained about it quite a bit. In the 8th minute, Brian Ching went down under a challenge from Aurelian Collin just outside the box. Houston delivery specialist Brad Davis lined up over the free kick, and angled it in near post for his third goal of the year, giving the home side a 1-0 lead. KC did come back and force four saves out of Tally Hall before the break, but the score held 1-0 to the Dynamo at half time.
Then in the second half, things got crazy. Sporting started to compile more and more chances, and Houston seemed to get really frustrated. I'm not really sure why, but it they were playing as if they were actually losing. Only Tally Hall really seemed to have his head in the match.
The first Dynamo Red Card came in the 56th minute, when Colin Clark threw a two footed, studs up challenge on Collin, earning a trip to the locker room. The Houston crowd thought Collin dove, and proceeded to boo him every time he touched the ball. It really was the right call by the ref though. There was no hesitation at all. He got it right. Try as they might though, Sporting couldn't take advantage of the extra man.
The second Red Card reared it's head in the 70th minute when Ching just flat out kicked Collin. A dirty, horrible play of frustration. Now up two men, KC opened a full on attack on Tally Hall, who turned away everything they threw at him until the 90th minute when Collin put in a strike that was deflected into goal, equalizing 1-1. Both teams were pretty much spent, and that was the full time score.
For his part, Ching, the Dynamo captain, took responsibility for his red card. He admitted, "I owe the team two points."
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