The Dynamo celebrate Davis's 89th minute winner (houstondynamo.com)
The Houston Dynamo deserve a lot of credit for what they were able to accomplish last night at BBVA Compass Stadium. Overall, they played a pretty smart brand of football (though not always pretty or perfect) and managed to ride a late goal by Brad Davis to a win and a 1-0 aggregate lead over Santos Laguna in the CONCACAF Champions League.
They certainly weren't dominating by any stretch of the imagination, and Santos came out firing with Darwin Quintero hitting the first shot in the very first minute, only to see his effort go off target. Marc Crosas also missed the frame in the third minute, and after that Houston started to settle down.
The first quality chance of the match fell to the Dynamo on 18 minutes. Houston had been applying some pressure to Santos goal, and it paid off with a corner kick chance. Bobby Boswell directed a bullet header on frame from said corner, and looked to have Santos 'keeper Oswaldo Sanchez beaten, but the Santos defender stationed at the post did his job, clearing it just off the line to keep the MLS side from taking the lead.
However the Dynamo nearly surrendered a goal of their own just two minutes later. In a preview of what was to be a theme of the night, Houston 'keeper Tally Hall played a kick out of goal, trying to build from the back. Unfortunately he kicked it right to Herculez Gomez. The American international played it over to Quintero, but once again Houston was fortunate to see his shot drift harmlessly away from the target. The Dynamo had a few bad flubs playing out of the back, but luckily Santos were not able to capitalize.
Fast forward to the second half where Santos had their best spell of the match on 57 minutes. An outstanding move up the pitch resulted in a great look for Oribe Peralta, which he managed to put on frame. Tally Hall was equal to the effort though, making a great save to preserve the the clean sheet.
In the 89th minute Jermaine Taylor couldn't find the target from a header off a corner kick and Santos took the ball back up the pitch and looked as though they were all set to settle in for a scoreless draw. However, they turned the ball over just inside the Dynamo half and Houston streaked up the field on a counter attack. Corey Ashe hit Brad Davis just inside the left of the penalty area, and the Dynamo marksman calmly slid the ball inside the far post to give the Dynamo the 1-0 win. It was a great finish by a great player.
Now, will it be enough to hold up for Houston down in Torreon? I kind of doubt it. Still the 1 goal win without allowing the away goal was the minimum that Houston needed to achieve and they did just that. As long as they can go punch to punch with Santos down in Mexico, they'll have a shot as the Mexicans weren't able to secure a road goal advantage. It will still be tough, though this Santos team is obviously not as lethal as previous editions. In the end, no matter what happens, this was still a nice win for them which should help to continue to build the confidence of MLS sides in this tournament.
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