The Houston Dynamo continued their unbeaten run after picking up a draw on the road against the Philadelphia Union.
Andrew Hainault opened up the scoring early in the first half after scoring off of play from a corner kick.
Sebastian Le Toux. easily the best player for Philadelphia this season, leveled the game late in the first half when he brought down a Roger Torres cross behind Ryan Cochrane and slotted a shot past Pat Onstad into Houston’s goal.
Neither team made any significant adjustments in the second half, though we did see the introduction of Danny Mwanga and Danny Cruz; neither substitute was either to make a difference in the match.
The game ended in a 1-1 draw but both teams had number of chances throughout both halves. For Philly, this draw could mark the end of their chance to get in the post season, while, for Houston, a draw on the road in a hostile stadium has to be seen as a late-season positive.
Houston started a bit of a surprising line-up with a back line composed of some veterans who have not started much this season. Was Dominic Kinnear testing out his veterans in order to get a look at them ahead of the off-season? Who knows, but Adrian Serioux continues to impress and will certainly stay on the team ahead of Eddie Robinson, while Ryan Cochrane again put in a lackluster performance. Richard Mulrooney and Corey Ashe performed well and were able to limit Le Toux’s time on the ball throughout the first half.
All in all, it was a good result for a Dynamo team that is only playing for pride. After losses to Kansas City and Toronto this team could have easily shut down and phoned in the remainder of the season, but they have fought back and put in impressive performances against D.C. United and the Union.
Hopefully there are more positives to come from the remainder of their games (New England, San Jose and Seattle) and the team is able to close out the season on some sort of high note.
Check back here later when post game stats and quotes are available.