Luciano Emilio scored the game's only goal in the 47th minute, giving D.C. United a 1-0 victory Saturday evening at RFK Stadium and extending the Houston Dynamo's season-opening winless streak to three matches.
Despite going a man down when Jaime Moreno was sent off in the 71st minute, United held on for their first win of the season after two draws. It was their first win in their last six tries against the Dynamo in all competitions. In the previous five matches, the Dynamo outscored United 7-1, winning four and drawing one. The Dynamo also won both matches at RFK Stadium a year ago.
After going unbeaten in their previous 10 MLS regular season matches, the Dynamo have now lost two in a row and are 1-4-5 in their last 10 competitive matches, including the regular season finale a year ago, the MLS Cup Playoffs and the CONCACAF Champions League.
The Dynamo fielded the same starting XI as they did in the San Jose loss last weekend, with the exception Corey Ashe, who was replaced by Brian Ching, returning from U.S. national team duty. Ching has scored 14 goals in his last 20 MLS regular season matches.
The most notable absence was head coach Dominic Kinnear, who was ejected late in that same match for leaving the technical area to dispute a call with referee Kevin Stott. John Spencer led the charges in his absence.
Both teams struggled to put together any sort of coherent attack in the opening 45 minutes.
Defender Bobby Boswell injected some unexpected life into the Dynamo attack picking up a loose ball in the 13th minute and making a 40-yard run down the right channel, primarily unopposed until arriving at the edge of the United penalty area. At that point, the former United stalwart slipped a short ball inside to a supporting Ching, who in turn sent it immediately toward the penalty spot in the vicinity of Stuart Holden. But United midfielder Clyde Simms tracked back to foil the engaging opportunity.
United's first noteworthy scoring opportunity did not come until the 31st minute, but Emilio's turn-and-shoot effort from the top left side of the penalty area was easily handled by the perfectly positioned Pat Onstad.
Earlier in the 14th minute, rookie Chris Pontius sent a probing ball to the far post for fellow first-year player and roommate Rodney Wallace, but the angle was too severe and his effort sailed harmlessly back across the goal frame and cleared easily by the well organized Dynamo defense.
United continued to pick up their attacking pressure just before the halftime whistle with Christian Gomez slotting in a crafty ball from the top right corner of the penalty to Ange N'Silu behind the Dynamo back line. The rookie, starting in place of veteran Jaime Moreno, turned and sent a skidding ball that got past Onstad but near to no one else as the chance again went begging.
After the dour first half, Emilio opened the scoring in the 47th minute. A high, hopeful ball from Bryan Namoff from the deep on the right flank bounced over a stumbling Boswell, allowing the Brazilian sharpshooter to maneuver free and send a cool chip over the charging Onstad. A host of Dynamo defenders scrambled back, but could not recover in time to keep the bouncing ball from crossing the goal line to make the score 1-0.
Namoff returned to his area of expertise five minutes later, clearing a well-struck Ricardo Clark half-volley from 11 yards off the goal line, after it somehow had got through a maze of players during a mad scramble in the United penalty area.
In hopes of changing the pace and complexion of the match, Spencer inserted Ashe for Ching in the 67th minute after removing Chris Wondolowski with Kei Kamara at the start of the second half. Kamara was suspended for the previous match on yellow card accumulation.
United countered however, replacing veteran midfielder Ben Olsen with defender Greg Janicki in the 79th minute.
After Moreno was sent off by referee Baldomero Toledo for a tackle in midfield on Brad Davis, the Dynamo injected some energy late into the match, garnering two exceptional opportunities in the final 10 minutes.
Davis hammered a left-footed shot from 32 yards out that went through the hands of Crayton, but onto the crossbar, in the 81st minute. It was followed up three minutes later by Stuart Holden's low shot from the top of the restraining arc that slipped just outside the left post.
Chris Snear is a contributor to MLSnet.com.
