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Late collapse erases few positives for HOU

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The tale of two halves has become a recurring nightmare for the Houston Dynamo.


Houston continued its recent trend of one good and one bad half when it conceded three second-half goals en route to dropping a wild match, 4-3, at Kansas City on Wednesday night.


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For the second consecutive game and the fourth time this year, the Dynamo yielded a game-winning goal in stoppage time. Houston outscored Kansas City 3-1 in the first half but was outscored 3-0 in the second half.


“Individually we were playing well [in the first half],” Dynamo head coach Dominic Kinnear said. “In the second half, they just started launching the ball, and we just couldn’t apply pressure and hold the ball up when we needed.”


[inline_node:319014]The loss undermined impressive goal-line clearances by Bobby Boswell and Danny Cruz — and an impressive first half by forward Cam Weaver.


The former San Jose forward was making just his sixth start of the year, replacing an injured Brian Ching in the lineup. He provided the game’s opening goal and later laid off a perfect header into the path of Dominic Oduro to extend Houston’s lead to 2-0.


“We just got our chances and took them [in the first half],” Dynamo forward Cam Weaver said. “We didn’t continue that in the second half, and that is disappointing because in the end, all that effort was for nothing.”


Though the Wizards were a little unlucky on the two goal-line clearances and also hit the crossbar and the post, Dynamo goalkeeper Pat Onstad’s slip on a goal kick and the resulting Teal Bunbury goal got Kansas City back into the game in the 60th minute. As a result, Houston seems destined to continue to find new ways to lose games.


“The first game of the season is the same as the 25th game of the season, and there are points on the line,” Kinnear said. “We knew they were desperate."


Dwain Capodice is a contributor to MLSsoccer.com. Questions or Comments can be sent via email to dwaincapodice@gmail.com.