The Houston Dynamo rallied from two goals down to draw FC Dallas 3-3 on Wednesday night at Toyota Stadium thanks to a brace from forward Erick Torres in the final 20 minutes.
Torres scored in the 71st minute 86th minutes to pull the Dynamo back from a 3-1 deficit on the road. The goals were Torres’ 13th and 14th of the season, giving him the club single-season scoring record, surpassing the record of 13 set by Brian Ching in 2008.
Torres’ game-tying goal came off of a fortunate deflection for the Dynamo. Forward Mauro Manotas worked the ball into the penalty area and attempted a cross, but his pass deflected off of Dallas defender Victor Ulloa and over the head of goalkeeper Jesse Gonzalez. The ball ricocheted off the crossbar right to Torres, who tapped the ball into the open net.
The Mexican international’s first goal in the 71st minute when defender Dylan Remick cleared a Dallas attacking effort, springing midfielder Boniek GarcÃa on a counter attack. GarcÃa found his fellow Honduran, forward Romell Quioto, who played a low pass to Torres. "El Cubo"took a right-footed shot to the bottom left hand corner of the net.
The Dynamo jumped on the scoreboard almost immediately. Just 60 seconds into the game, forward Vicente Sánchez stole a ball from Dallas defender Matt Hedges as he was trying to clear the final third. Sánchez played the ball to Torres, who dribbled inside the box and laid it off to Sánchez, who put the ball in the bottom right hand corner with his first touch.
FC Dallas pressed the issue throughout the first half and eventually broke through and then took the lead as the teams were about to head to the locker rooms. In the 45th minute, forward Tesho Akindele blasted a right-footed shot from outside the box to the top right-hand corner. Then, two minutes later in stoppage time, defender Atiba Harris passed the ball just outside the box on the left side to defender Maynor Figueroa, who took a left-footed shot that slipped past Dynamo goalkeeper Tyler Deric.
FC Dallas kept the momentum going after halftime, as forward Michael Barrios flicked a ball to forward Maxi Urruti in the 51st minute. Urruti took a touch and then turned on a volley, shooting the ball across his body and into the bottom left corner.
After Torres’ first goal, Houston nearly tied it in the 78th minute when midfielder Tomás MartÃnez skipped past two Dallas defenders into the penalty area, but the young Argentine’s right-footed shot was saved by Gonzalez.
The Dynamo survived a scare in the dying moments of stoppage time whenRemickchallenged Dallas forward Michael Barrios on the edge of the penalty area. Dallas players and fans shouted for a penalty, but referee Baldomero Toledo, while listening to input from the Video Assistant Referee over his headset, judged it to have been a fair tackle and pointed for a Houston goal kick.
The Dynamo will continue the 2017 season, presented by 76, on Saturday, August 26 at 8:00 p.m. CDT against Sporting Kansas City at BBVA Compass Stadium (TICKETS).
FC Dallas (9-6-9, 36 pts.) 3-3 Houston Dynamo (10-8-8, 38 pts.)
MLS Week 25
August 23, 2017 – Toyota Stadium – Frisco, Texas
Attendance: 13,339
SCORING SUMMARY:
HOU: Vicente Sánchez 2 (Erick Torres 3) 2
DAL: Tesho Akindele 3 (Michael Barrios 11) 45
DAL: Maynor Figueroa 2 (Atiba Harris 2) 45+2
DAL: Maximiliano Urruti 12 (Michael Barrios 12) 51
HOU: Erick Torres 13 (Romell Quioto 3) 71
HOU: Erick Torres 14 (unassisted) 86
LINEUPS:
FC Dallas: Jesse Gonzalez; Hernán Grana, Matt Hedges ©, Maynor Figueroa, Atiba Harris; Kellyn Acosta, Carlos Gruezo, Roland Lamah (Victor Ulloa 77); Michael Barrios, Maximiliano Urruti (Cristian Colmán 89), Tesho Akindele (Ryan Hollingshead 73)
Unused Substitutes: Javier Morales, Chris Seitz, Luis Gonzalez, Walker Zimmerman
Total shots: 19 (Maximiliano Urruti 4); Shots on goal: 7 (Michael Barrios, Tesho Akindele 2); Fouls: 15 (Tesho Akindele 3); Offside: 2 (Tesho Akindele, Maximiliano Urruti 1); Corner kicks: 9 (Michael Barrios 8); Saves: 5 (Jesse Gonzalez 5)
Houston Dynamo: Tyler Deric; Kevin Garcia, Adolfo Machado, Jalil Anibaba, Dylan Remick; Boniek Garcia, Ricardo Clark ©, Alex (Tomás MartÃnez 69); Alberth Elis (Mauro Manotas 72), Erick Torres, Vicente Sanchez (Romell Quioto 55)
Unused Substitutes: Joe Willis, Leonardo, Eric Alexander, Memo Rodriguez
Total shots: 16 (Erick Torres 4); Shots on goal: 8 (Erick Torres, Alberth Elis 2); Fouls: 8 (Eight players tied, 1); Offside: 0; Corner kicks: 4 (Vicente Sánchez 2); Saves: 4 (Tyler Deric 4)
DISCIPLINE:
HOU: Boniek Garcia (caution; foul) 25
HOU: Erick Torres (caution; foul) 26
DAL: Hernán Grana (caution; unsporting behavior) 45+1
DAL: Tesho Akindele (caution; foul) 53
DAL: Michael Barrios (caution; time wasting) 63
HOU: Kevin Garcia (caution; foul) 80
HOU: Mauro Manotas (caution; foul) 90
OFFICIALS:
Referee: Baldomero Toledo
Assistant Referee 1: Frank Anderson
Assistant Referee 2: Adam Garner
Fourth Official: Younes Marrakchi
VAR: Chris Penso
