This is the kind of game that rewards fans who stick with it until the seemingly bitter end. Over a tumultuous 94 minutes, the ol' emotion-meter swung from elation to depression and back again for both sides. At several points, it seemed like a newly goal-bolstered Houston Dynamo were set to sew it up on the road.
But after every Houston goal, the raging Red Bulls managed to snatch back an equalizer to stay alive. At 77', Felipe got the third of those--and then, just six minutes later, proved to be the night's superhero. At 83' his curled beauty finally put the home team ahead, a goal that would ultimately net the team their first home win of the year.
Much credit goes to the Houston Dynamo, though, who boasted their own brace courtesy of the Dancing Bear, Will Bruin. Alex also picked up a sweet Boniek Garcia assist at 65' for the team's third goal.
The Red Bulls can't rest easy after this win, though. Their side suffered a spate of hamstring injuries throughout the night. Gonzalo Veron, Ronald Zubar, and Gideon Baah all left the field hurt, the last in unabashedly devastated, gushing tears.
Scoring Summary:
New York: Sacha Kljestan 1 (unassisted) 22
Houston: Will Bruin 2 (Boniek GarcÃa 1) 35
Houston: Will Bruin 3 (unassisted) 41
New York: Mike Grella 1 (unassisted) 64
Houston: Alex 1 (Boniek GarcÃa 2) 65
New York: Felipe 1 (Sacha Kljestan 1) 77
New York: Felipe 2 (unassisted) 84
Houston Dynamo: Joe Willis; Raúl RodrÃguez, Jalil Anibaba, David Horst, DaMarcus Beasley ©, Leonel Miranda (David Rocha 73), Andrew Wenger, Ricardo Clark, Boniek GarcÃa, Alex (Erick Torres 85), Will Bruin (Mauro Manotas 78)
TOTAL SHOTS: 16; SHOTS ON GOAL: 7; FOULS: 12; OFFSIDE: 1; CORNER KICKS: 5; SAVES: 3
New York Red Bulls: Luis Robles; Kemar Lawrence, Gideon Baah (Karl Ouimette 45), Ronald Zubar (Connor Lade 54), Sal Zizzo, Dax McCarty ©, Felipe, Sacha Kljestan, Lloyd Sam, Bradley Wright-Phillips, Gonzalo Veron (Mike Grella 32)
TOTAL SHOTS: 23; SHOTS ON GOAL: 11; FOULS: 15; OFFSIDE: 4; CORNER KICKS: 10; SAVES: 7
Misconduct Summary:
HOU: David Horst (caution, foul) 50'
NY: Felipe (caution, misconduct) 62'
Referee: Jair Marrufo
Referee's Assistants: Adam Garner, Peter Balciunas
4th Official: Jaime Herrera
