Sporting Kansas City took the lead on two separate occasions on Friday night at Children's Mercy Park, but the Houston Dynamo dug deep and put together an impressively gutsy performance in a 3-3 draw.
Raúl RodrÃguez scored the final equalizer on the last play of the game, heading in the ball off a set play that Sporting goalkeeper Alec Kann couldn't keep out of the net.
The hosts opened the scoring 14 minutes in, as Jacob Peterson sent a blast on goal that was saved by Dynamo goalkeeper Joe Willis. Dom Dwyer attempted to score on the rebound, but was rebuffed in his effort, before Peterson made no mistake with his second attempt to make it 1-0.
Roger Espinoza doubled the lead 12 minutes later, as he stole the ball in Sporting's final third, took a single touch, and unleashed a rocket outside of the box to beat Willis.
But the Dynamo showed signs of life on the attacking end, with young Mauro Manotas scoring his first career MLS goal after receiving a nice pass from Boniek GarcÃa and finishing with a bouncing off-speed shot at the half-hour mark.
The Dynamo started the second half off the better side, and were rewarded for their efforts with the tying goal just before the hour mark, as Alex latched onto a ball bounding in the box and buried it past Kann.
Sporting regained the lead in the final minutes, as Dwyer scored off a corner kick routine in the 81st minute to make it 3-2. But RodrÃguez broke Kansas City hearts with his last-second tally, which rewarded Houston's persistent performance.
Houston Dynamo (5-11-11, 26 points) vs. Sporting Kansas City (11-12-6, 39 points)
MLS Regular Season
September 9, 2016— Children’s Mercy Park — Kansas City, Kansas
Attendance: 19,331
Scoring Summary:
SKC: Jacob Peterson 5 (unassisted) 14
SKC: Roger Espinoza 1 (unassisted) 26
HOU: Mauro Manotas 1 (Boniek Garcia 7) 31
HOU: Alex Lima 4 (unassisted) 59
SKC: Dominic Dwyer 13 (Roger Espinoza 5, Benny Feilhaber 8)
HOU: Raul Rodriguez 1 (Boniek Garcia 8) 90+4
Houston Dynamo: Joe Willis; Sheanon Williams, Raul Rodriguez, Jalil Anibabal, DaMarcus Beasley © (Keyner Brown 76); Collen Warner (Will Bruin 83); Boniek GarcÃa, Ricardo Clark, Alex Lima, Cristian Maidana (Eric Alexander 80); Mauro Manotas
Unused Substitutes: Devin Perales, Kevin Garcia, Jose Escalante, Yair Arboleda
TOTAL SHOTS: 9 (Mauro Manotas and Alex Lima tied with 3) SHOTS ON GOAL: 5 (Mauro Manotas and Alex tied with 2) FOULS: 16 (Sheanon Williams 4); OFFSIDES: 2 (Mauro Manotas and Jalil Anibaba tied with 1) CORNER KICKS: 4 (Boniek Garcia and Cristian Maidana tied with 2); SAVES: 6
Sporting Kansas City: Alec Kann, Saad Abdul-Salaam, Kevin Ellis, Nuno Coelho (Seth Sinovic 63), Matt Besler; Soni Mustivar, Benny Feilhaber, Roger Espinoza; Jacob Peterson (Ike Opara 88), Dominic Dwyer, Brad Davis (Connor Hallisey 69)
Unused Substitutes: Tim Melia, Paulo Nagamura, Connor Hallisey, Diego Rubio, Cameron Porter
TOTAL SHOTS: 16 (Dominic Dwyer 9) SHOTS ON GOAL: 9 (Dominic Dwyer 5) FOULS: 12 (Soni Mustivar 4); OFFSIDES: 2 (Roger Espinoza and Jacob Peterson tied with 1) CORNER KICKS: 4 (Benny Feilhaber 3); SAVES: 2
Misconduct Summary:
SKC: Roger Espinoza (caution) 18
HOU: Collen Warner (caution)65
HOU: Alex Lima (caution) 83
Referee: Alan Kelly
Assistant Referees: Kyle Atkins, Oscar Mitchell-Carvalho
Fourth Official: Sorin Stoica
