The Houston Dynamo extended their unbeaten run to six straight matches with a 1-1 draw against the Colorado Rapids this evening at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park.
After a scoreless first half, the second stanza was punctuated by goals in the opening moments and at the death as the two sides each walked away with a point.
The Dynamo struck first just 23 seconds after halftime. Midfielder Memo Rodriguez took possession near midfield and carried the ball toward the upper right corner of the penalty area and lofted a perfectly-weighted cross to the back post. Forward Christian Ramirez ran onto the cross and fired a left-footed volley back across goal and into the back of the net.
Colorado leveled the match just moments from the final whistle through center back Lalas Abubakar. The defender drifted in behind the Houston back line to get on the end of a set piece and slotted a right-footed shot under an onrushing effort from goalkeeper Marko Marić to level the contest.
Marić finished the night with five saves, including four in the first half, and now has helped lead the Dynamo to positive results in eight of his 10 starts for the Club. The Croatian ‘keeper made multiple acrobatic saves in the first half to keep things scoreless going into the locker room, none bigger than a one-on-one denial of forward Kei Kamara inside the penalty area. Kamara found himself alone after a quick Colorado transition, but Marić was quick off his line to cut down the striker’s shooting angle and quickly got down to push Kamara’s low right-footed shot wide of the target.
The Dynamo will wrap up their Phase 1 schedule on Saturday night with a trip up I-45 to take on their in-state rivals FC Dallas. It will be the second leg of the 2020 Texas Derby, and while the remainder of the regular-season schedule is yet to be announced by MLS, both clubs will look to get a leg up after they played to a 0-0 draw at BBVA Stadium on August 21.
Kickoff for the match in Frisco is set for 7:30 p.m. CDT and it will be televised live throughout the Greater Houston area on QuestTEXAS Ch. 55 in English and TelExitos Ch. 47.2 in Spanish. Fans can hear the match in Spanish on Univision Radio 1010 AM.
