Houston Dynamo 1- Sporting Kansas City 0
The Houston Dynamo punched their place in the Conference Semifinals on Thursday night in Houston. In a hard-fought match against Sporting KC, the Orange needed to play overtime to finally scored to earn the 1-0 win and a chance to play the Portland Timbers next week.
The first ninety minutes was a tactical war from both teams. These two, which have played two matches in the last couple of weeks prior to this one, knew each other too well. Sporting KC was able to neutralize all the attacks from the home team. In addition, they controlled the possession of the ball at midfield.
Houston, on the other hand, kept applying pressure in all sectors of the field. They created some opportunities on the counterattack. However, they were not as clear as they wanted to be to open the score.
The match ended up 0-0 in regulation and needed 30 more minutes of overtime to decide a winner. The Dynamo started this with one thing in mind, which was getting a goal to avoid going to penalty kicks, and it worked out fine for the home team. At the 94th minute Vicente Sanchez, after an extraordinary play he created in the right side, crossed the ball to an unmarked Alberth Elis. Ellis would knock home the only goal of the match and send the crowd at BBVA Compass Stadium into a roar.
Now the Dynamo needs to rest and prepare a pair of matches they will play against the Timbers, who is the top seed in the West. The two sides will square off on Monday at BBVA.
Houston Dynamo
Sporting Kansas City
