Sporting Kansas City had struggled coming into Friday night’s match with the Houston Dynamo having lost two of their previous three matches. This was after they finally found themselves top of the Supporters’ Shield standings. The losing trend continued as Houston Dynamo defeated Sporting 3-1.

The match started off at a good pace as spectators at Sporting Park watched rival teams Houston Dynamo and Sporting Kansas City go head-to-head. This match would be a crucial one for Houston, as they need several big wins to make it to the playoffs.

Houston had a successful start. The team had many great plays, and even managed several shots on goal until play was stopped for lightning in the 17th minute.

The weather delay lasted about an hour and 20 minutes. Play resumed with a Houston corner kick. Soon afterward, Sporting Kansas City attempted several shots, increasing their number of attacks on goal. It was at this point in the game that tension arose between the rival players. The game became more of a physical match.

Then, in the 35th minute, Houston’s hard work in the first 20 minutes started paying off. Houston’s top scorer Will Bruin sank one into the net, past SKC goalkeeper Jon Kempin, for his 10th goal of the season. Bruin gets subbed out minutes later for a minor injury.

The first yellow card of the match went to SKC’s Dom Dwyer in the 40th minute, but the match really heated up just four minutes later as an all-out brawl began on the field. The incident was instigated by Kansas City’s Benny Feilhaber, as he pushed Houston’s Kofi Sarkodie. Sarkodie responds by pushing Feilhaber to the ground. Players from both teams join the shoving match, while others try to break it up. Once it was over Feilhaber and Sarkodie both receive yellow cards.

The second half started with tempers flaring. Both teams were full of energy after the way the first 45 ended. The next yellow card came in the 50th minute, after a push from Houston’s Ricardo Clark.

The ball seemed to be moving back and forth across the entire field, but it wasn’t until the 55th minute that Kansas City scored their first goal. Dom Dwyer gets the equalizer, as the ball flies past two defenders and into the goal.

Houston took back the lead just seven minutes later as David Horst heads it in off a costless kick from Brad Davis. Horst appeared completely open right in front of goal due to a lack of marking by SKC.

A similar situation in the 67th minute lead to another goal by Houston. This time Ricardo Clark, seeming to appear out of nowhere, headed in the ball from another Davis costless kick. By this time, SKC seemed to have lost their fighting spirit.

Houston’s goalkeeper Tally Hall received an injury during an SKC shot on goal in the 72nd minute. After convincing the ref to let him stay in, the pain finally got to him causing backup Tyler Deric to come with ten minutes to go.

SKC took several shots on goal during regular time and stoppage time, but none proved to be successful. Houston took the 3-1 victory over Kansas City.

With this win, Houston is now one game closer to possibly making it to the playoffs. As for Sporting Kansas City, it’s not the end of the world. They are still in second place of the Eastern Conference, and have games left to make up for a couple losses. Both teams have a chance at making it to the playoffs.

Sporting Kansas City faces a critical road this week with a Wednesday date at New England Revolution before a massive match at Red Bull Arena on Saturday against the New York Red Bulls. Houston Dynamo, on the other hand, return home for a relatively easy looking game against the Montreal Impact. Do not forget though that Montreal already owns a 3-0 victory over Houston earlier in 2014.

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About the author
Andrew Miller
Hi, My name is Andrew and I am new to vavel! I hope to make articles that are exciting for both me and readers! I write mainly about soccer!