Lee Nguyen bolstered his MVP resume scoring twice for the New England Revolution as they defeated the Houston Dynamo by a score of 2-1 on Thursday night at BBVA Compass Stadium. The win secured a top-three spot in the Eastern Conference for the Revolution who will avoid the dreaded mid-week wild card matchup.
Houston got the scoring underway in the 37th minute as Giles Barnes put home a rebound of a shot from Omar Cummings. The play starts on a beautiful over the top ball from Luis Garrido on the defensive side of midfield. He found Cummings who was making a diagonal run to get in behind A.J. Soares. Cummings fired a shot at Bobby Shuttleworth, who gave up a big rebound right into the path of Barnes who slammed the shot home for his 11th goal of the season.
New England pressed forward in the second half looking for an equalizer. They would find it twenty minute after the break from a play that started with United States Men’s National Team member Jermaine Jones. Jones found fellow substitute Kevin Alston making a run to the end line. Alston cut back a pass to Lee Nguyen at the top of the penalty box, he side stepped a lunging defender and curled the ball into the top corner to bring the score level.
Nguyen put the game away with four minutes remaining in normal time. The play started off of a costless kick that was punched away by Dynamo goalkeeper Tyler Deric. Jones took a shot that deflected over to Charlie Davies across the box. Davies made a move to the end line and fired a low shot that beat the goalkeeper but could not beat Kofi Sarkodie on the goal line. Sarkodie’s clearance fell to Darrius Barnes who slid the ball to the charging Nguyen who just got the shot past Deric for the final goal in a 2-1 win.
The Houston Dynamo finish off their regular season next Friday with a trip to the Chicago Fire in a nationally-televised clash of non-playoff teams. The New England Revolution return home for a game with Toronto FC next Saturday as they prep for the playoffs.