Writen By Kyle
*sighs* DCU 2 - 1 HOU The most important thing that the Dynamo will carry away from this game is that Dwayne De Rosario scored a goal in the 73rd minute, breaking a long, goal-less drought.
DC United, playing in front of a boisterous crowd of 18,078, started early. Christian Gomez scored in the 4th minute off a free-kick after Ricardo Clark fouled Gomez 25 yards from goal. Gomez curved in a beautiful kick into the upper corner.
23 minutes later, Gomez stole the ball and slid a pass to Ben Olsen, who buried it into the opposite corner. The Dynamo tried to respond when Brian Mullan earned a corner kick off some sweet foot work. The ball was placed beautifully to Brian Ching, who failed to burry the ball.
When the half ended, it came thankfully as the Dynamo were in desperate need to regroup after playing a horrible half and under pressure from DCU most of the time. Dom decided to bench Ryan Cochrane, who had a lack-luster half and was winded from earlier rough contact, and sent in Craig Waibel who covered the backline well.
The best attempt so far to score came when Ching was fouled right outside the box, giving the Dynamo a close free-kick. However, DeRo sent the ball skying, not threatening Perkins in goal at all. The Dynamo continued their lackluster performance until Coach Kinnear subbed out Joseph Ngwenya for rookie Corey Ashe in the 70th minute.
Ashe immediately blew by the United defense and sent a beautiful cross to Ching. However, United defender Joshua Gros handballed it, earning a yellow card and a penalty kick for the Dynamo. Dwayne stepped up to take the kick, but sent it straight to Perkins, who deflected the kick and gave the Dynamo a corner. The corner didn't give results but defender Waibel took the clearence and sent it to DeRo, who faked out two defenders and sent a low shot past a diving Perkins, cutting United's lead in half.
Late sub Stuart Holden almost earned the Dynamo a point when he sent a shot at Perkins, who failed to hold the ball and juggled the rebound, but no Dynamo players were available to capitalize.
Dwayne De Rosario will join the Canadian National Team for camp Monday while the rest of the team will visit President Bush on Tuesday. The President will honor the Dynamo, an honor that only the 1997 DC United team has earned.
Next up for the Dynamo is FC Dallas, who is coming to town this weekend. This will be the last game for stars Brian Ching and Ricardo Clark, who will be leaving for the United States National Team to participate in the CONCACAF Gold Cup.