Ivan Franco booted home a loose ball in the goal mouth in the 87th minute to lift the Houston Dynamo to a wild 2-1 victory over visiting Austin FC on Saturday in a back-and-forth Texas Derby match.
Franco was in the right place at the right time to pick up the pieces and find the net after a corner kick deep into the box by Hector Herrera pinballed before being headed to him by Daniel Steres.
The win snapped a four-match winless streak for the Dynamo (5-5-3, 18 points) and gave them a 2-0 edge with Austin this season. Austin (4-6-4, 16 points) had won its past two league matches.
The teams traded goals over a 15-minute span of the first half.
First, Austin’s Gyasi Zardes, stationed near the center of the penalty box, found the net in the 22nd minute on a header after a nifty crossing pass from the right sideline by Nick Lima. Zardes spilt two Dynamo defenders and calmly directed the pass into the bottom-left corner beyond the reach of Houston goalkeeper Steve Clark.
The Dynamo answered in the 37th minute as Herrera pounced on a loose ball in deep in the zone and beat Austin keeper Brad Stuver low and left on a shot that bounced off a defender at the goal line.
The scoring play began with an entry pass from Amine Bassi and was facilitated by a cross by Aliyu Ibrahim that bounced off Houston’s Adalberto Carrasquilla and an Austin player before finding its way onto Herrera’s foot.
Austin pressed for the lead in the final minutes of the half, and nearly had it when Daniel Pereira’s shot in the 42nd minute from more than 35 yards forced a save by Clark at the bottom left corner.
Herrera had a chance to put the Dynamo on top in 59th minute but Stuver blocked the shot as it headed to the bottom-right corner. Austin countered with Julio Cascante’s opportunity in the 73rd minute, but Clark was again up to the task with the save.
Houston produced a real chance to break the deadlock on Thorleifur Ulfarsson’s shot in the 79th minute, but Stuver stopped the attempt at the center of the goal.
–Field Level Media
