The Houston Dynamo recorded their second shutout victory in five days over Los Angeles FC, prevailing 1-0 on Wednesday in Los Angeles.
After a dominant 4-0 win in Houston on Saturday, the Dynamo (7-7-3, 24 points) triumphed in the rematch thanks to Micael’s 23rd-minute goal and another solid defensive performance.
It was the Dynamo’s first road win (1-6-2) of the season, while 10-man Los Angeles FC took their first home loss (5-1-2).
A Hector Herrera free kick from just outside the box set up Houston’s goal. Herrera’s ball first found Erik Sviatchenko, and while goalkeeper John McCarthy dove to knock the shot aside, the ball was still loose near the corner of the Los Angeles net.
That created the opportunity for Micael to deposit the close-range rebound for his first MLS goal. Playing in his 10th regular-season game in two seasons with Houston, Micael has increasingly become a regular in the Dynamo’s starting 11 in the past several weeks.
Los Angeles FC (7-3-5, 26 points) are 0-2-1 in their past three regular-season games, without a single goal scored. It marks the first time in LAFC’s six MLS seasons that the team has gone scoreless over three straight league games.
Houston goalkeeper Steve Clark made only one save in his seventh shutout of the season, stopping a tricky shot from Mateusz Bogusz late in first-half stoppage time.
That was Los Angeles FC’s only on-target effort of their 14 total shots. Despite the volume, Los Angeles was short on true quality scoring chances for much of the game.
LAFC’s chances at the equalizer were further hampered when Kwadwo Opoku was issued a straight red card in the 79th minute. Opoku made an awkward cleats-up slide into Dynamo midfielder Artur, resulting in Opoku’s ejection from the game.
LAFC was playing without two important regulars, as leading scorer Denis Bouanga (10 goals) and starting midfielder Jose Cifuentes were both away on international duty.
–Field Level Media
