A Lovel Palmer goal and a Tally Hall shutout proved enough for the Houston Dynamo, as they defeated Miami FC 1-0 in the third round of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Tuesday night at Robertson Stadium.
With the match on a Tuesday night between Saturday and Thursday MLS matches, Houston took full advantage of its entire roster, playing an experimental five-man midfield with Luis Angel Landin at attacking midfielder, along with Sammy Appiah, Francisco Navas Cobo, Richard Mulrooney, and Adrian Serioux.
The LandÃn midfield experiment got off to a fast start in the 6th minute, when the Mexican forward started an attack that ended with Cam Weaver forcing Miami FC goalkeeper Caleb Patterson-Sewell into a diving save. Despite its early success, however, the experiment was forced to end in the 39th minute when LandÃn left the game after suffering an apparent knee injury and was replaced by Mike Chabala.
Miami FC had more of the play in the first half and could have taken an early lead. Brazilian Paulo Araujo, Jr. had two chances, one in the ninth minute and another in the 32nd, but Hall kept his team in the match.
At the half, Dynamo head coach Dominic Kinnear replaced Ryan Cochrane with Palmer, moving the substitute into the attacking midfield position and sending Chabala back to defense. Houston came out looking to take the game to Miami, and Dominic Oduro drew a penalty kick to open the second period. Patterson-Sewell made a terrific diving save on Mulrooney’s shot from the spot to keep the score tied 0-0.
Miami’s best chance in the second half came in the 56th minute. A Patterson-Sewell goal kick bounced near the Dynamo box, and Paulo Jr. shot the ball as Hall was came off his line, but Houston’s netminder managed to make a fantastic save to keep the game scoreless.
Nonetheless, the Dynamo remained the more dangerous team in the half and created several chances. In the 59th minute, Oduro fired his effort from the top of the box just wide of goal. Two minutes later, Appiah was on the receiving end of a give-and-go with Cam Weaver, but Appiah’s shot on goal was saved well by Patterson-Sewell.
In the 80th minute, Houston got the breakthrough that their improved second half play deserved. Oduro laid a perfect pass into the path of Palmer, who made a great run from midfield. Palmer controlled the ball and slotted it underneath Patterson-Sewell to score the eventual winner in Houston’s 1-0 victory.
Miami wasted no time trying to respond, as former Dynamo forward Abe Thompson nearly equalized mere seconds later. However, his effort was saved well by Hall to preserve the clean sheet.
With the victory, Houston move on to play the winner of the Austin Aztex and Chivas USA match, with the venue to be determined based on the winner. But before that, the Dynamo face a turnaround of less than 48 hours, traveling to play Toronto FC on Thursday night in league play.
Miami FC vs. Houston Dynamo
June 29, 2010 –- Robertson Stadium, Houston TX
Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup -- Round 3
Scoring Summary:
HOU -- Lovel Palmer 1 (Dominic Oduro 1) 80
Miami FC -- Caleb Patterson-Sewell, Euzébio Neto, JP Rodrigues, Kyle
Veris, Zach Kirby, Edward Santeliz (Brian Shriver 76), Christian Gomez,
Cristiano Dias (Steven Jair Cabas 84), Bryan Arguez (Sean Cameron 79),
Abe Thompson, Paulo Araujo, Jr.
Substitutes Not Used: Lance Parker, Jarryd Goldberg, Bryan Dominguez, Martyn Lancaster.
Houston Dynamo -- Tally Hall, Ryan Cochrane (Lovel Palmer 46), Eddie Robinson, Craig Waibel, Francisco Navas Cobo, Luis Angel Landin (Mike Chabala 43), Richard Mulrooney (Danny Cruz 76), Adrian Serioux, Sammy Appiah, Dominic Oduro, Cam Weaver.
Substitutes Not Used: Tyler Deric, Corey Ashe, Bobby Boswell, Joseph Ngwenya.
Misconduct Summary:
MIA -- Zach Kirby (caution; Reckless Foul) 47
MIA -- JP Rodrigues (caution; Reckless Tackle) 66
MIA -- JP Rodrigues (ejection; Second Caution) 83
gameSumLabel">Referee: Chris Penso
gameSumLabel">Referee's Assistants: Greg Boles, Arthur Odems
gameSumLabel">4th official: Marcel Theriot
gameSumLabel">Attendance: 832
Weather: Cloudy-and-78-degrees
All statistics contained in this boxscore are unofficial
