Dominique Badji brace, Gashi strike clinches top-two seed first-round bye in the Western Conference with 2-1 win in Houston.
A Mauro Manotas goal at the end of the first half gave the Dynamo an even game, at 1-1, in a match where a win at home would extend their season.
A Gashi goal, followed by a Manotas goal at 81’ looked to decrease the Colorado lead, 2-3 giving the home team room to keep in the game.
With the result, Dynamo’s bid for postseason contention comes to an end.
Houston Dynamo (7-13-11; 32 points) vs. Colorado Rapids (14-5-12; 54 points)
MLS Regular Season
October 8, 2016 – BBVA Compass Stadium – Houston, Texas
Attendance: 18,400
Scoring Summary:
COL: Dominique Badji 5 (Dillon Powers 3, Sebastien Le Toux 7) 12
HOU: Mauro Manotas 5 (Sheanon Williams 1, Ricardo Clark 4) 45
COL: Dominique Badji 6 (Dillon Powers 4) 54
COL: Shkelzen Gashi 8 (Micheal Azira 1) 79
HOU: Mauro Manotas 6 (unassisted) 81
Houston Dynamo: Joe Willis; Sheanon Williams, Raúl Rodriguez, Jalil Anibaba, DaMarcus Beasley ©; Collen Warner, Ricardo Clark (Andrew Wenger 59); Boniek García (Jose Escalante 77), Cristián Maidana (Will Bruin 71), Alex Lima; Mauro Manotas
Unused Substitutes: Calle Brown, Eric Alexander, David Horst, Abdoulie Mansally
TOTAL SHOTS: 10 (Mauro Manotas 3); SHOTS ON GOAL: 3 (Mauro Manotas 2); FOULS: 8 (Jalil Anibaba 4); OFFSIDES: 0; CORNER KICKS: 4 (Cristián Maidana 3); SAVES: 1 (Joe Willis 1)
Colorado Rapids: Tim Howard; Eric Miller, Jared Watts, Axel Sjoberg, Marc Burch; Dillon Powers, Sam Cronin ©; Micheal Azira, Shkelzen Gashi (Dennis Castillo 88), Dominique Badji (Joseph Greenspan 94); Sebastien Le Toux (Caleb Calvert 73)
Unused Substitutes: Zac MacMath, Conor Doyle, Marco Pappa
TOTAL SHOTS: 6 (Shkelzen Gashi 3, Dominique Badji 3); SHOTS ON GOAL: 4 (Dominique Badji 3); FOULS: 10 (Michael Azira 4); OFFSIDES: 4 (Dominique Badji 3); CORNER KICKS: 1 (Shkelzen Gashi 1); SAVES: 1 (Tim Howard 1)
Misconduct Summary:
COL: Sam Cronin (delay of game) 83
COL: Michael Azira (unsporting behavior) 90+1
HOU: Alex (dissent) 90+2
Referee: Jose Carlos Rivero
Assistant Referees: Corey Parker, Brian Poeschel
Fourth Official: Kevin Terry, Jr.
