Dwayne De Rosario earned an assist as a second-half subsitute in his New York debut, but Cam Weaver's equalizer spoiled the party as Houston survived a wild finish for a 1-1 draw at Red Bull Arena on Saturday night.
Coming off the bench at halftime, De Rosario immediately gave the Red Bulls offense the shot in the arm the club had been seeking when it acquired him from Toronto FC on Friday, and the Canadian international sparked a lethargic New York attack. In the 47th minute, De Rosario sliced a ball from the middle of the field to Dane Richards. Getting control along the left side of the Dynamo box, Richards freed himself with a cutback and fired past goalkeeper Tally Hall for his first goal of the season.
But Houston responded with a goal of its own just three minutes later. In the 50th minute, a Will Bruin header from a Hall goal kick went over the top of the Red Bulls defense. Weaver beat center back Rafa Márquez to the ball and touched the ball over Coundoul for his first goal of the season.
The Red Bulls held the run of play and possession throughout the match, but the visitors held the edge in quality chances in the first half. The Dynamo had two good chances early, including Brian Ching rattling an effort off the bar in the 24th minute, but Houston lacked sustained pressure. The Dynamo attack took a hit when Ching was substituted in the 39th minute following several tough collisions with Coundoul.
But it was the second half when both sides threw aside any tentativeness. The Red Bulls seemed to benefit the most from the freedom to attack, with Richards nearly doubling his scoring account in the 54th minute, sending a laser from inside the six-yard box just past Hall’s far post. Joel Lindpere’s deflected shot struck the crossbar, and Thierry Henry was denied on the goal line by a spectacular Hall save in the 70th.
The Red Bulls came close to pulling out a winner three more times in the game’s last gasps. In the 87th minute, De Rosario put a Lindpere cross just wide of goal, and in the 90th, an Henry header forced Hall to acrobatically tip the ball over the bar. Roy Miller's header in stoppage time went well over the bar.
SEE PHOTOS FROM SATURDAY'S MATCH
The Dynamo next play Sporting Kansas City on April 6 in a Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup qualifying match before returning to MLS action with a match at home against the Vancouver Whitecaps on April 10.
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Houston Dynamo (0-1-2) vs. New York Red Bulls (1-0-2)
April 02, 2011 -- Red Bull Arena, Harrison, NJ
Scoring Summary:
NY -- Dane Richards 1 (Dwayne De Rosario 2) 47
HOU -- Cam Weaver 1 (Will Bruin 1, Tally Hall 1) 50
Houston Dynamo -- Tally
Hall, Hunter Freeman, Bobby Boswell, Andre Hainault, Corey Ashe, Danny Cruz
(Mike Chabala 83), Lovel Palmer, Geoff Cameron, Brad Davis, Brian Ching (Cam
Weaver 39), Will Bruin (Alex Dixon 73).
Substitutes Not Used: Tyler
Deric, Jason Garey, Eddie Robinson, Kofi Sarkodie.
New York Red Bulls -- Bouna
Coundoul, Jan Gunnar Solli, Rafael Marquez, Tim Ream, Roy Miller, Dane Richards
(Luke Rodgers 78), Teemu Tainio, Mehdi Ballouchy (Dwayne De Rosario 46), Joel Lindpere, Juan
Agudelo, Thierry Henry.
Substitutes Not Used: Alex
Horwath, Matt Kassel, Stephen Keel, Carlos Mendes, Carl Robinson.
Misconduct Summary:
HOU
-- Cam Weaver (caution; Reckless Tackle) 73
Referee:
Ricardo Salazar
Referee's
Assistants: Peter Manikowski; Claudio Badea
4th
Official: Armando Villarreal
Attendance: 13,664
Weather: Clear-and-58-degrees
All statistics contained in this boxscore are unofficial
