Bridgeview, IL (Sports Network) - The Houston Dynamo may have won just three
times in 17 away games during the regular season.
But on Wednesday in their Eastern Conference knockout round match against the
Chicago Fire, Houston made Toyota Park feel very much like home as Will Bruin
scored a pair of goals in a 2-1 Dynamo victory.
The result brings Chicago's season to an abrupt close while the Dynamo now
moves on to face Sporting Kansas City in the conference semifinals, which will
begin in Houston on Sunday.
The visitors defended well in the first half and took advantage of a 12th-
minute corner kick to snatch the lead as Brad Davis swung the ball toward the
near post where Bruin got free from his man to head the ball past goalkeeper
It took less than 30 seconds after halftime for the Dynamo to double their
lead as Chicago lost possession in its own half, allowing Calen Carr to play
Bruin in on goal with a well-weighted through ball that the striker dispatched
past Johnson for his second goal of the contest.
The home side warmed to the task a bit over the final 30 minutes with Arne
Friedrich and Dominic Oduro both testing Houston goalkeeper Tally Hall.
However, Chicago didn't find the breakthrough until the 83rd minute when Alex
slipped in behind the Houston defense and scored from a tight angle after a
nice ball from Patrick Nyarko.
Johnson kept the Fire within a goal by keeping out a close-range effort from
Macoumba Kandji, but Houston did well to see out the remainder of the match
and will now look ahead to a meeting with top-seeded Sporting.
The Sports Network