Knock, knock, knocking on Houston’s door

Sounders FC 0 : 0 Houston Dynamo

Seattle and Houston could not be separated by a goal in this tie at Lumen Field on a drizzly Saturday night. Two Houston keepers, Jimmy Maurer and Blake Gillingham, made a series of saves to deny the home side.

Sounders cannot bemoan their productivity in the chance creation department against a side with little offensive ambition. However, they came up against not one, but two, on form goalkeeepers and the return to Seattle of defender Daniel Steres, who had an outstanding game despite only appearing for Ethan Marshall after 21 minutes.

Both sides struggled to find their feet in the opening stages, although as the 20th minute passed, the home side’s passing and ball retention was already showing signs of improvement.

The best Sounders chances came in a seven-minute spell before half time. First João Paulo fired over after a sleek passing move and seconds later Danny Leyva forced an excellent save out of Houston keeper Jimmy Maurer.

Maurer’s excellent footwork saved Houston one more time before the interval with Alex Roldan the man deprived.

Georgi Minoungou entered the fray for Leyva in the 60th minute and his impact down the Seattle right was evident before an crucial intervention by Steres steered the ball just past Maurer’s left post.

From the resultant corner, Paul Rothrock was clearly offside as he turned the ball into the Dynamo net. It was as close as Sounders came.

Maurer left the field shortly after to be replaced by Blake Gillingham in the Dynamo goal. Simultaneously Lodeiro left too after an inauspicious return to his former club where he received a magnificent welcome from the home fans for all the trophies he won in the Emerald City.

Houston nearly stole an unlikely and undeserved victory.

Sounders keeper Stefan Frei saved his club from an embarassment where a poor pass back landed at the feed at Ezequiel Ponce who might have done better than to shoot straight at the well placed Swiss.

Albert Rusnak missed a superb chance to finally open the scoring when Gillingham palmed a cross out in his path. Again, there was too much height on the shot.

Still Seattle, undeterred, kept knocking at Houston’s door producing a great leg save by Gillingham after Obafemi Awodesu fired away a shot down at the keeper’s right hand post. He then made one final save from a chipped effort by Roldan.

But it was not to be and the Dynamo will be happier with the point than their hosts.

Attendance 31, 293

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