HOUSTON (ABC-4 Sports) - Colin Clark converted a penalty kick in stoppage time to give the Houston Dynamo a 1-0 victory over Real Salt Lake on Thursday night.
Clark was awarded the kick when Real Salt Lake keeper Nick Rimando fouled Macoumba Kandji in the penalty area.
RSL still has never won in the state of Texas, falling to 0-18-3 all-time.
Houston (12-7-9) extended its home unbeaten streak to 22 matches and snapped a four-match winless streak overall. The Dynamo are 8-0-1 in home games against Real Salt Lake (14-11-4), which nearly secured its first ever win in Texas, but Houston goalie Tally Hall saved Nat Borcher's header attempt. Real Salt Lake is 0-18-3 against FC Dallas and Houston on the road.
“I think we need to be honest with ourselves and say that Nick Rimando made a mistake," said head coach Jason Kreis. "He came out for a ball that he probably does need to come out for. A player like that come probably makes one or two mistakes a year. He is holding his hands up in the locker room and on the field. He clearly knows he made a tactical judgment error but that is OK. He has saved us many points along the way so he will get a pass.”
“It’s one of those games where you do what you think is right," said Rimando. "I don’t know if you call it a mistake. The ball is in the air, I’m coming in the air and not intending to hit [Macoumba] Kandji, but it happens. He made a great run. We didn’t have any pressure on the ball and I committed. Once I committed, I had to go out. I didn’t want to get stuck in no-man’s-land. At the end of the day it’s a play I want to take back for sure and get these guys in the locker room a point back.”
Both teams played without several players because of international callups, suspension or illness. RSL was missing Kyle Beckerman, Will Johnson and Alvaro Saborio because of international call-ups. Chris Wingert missed the game because of yellow card accumulation.
Dynamo head coach Dominic Kinnear was given a red card and was ejected in the 90th minute.
RSL is now off until September 18th when they play at Tauro FC in a CONCACAF Champions League match.
