Ejections, late goal lead Seattle Sounders to end Houston Dynamo home unbeaten streak

HOUSTON — Two ejections and a late goal led to Seattle Sounders FC ending Houston Dynamo FC's home unbeaten streak by a 1-0 margin at Shell Energy Stadium on Saturday night. Lighting led to a one-hour weather delay in the 9th minute of the match.

Amine Bassi received a red card in the 21st minute to leave the home side with 10 men. It was the second time this week that the Dynamo were down a man in the first half — and then a second yellow given to Hector Herrera left the team with nine in the 78th minute.

"We had nine players, down a man, really compact, really frustrated them throughout most of the night," said Dynamo head coach Ben Olsen. "And then we put ourselves in another hole. We went down to eight field players and even then, you know the guys gave a real shift and made it really difficult. Sometimes in these types of games, you can only hold them off for so long."

Paul Rothrock scored the lone goal of the encounter in the 87th minute, five minutes after being subbed on. It ended a run of 536 MLS minutes without a goal conceded at home, and 626 across all competitions with Wednesday's Open Cup match.

The Dynamo will have another double match week with both encounters on the road. Houston will visit Minnesota United FC on Wednesday before taking on FC Dallas next Saturday.

A few takeaways from the loss to Seattle:

Ejections change the game plan

Seattle was on the offensive early but that was cut short by the weather delay. After the game re-started, it was Houston that was beginning to click offensively with a few promising plays.

The red card to Amine Bassi changed the plan of attack. In fact, the attack was taken out of the plan and the Dynamo would defend for the majority of the game but, unlike in Wednesday's victory, they didn't have a goal on the board before being left to fight a man down.

The ejection changed the game for Seattle as well. Now they were forced to break down a deep defending team and weren't really taking any opportunities from a distance.

The double yellow to Hector Herrera, a decision that saw the Dynamo go down to nine, made them more compact. Ultimately, the Sounders' number advantage prevailed, giving Houston its first home loss this season.

Best opponent yet to visit 'Hell in a Shell'

From the selection of teams on the schedule that would have been predicted to win at Houston this season, Seattle would have been a reasonable choice. They have recent history against the Dynamo (winning eight of the previous nine encounters), they won the 2022 Concacaf Champions League and have that roster intact, and they're currently atop the Western Conference standings.

Even without the likes of bona fide staters like Raúl Ruidíaz, Cristian Roldan, and Nouhou, this was a capable team that still featured Nicolas Lodeiro, Jordan Morris and Stefan Frei. In the end, it was one of their most inexperienced players that scored the winning goal, proving the rival's depth.

This was a good litmus test for Houston to see a true gap between itself and a team that is a perennial contender. On that aspect, Houston fared well and was difficult to beat.

The difference would be if the Dynamo could generate a goal against one of the better defenses in the league. On this day, perhaps in large part due to the two ejections, they couldn't generate a shot on target.

"We need to learn from the mistakes that happened today," said midfielder Artur. "Overall, it was a good effort from the whole team. We need better luck, and we could have held on to at least one point tonight."

Nearly a draw in the dying moments

Two offensive changes came on behalf of the Dynamo following the Rothrock goal. Winger Nelson Quiñónes and MLS debutant Aliyu Ibrahim came off the bench in place of Franco Escobar and Corey Baird in the 88th minute.

Even with the limited time, Quiñónes' speed provided two set-piece opportunities on the Sounders' third of the field. The Dynamo looked close to coming away with at least a point. 

The best takeaway from the dying moments ended up with Ethan Bartlow only taking a yellow instead of a red, for which a video review was used to decide the severity of the sanction. The Dynamo did not end the match with eight men on the field, but they will be without their top two goalscorers in Bassi and Herrera in their next match. 

Still, what was seen from Quiñónes gives hope to breaking away with better offensive opportunities. Aliyu is still an unknown commodity after playing in a cup match and his first MLS minutes with a very defensive Dynamo, but if he lives up to his $2.3 million price tag then maybe this team can start turning a corner on the offensive side of the ball.