Lawrence Ennali scored the go-ahead goal in the 72nd minute to lead the Houston Dynamo to a 1-0 win over the visiting Colorado Rapids on Saturday.
Guilherme’s in-swinging corner was cleared from the box where Ennali settled the ball with one touch and had a wide-open shot that he tucked under the crossbar for the match’s lone goal.
Houston (5-5-0, 15 points) goalkeeper Jonathan Bond made a punch save on a Paxten Aaronson shot in the fifth minute of second-half stoppage time to secure the clean sheet. Bond had two saves while Rapids goalie Zack Steffen notched four saves.
The Dynamo held a 5-2 advantage in shots on goal even though Colorado (4-6-1, 13 points) held 63.5% of possession.
Early in the game, Guilherme struck a corner to the middle of the box that was deflected to Jack McGlynn, whose left-footed shot made Steffen earn a diving save.
In the 24th minute, Ennali ran onto a long pass, his cross found Mateusz Bogusz, who played it back to Diadie Samassekou. His shot forced Steffen to sprawl to his left to register the save.
Houston kept the pressure on the Colorado goalkeeper in the 34th minute, as Guilherme’s shot on an in-swinging restart was bobbled by Steffen. As the first half wound down, the match turned chippy as Felipe Andrade was issued a yellow card in the 31st minute for a dangerous challenge.
Hamzat Ojediran was shown a yellow card in the 43rd minute for Colorado after getting tangled up with Ezequiel Ponce. Each team received three yellow cards.
Colorado threatened in the 51st minute when Dante Sealy headed a Darren Yapi cross which forced Bond to rise up for the save.
The Rapids pressed in the 88th minute when Jackson Travis’ corner kick connected with Noah Cobb, whose header was headed for the back post before it was turned away.
Houston has won three of its last four MLS matches, while the Rapids are 0-3-1 in their last four league matches.
–Field Level Media
