The Houston Dynamo and host Sporting Kansas City each enter the offseason with a bitter taste in their mouths after failing to find the back of the net in a 0-0 draw.
Both teams had been eliminated from playoff consideration before Decision Day began.
Houston (9-15-10, 37 points) had lost three of their last four games.
Sporting KC (7-20-7, 28 points) had lost five straight matches and nine of their last 10. Sporting, which conceded a club-record 70 goals this season, had gone 19 straight matches with at least one goal allowed, dating back to a 0-0 draw May 17 with San Diego. But they still could only claim 1 point.
Sporting, which struggled with consistency all season, started 31 different lineups in their 34 matches.
There not only weren’t any goals scored, there were few chances by either side. Houston appeared to earn a penalty in the 59th minute when SKC keeper John Pulskamp was called for a foul in the box. But offside was called, overruling the foul and resulting PK.
Lawrence Ennali had a chance to give Houston the lead in the 73rd minute, but his curling shot couldn’t curl enough and missed wide of the net.
The final moments saw a few missiles fired toward the nets, but none came particularly close to a goal.
Neither team mounted much offense in the first half. Houston had four shots on goal in the half, while SKC had just one.
Sporting nearly took a 1-0 lead in the 17th minute. Manu Garcia found a streaking Daniel Salloi up the left-hand side. Salloi collected the pass and fed the ball into the box and then picked up a deflection near the 18-yard line but sailed his attempt above the bar.
Ennali had Houston’s best first-half chance in the 40th minute when he got behind the SKC defense, but his left-footed shot was saved by Pulskamp. Ennali had another attempt in the final minute of first-half stoppage time, but it was handled easily by Pulskamp.
–Field Level Media
