Written by David Garcia

The Houston Dynamo have tied with Western Conference leaders, St. Louis City with a score of 1-1. Corey Baird remained hot and Joao Klauss tied it in the final moments.

The first 15 minutes of the match were difficult for Houston. St. Louis were able to pressure the Dynamo enough not to let them carry their usual play, earned a couple of corners and Erik Sviatchenko was booked in the 8th minute. Franco Escobar was shown Yellow in the 22nd minute and will miss the next game due to Yellow Card accumulation. Minutes later, Hector Herrera would also be booked. Clark would make a couple of saves and in the 34th minute, Njabulo Blom was shown a Yellow Card. Before the end of the half, the Dynamo would open the scoring as Amine Bassi did a give-and-go inside the box with HH as Bassi was able find an open Baird to score a header for the opening goal. Two minutes were added and Ismir Peknic blew for the end of the First Half.

The Dynamo came out rapidly in the Second Half. They were able to earn corners, take shots, and maintain possession. St. Louis countered this by making two substitutions in the 60th minute. Coco Carrasquilla was shown a Yellow two minutes later and will also miss the next match due to Yellow Card Accumulation. Brad Smith would come in for Nelson Quinones in the 73rd minute. The game remained a defensive battle and in the 81st minute, Ibrahim Aliyu would come in for Baird and St. Louis had three subs, making two in the 81st and a singular one a minute later. St. Louis kept attacking looking for the tie and they got it in the 88th minute. Initially, Steve Clark made a big save but the rebound fell to Joao Klauss and his header tied the match. Sebastian Kowalczyk would come in for Coco shortly after. 6 minutes were added for stoppage time but the game ended in a tie.

We asked Ben Olsen on how the team can maintain the unbeaten streak. He stated that the team's mentality is the right one, they’re disappointed that they didn’t get all three points and they understand the importance of Wednesday now, and how vital those points are. He added that the team is hungry and that they have two clear objectives, making the postseason and winning the Open Cup but they will focus on that when they get through the next games. We also asked him about the absences of Coco and Escobar for the next game and how the next man is hungry for that starting spot. Ben answered, "Yellow Cards add up and there will be big misses, however, we’ve got guys who have stepped up before, hopefully there’s no drop off. I don't expect there to be one. We have a lot of hungry guys that want to prove that they want to be in the starting lineup." We also asked Steve Clark on the team conceding two goals in the last six games. He states that they are defending as a team but when you have the ball more, you defend less. He thinks that they went toe-to-toe with them and that it is a good mentality piece for them.

The men in Orange will now host the Vancouver Whitecaps on Wednesday 9/20. This will be the second of seven matches that the Dynamo will have in three weeks.