Written by David Garcia

The Houston Dynamo have defeated Inter Miami and have won the Lamar Hunt U.S Open Cup behind a Griffin Dorsey rocket and an Amine Bassi penalty.

The initial moments of the match were odd for both teams. Due to some rain earlier in the day, the pitch was not at 100% but the Dynamo was able to get used to it quickly. The Dynamo would take shots and earn a corner rapidly. 12 minutes into the match, Franco Escobar was issued a Yellow Card. The early success of Houston forced two Yellow Cards for Miami. Shortly after, the Dynamo would win the ball back and begin a counter attack. Artur would find Dorsey’s run and his rocket of a shot found the back of the net to open the scoring in the 24th minute. Nelson Quinones would earn a penalty for the Dynamo in the 32nd minute and Bassi would aim to stay perfect from the penalty spot. He did just that and the Dynamo were now up 2-0 within 35 minutes. Houston would have more shots against Drake Callender but after three minutes of stoppage time, Jon Freemon blew for the end of the half.

Miami would make two changes during the half time break. One of those was Josef Martinez, who in the 56th minute headed the ball just wide. Miami would continue to pressure the Dynamo but the defense remained solid. The Dynamo nearly tripled the lead but VAR determined that Quinones was offside in the 73rd minute. Running out of time, Tata Martino made another change in the 76th minute. Three minutes later, Brad Smith came in for Nelson. In the 84th minute, Luis Caicedo and Ibrahim Aliyu would replace Corey Baird and Bassi. Smith had a chance for the third in the 87th minute but he barely missed. Coco Carrasquilla would come down in the 90th minute and taking no risk, Teenage Hadebe would replace him. The Dynamo were now 6 minutes away from lifting the cup. Martinez wanted otherwise as in stoppage time he would give Miami life with a goal. With the game coming to its last couple of dying minutes, the home fans would try and push their team for a tie, but the Dynamo maintained the defense and won the match to become champions of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup once again.

With not very much time to celebrate, the Men in Orange will now resume MLS play against FC Dallas on Saturday 9/30. This match will start the last 4 critical games for Houston as they aim to reach the playoffs for the first time since 2017.