 "Photo: Tamir Kalifa/The Daily Texan")
It took more than an hour, but the orange cloud circling Nelson Field most of Wednesday night finally overwhelmed the Aztex.
With more banners, streamers, smoke bombs and trumpets than an Austin home game has ever seen, the Houston Dynamo rolled into town for the third round of the U.S. Open Cup match with a carnival atmosphere and 4,826 fans in the stands. And as appropriately orange-colored smoke settled over the field from yet another Texian Army (the Dynamo’s fan section) bomb, the Dynamo finally gave their traveling fans the party they wanted, scoring twice in the second half to earn a 2-0 victory and a trip to the quarterfinals.
Houston super-sub Corey Ashe scored one goal and assisted on another to break open an Austin defense that had held on valiantly against the Houston onslaught.
The speedy winger, normally the first man off the Houston bench, got to the ball first to head in the rebound after Austin goalkeeper Sam Reynolds parried a Houston free kick in the 70th minute. He then put the finishing touches on the game in stoppage time, ending the Aztex rally when he crossed for Dominic Oduro to score, forcing the ball into the net from close range.
Houston, the Major League Soccer champion in two of the past three years, dominated possession for long stretches of the game but never looked comfortable against a gritty Austin side that finally ran out of steam in the second half.
“Good performance, bad result,” said Austin head coach Adrian Heath. “I thought one goal was going to decide it, and I wasn’t sure who was going to get it. We gave a good account of ourselves.”
The Dynamo, fielding a weakened team due to international call ups, showed their intentions early, finding the back of the net within the first minute of play, only to be denied by the linesman’s flag.
They didn’t have to wait long for another golden opportunity. This time it came from a corner, with winger Brian Mullan picking up a half-cleared ball and rocketing a shot that seemed destined for the far post, only to be deflected at the last second by the Aztex’s Jeff Harwell.
That triggered the home side into action, as the speedy Harwell sprinted the length of the field to turn the ensuing Houston corner into a scoring chance at the other end, getting onto the end of Eddie Johnson’s pass and breaking into the Dynamo box. There, he saw his screams for a penalty waved away by the unsympathetic referee after going down under heavy contact from the last defender.
“I thought a couple crucial decisions went against us,” Heath said. “Another one of those away games at home tonight. We haven’t had too many go our way at home.”
The remaining minutes of the first half followed a similar pattern as Houston camped in the Austin half but couldn’t find the breakthrough, while the Aztex sat back and used Harwell’s speed to counterattack.
The second 45 minutes saw a more cautious and physical approach from both teams as the depleted home team finally saw its lack of depth exposed. Harwell, who along with Johnson was at the center of most Austin attacks, left the game with cramps midway through the half.
After dodging a bullet with Oduro sticking the underside of the bar on a lightning-quick Houston counterattack, the Aztex were finally undone by the speed of Ashe, who got his head on the ball after John-Michael Hayden’s free kick was deflected away by Reynolds.
The Aztex, still missing three of their most prominent attacking players in Gifton Noel-Williams, Yordany Alvarez and Sullivan Silva, responded to the goal well and should have found themselves level three minutes later, but midfielder Ryan Caugherty sailed a free header over from 4 yards out.
With time winding down and Austin pushing bodies forward, Ashe exploited the space on the left wing and picked out Oduro’s run at the near post, with the forward, who had already missed two guilt-edged chances, finally converting to put the game out of reach.
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