Sporting KC’s woes continue in 1-0 loss to Houston Dynamo

On a rugged pitch inside BBVA Compass Stadium in Houston, Sporting Kansas City departed for the halftime locker room Wednesday with a zero on the scoreboard — the fifth consecutive match in which the club was held scoreless over the initial 45 minutes.

It didn’t get any better over the second half, either.

Houston shut out Sporting KC for a 1-0 victory Wednesday night, despite playing a man down over the final 20 minutes of the match.

“It was horrific,” Sporting KC coach Peter Vermes said of his club’s performance. “This isn’t one of those games where we deserved anything — that’s for sure.”

Houston forward Will Bruin’s tap-in goal in the 67th minute supplied the only scoring for the match. And then it got a bit more interesting.

Houston’s Boniek García was ejected in the 70th minute after receiving his second yellow card of the match. A Houston player has been ejected in all four matchups between the two clubs this season.

But Sporting KC failed to pounce on the one-man advantage. Instead, it lost for the fifth time in seven matches, squandering an opportunity to surge up the Western Conference standings. It remained in fifth place.

“It was basically the same thing when they had even men,” Vermes said of his team’s reaction to playing with a one-man advantage. “We had very, very poor movement on the ball. Very few guys wanted the ball. Our solution was just to whack it forward.”

The match featured the return of Sporting KC keeper Tim Melia, who sat out the previous two games with a hamstring injury, allowing a pair of starts for homegrown keeper Jon Kempin. Melia wasn’t tested until the 62nd minute, when he denied a short-range chance from Giles Barnes.

Five minutes later, Melia got a piece of a DaMarcus Beasley crossing pass, but it deflected to a wide-open Will Bruin, who found the easiest of his 11 goals this season.

There were a few lively moments after halftime. Almost none before it.

The teams combined for zero shots on goal over the initial 45 minutes, a streak broken by a bouncing ball in the box during first-half extra time. The only sign of a rivalry showed up in the box score — the teams combined for 24 first-half fouls.

The moment of the most consequence occurred in the 41st minute, when captain Matt Besler received a yellow card for a foul on Houston midfielder Brad Davis. The fifth yellow card of the season for Besler will force him to serve a one-game suspension Sunday against Seattle.

He won’t be alone on the sidelines. Sporting KC midfielder Benny Feilhaber picked up a yellow card after halftime that will also include a one-match suspension for Sunday, which will serve as the club’s final tune-up before it travels to Philadelphia to play in the U.S. Open Cup championship match Tuesday.

Wednesday’s summary

Dynamo 1

Sporting Kansas City 0

KANSAS CITY: Tim Melia, Seth Sinovic (Bernardo Anor, 86th), Marcel De Jong (Jacob Peterson, 54th), Chance Myers, Matt Besler, Kevin Ellis, Soni Mustivar (Jordi Quintilla, 80th), Benny Feilhaber, Paulo Nagamura, Graham Zusi, Dom Dwyer.

HOUSTON: Tyler Deric, DaMarcus Beasley, David Horst, Boniek Garcia, Rasheed Olabiyi, Brad Davis (Sheanon Williams, 74th), Leonel Miranda, Memo Rodriguez, Ricardo Clark, Giles Barnes (Erick Torres, 68th), Will Bruin (Alex, 80th).

GOAL SCORING

Kansas City: None.

Houston: 1, Bruin 11 (Beasley, Davis), 67th minute.

CAUTIONS

Kansas City: Mustivar, 33rd; Besler, 41st; Sinovic, 56th; Feilhaber, 88th.

Houston: Garcia, 45th;.

RED CARDS

Kansas City: None.

Houston: Garcia, 70th.

OFFICIALS

Referee: Sorin Stoica.

Assistant referee: Sean Hurd.

Assistant referee: Jeremy Hanson.

4th official: Armando Villarreal.

Announced attendance: 18,037.

This story was originally published September 23, 2015 at 9:45 PM with the headline "Sporting KC’s woes continue in 1-0 loss to Houston Dynamo."