Houston Dynamo at Minnesota United: Highlights, stats, and quotes
(image via Travis Gallipo)
The Houston Dynamo picked up another win on the road, beating Minnesota United 2-1 on Saturday night. Sebastian Kowalczyk scored his first goal in Major League Soccer to give Houston the lead and Steve Clark preserved the win with two huge saves late in second half stoppage time.
MATCH SUMMARY
Minnesota United FC 1-2 Houston Dynamo FC
Saturday, April 13, 2024
Venue: Allianz Field - St. Paul, Minnesota
Referee: Filip Dujic
Assistants: Stefan Tanaka-Freundt, Jeffrey Greeson
Fourth Official: Calin Radosav
VAR: Shawn Tehini
Attendance: 19,658
Weather: 75 degrees, mostly clear skies
SCORING SUMMARY
HOU: Alejandro Bran (own goal) 38’
MIN: Franco Fragapane (Robin Lod) 70’
HOU: Sebastian Kowalczyk (Amine Bassi) 77’
DISCIPLINE SUMMARY
HOU: Adalberto Carrasquilla (caution; foul) 23’
HOU: Micael (caution; foul) 40’
MIN: Michael Boxall (caution; foul) 55’
HOU: Sebastian Kowalczyk (caution; dissent) 74’
HOU: Daniel Steres (caution; wasting time) 87’
LINEUPS & STATS
Minnesota United FC: Dayne St. Clair; Devin Padelford, Michael Boxall (c), Hugo Bacharach, Robin Lod; Wil Trapp (Jordan Adebayo-Smith 81’), Alejandro Bran (Hassani Dotson 45’), DJ Taylor (Caden Clark 85’); San Bin Jeong, Bongokuhle Hlongwane (Franco Fragapane 65’), Teemu Pukki (Tanitoluwa Oluwaseyi 65’)
Unused Substitutes: Clint Irwin, Kervin Arriaga, Victor Eriksson, Moses Nyeman
Total shots: 24 (three players tied with 4)
Shots on goal: 7 (Wil Trapp and Franco Fragapane tied with 2)
Fouls: 10 (Tani Oluwaseyi and Bangokuhle Hlongwane tied with 2)
Offside: 0
Corner kicks: 7
Saves: 1 (Dayne St. Clair 1)
Houston Dynamo FC: Steve Clark (c); Daniel Steres, Ethan Bartlow, Erik Sviatchenko (Micael 34’), Griffin Dorsey; Artur, Latif Blessing (Brad Smith 71’), Adalberto Carrasquilla; Ibrahim Aliyu, Sebastian Kowalczyk, Amine Bassi (Brooklyn Raines 85’)
Unused substitutes: Andrew Tarbell, Gabe Segal, Jan Gregus, Tate Schmitt, Kieran Sargeant, Ousmane Sylla
Total shots: 7 (Sebastian Kowalczyk 2)
Shots on goal: 3 (Sebastian Kowalczyk 2)
Fouls: 11 (Sebastian Kowalczyk 4)
Offside: 2 (Amine Bassi and Aliyu Ibrahim tied with 1)
Corner kicks: 5
Saves: 5 (Steve Clark 5)
HOUSTON DYNAMO HEAD COACH BEN OLSEN
On Sebastian Kowalczyk’s performance:
“I am thrilled for Sebastian, who does a lot of selfless work for us. It is nice to have him score his first league goal while playing that false nine position. It’s great that he gets rewarded with a goal for all the hard work he’s put in over the last couple of months.”
On Steve Clark’s performance:
“Steve was fantastic tonight. More times than not to win on the road, you need a big save or two from your goalkeeper. He did something special down the stretch and commanded the box well tonight. I’m happy for him, and he’s a big part of what we are building here because of his experience as a winner.”
HOUSTON DYNAMO MIDFIELDER SEBASTIAN KOWALCZYK
On embracing a different role in this game:
“We have a good team with a lot of quality. We can play a lot of passes and are well connected to each other. I’m not the kind of number nine who will win headers, so I tried to find another solution to help the team. It’s easy to adjust when you have guys around you who play good football. Whatever the coaches want me to play, I’ll play, and I’m happy we are coming back to Houston with three points.”
On his goal:
“After the pass from Amine (Bassi), I knew I would be alone and had to create something by myself. It was a good opportunity to go against the defender, and I knew he’d take a big step. I just kicked the ball to my right foot to keep possession and then scored the goal. It sounds easy, but it was not so easy.”
