Throwback Thursday: Dynamo and SKC battle in 8 goal thriller
(image via Major League Soccer)
Today is Thursday and as we all know that is the perfect day to throw back to some classic Dynamo games. As the Dynamo play against rivals Sporting Kansas City this weekend, let’s take it back to one of the many memorable matches between the two.
Background
There have been so many incredible and hard-fought matches between these two rivals over the years. Some have had major playoff implications, and some have been directly in the playoffs. As this is the start of the season, I wanted to look at a game more known for entertainment than playoff importance. This game in question took place back in April of 2015 in a weird time for the Dynamo. This was early in Owen Coyle’s first season as head coach following Dom Kinnear’s departure in 2014. With Owen Coyle being only the second ever head coach of the Dynamo, this was always going to be a rough transition. By the time the Dynamo hosted Kansas City in April, the Dynamo had only two wins on the board and were struggling on both sides of the ball. The only players playing consistently well at the time were Giles Barnes and Ricardo Clark. Barnes began the 2015 season looking like one of the most in form forwards in Concacaf. He was the only forward scoring and assisting for the Dynamo and helped Jamaica reach the final of that years Gold Cup where they lost to Mexico. Like Coco Carrasquilla this past year, Barnes scored the winning goal against the United States in the semi-finals. Ricardo Clark was in his third full season back with the Dynamo after his unsuccessful stint in Europe. Ricardo enjoyed his best scoring season in 2015, bagging nine goals from midfield.
Sporting Kansas City at the time were one of the best teams within MLS under Peter Vermes, who is still the current coach. Their team featured many past and present United States National Team players including Graham Zusi, Matt Besler, and Benny Feilhaber. This team also featured Paulo Nagamura who would later go on to coach the Houston Dynamo in 2022 to unsuccessful results. Kansas City ended up just squeaking into the playoffs where they would lose to Portland on penalties in the first round. This was the penalty shootout where Saad Abdul-Salaam infamously hit both posts in the same penalty kick and still didn’t score. Sporting Kansas City also went on to win their third US Open Cup title that year.
Lineups
First Half
Coming into this match, the Dynamo won and drew their last two matches and were looking to gain some sort of momentum in this disappointing season. They had a nightmare start to the game when Kofi Sarkodie coughed up the ball to Marcel De Jong who played in Krisztian Nemeth. The Hungarian striker took on the whole defense and scored from outside the box with almost no pressure on him. Questions may have been asked of goalkeeper Tyler Deric who was entering the season as a starter for the first time in his career. It was definitely a shot that could have been kept out of the net. The Dynamo answered back within ten minutes with Will Bruin wrestling for the ball with Matt Besler and former Dynamo Servando Carrasco. The ball bounced away from both of them right to the feet of Barnes who smashed the ball into the back of the net. There was not much activity for the rest of the half until stoppage time when the Dynamo won a corner kick. At this moment the Dynamo pulled out what has become a regular connection over the years with Brad Davis finding the head of Will Bruin off the corner to score the go-ahead goal.
Second Half
The second half kicked off and the Dynamo picked up right where they finished the first half. Nathan Sturgis found Giles Barnes in a nice pocket of space to run into and Giles hit the ball with the outside of his boot from outside the box to skip into the goal. The shot was rather weak but was bending outside and skipped up off the grass, making it extremely awkward for goalkeeper Luis Marin to deal with. The Dynamo were up 3-1 and flying. As things were going so well for the Dynamo, Giles Barnes played a back pass that might have been his best assist of his career, but unfortunately it was to the other team. Dom Dwyer picked up this back pass and took it past Tyler Deric to make it 3-2. Things then went from bad to worse when Nemeth ran into box and took a shot that bounced off Jermain Taylor’s arm to block the ball from going into the net. Taylor was given a red card and a Kansas City penalty followed. Benny Feilhaber stepped up and calmly slotted it to Deric’s left to make the score 3-3. The Dynamo were not done yet and won a free kick very far out from the box. If you remember watching Brad Davis take set pieces than you know the distance and angle just did not matter for him. Kansas City set up a fairly high line leaving loads of space at the near post and Davis took advantage and put the ball on the head of defender Raul Rodriguez. Raul made no mistake putting the ball in the back of the net to score his first goal in orange and give the Dynamo a 4-3 lead with just minutes left. People have had many different takes on Peter Vermes’ old school style of play over the years, but one thing you have to give them credit for is their ability to dig deep and find ways to turn results in their favor when things get rough. Down 4-3 in stoppage time they did just that when Graham Zusi headed the ball down into the path of Feilhaber following a wild deflected cross. Feilhaber, being the incredible player he was, struck the ball with perfection from outside the box on the half volley to lash the ball past Deric and crush the dreams of the Dynamo players and fans. The Dynamo thought they had escaped the then-named BBVA Compass Stadium with a win against their rivals with ten men, but it was just not meant to be.
Match Highlights
This game was ultimately not the most important match between these two rivals, but it was one of, if not the most entertaining games we have seen played in Houston. Hopefully this Saturday’s game is just as entertaining as this game but with the Dynamo on the winning side. Everyone get out to the stadium on Saturday to support the Dynamo as they look to carry on from where they left off last season!
