RSL nabs first win in Houston, defeat 10-man Dynamo 5-2

RSL had a dream start against the Dynamo with Javier Morales chipping a quick one in past Tally Hall 17 seconds in off of a nice assist from Alvaro Saborio, who saw that Morales had the angle to score. Salt Lake had a couple more chances but was unable to capitalize.

Morales then had a beautiful finishing touch off of a razor-sharp set up from Ned Grabavoy and Joao Plata. All of the sudden Morales had a brace 17 minutes into the match. Houston was able to pull one back five minutes later with what looked like Nat Borchers briefly losing his mark.

Another five minutes went by and this roller coaster of a game shifted into the next gear with a dangerous, studs-up tackle on Morales that resulted in a red card on Carrasco. RSL caught Houston backpedaling, and Luke Mulholland found Saborio in the box, who headed it home. Classic Sabo.

Just when you thought this game was not wild enough, Houston found a sliver of a chance and Aaron Maund pushed his mark down in the box resulting in a penalty kick. Nick Rimando read it like a book and easily prevented another Dynamo goal.

The second half got chippy and there were bodies sprawled out and yellow cards given. Houston was pushing but unable to convert if not unlucky. In the 56th minute some bad passing gave Houston a golden opportunity and Sherrod put in his second on the night. All of a sudden RSL looked nervous.

They were able to weather the storm and in the 78th minute Mulholland tapped to get around the keeper and that was that ... until Morales completed a hat trick in the 89th for good measure to seal RSL's first win in Houston.