A Beautiful Night, But An Ugly Draw: Houston Dynamo 0 - 0 Portland Timbers

Photo by Nigel Brooks

Last night the weather was behaving when the Houston Dynamo hosted the Portland Timbers in the first ever night match at BBVA Compass Stadium, but the play on the field never matched the loveliness of the evening weather.

The Dynamo, playing their third match in 7 days, had to shuffle the starting lineup in order to give some players a much needed rest, thereby, ostensibly, giving the Portland Timbers, coming off over a week of rest, an advantage, but the only advantage the Timbers seemed to have was some questionable calls and no calls by the officiating crew.

After a little over 90 minutes, it was the Dynamo who, despite looking lethargic at times, dominated the match with 18 shots, 7 of which were on goal, and controlling possession for 59 minutes. By contrast, Portland had only 9 shots, just two of which were on goal. In the end, the Dynamo squad are right to be happy that despite the grind of their schedule, they managed to maintain a clean sheet and can now take a few days to recover before heading to New England to face the Revolution on Saturday night.

Saturday's match starts at 6:30 p.m. central time and will be broadcast on KPRC Local 2 in Houston, with the radio broadcast on Sports Talk 790.

The Dynamo's next home match will be on Saturday May 26th when they host the Los Angeles Galaxy. That match starts at 1:30 p.m., yes 1:30 p.m, and will be broadcast nationally on NBC Sports.

Geoff Cameron's 20 for 20 Fundraiser for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society

Last week Houston Dynamo Defender Geoff Cameron announced that he would be working with Dynamo Charities to raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. The fundraising will include an upcoming celebrity pour, campaign T-shirts, a FIFA Street tournament, and a special ticket package for the Dynamo’s match against the Portland Timbers on May 15th. Cameron and Dynamo Charities has established an initial goal of raising $20,000.00.

The celebrity pour event will take place on April 18th at Bar Munich, and the FIFA Street video game tournament will take place at the Microsoft store in the Galleria on April 26th. Click here to register for the video game tournament.

The Dynamo are also offering a special ticket package for the Dynamo's May 15th match against the Timbers, the second match to be held at BBVA Compass Stadium. This package, which costs $49.99 and includes two tickets, two 20 for 20 t-shirts, and a chance to win a pair of cleats autographed by Geoff Cameron. To order tickets, call 713-276-GOAL.

Click here in order to donate directly to Cameron's 20 for 20 campaign.

Dynamo Ruin John Spencer's Return to Houston, with 2-1 Win over Portland Timbers

Sunday night's match between the Houston Dynamo and Portland Timbers at Robertson Stadium in Houston began at a frenetic pace, with Portland looking like it was going to get an early goal, but despite the numerous early shots on goal by the Timbers, it was the Dynamo who scored first, with Adam Moffat picking up a golazo, against his former team, in the 17th minute. It only took another 10 minutes for the Dynamo to get their second goal, this time thanks to team captain, Brian Ching. Ching's goal proved to be the game winner as Portland prevented Tally Hall from keeping a clean sheet when Jack Jewsbury scored in the 56th minute.

Sunday marked the return to Houston of Timbers coach John Spencer, who was an assistant coach under Dominic Kinnear until last season, and Mike Chabala and Lovel Palmer, who the Dynamo recently traded to Portland for Adam Moffat and allocation money.

Thanks to the three points they picked up on Sunday night, the Dynamo are now tied in third place, on 31 points, in the East with RedBull New York. On Wednesday, the Dynamo head to New England and then host Real Salt Lake on Saturday.