Sporting KC beat Dynamo with 10 men

Updated: May 17, 2023, 06:34 am

HOUSTON -- Soony Saad scored late in the first half, and Dominic Dwyer added a goal on a penalty in the second to help 10-man Sporting Kansas City beat the Houston Dynamo 2-0 on Friday night.

Kansas City snapped a five-game winless streak to improve to 6-5-4. Houston (5-9-2) has lost four straight -- all shutouts -- and hasn't scored in 389 minutes.

Saad scored in the 45th minute, taking a pass from Benny Feilhaber and sending a shot into the right net from just the left of the upper half-circle.

Dwyer struck in the 70th, firing his penalty kick low into the right net and freezing Houston goalkeeper Tyler Deric. Sporting was awarded the penalty kick after Houston's A.J. Cochran had a hand ball in the box off a corner kick.

Kansas City played the final 69 minutes a man down after Toni Dovale was given a straight red card in the 21st minute for elbowing Houston's Alex Lopez in the face.

The win was Kansas City's first since May 10 in Montreal.

Warren Creavalle had a chance to score for Houston in the 76th minute, but his shot from the right box was saved by a diving Eric Konberg.

Houston had two more chances late in second-half stoppage time. Giles Barnes sent a shot from inside the upper goalkeeper's box off the face of Kronberg. The rebound attempt by Will Bruin in the middle of the box was slowed by the traffic in front of the net and cleared out.

Sporting Kansas City lost captain and midfielder Paulo Nagamura in the third minute after he and Cochran went up for a ball and Cochran headed Nagamura in the back of the head.

Alex Martinez was substituted in for Nagamura, who was taken off the field on a stretcher and taken to the locker room where he was diagnosed with a concussion. He was not taken to a hospital.

Houston lost starting defender David Horst in the ninth minute with a left leg injury after a corner kick. Horst hobbled to the sideline, and Eric Brunner came in for him.

Feilhaber, who was tackled hard by Brunner on the first goal, left the game with a left shoulder injury at halftime.

Both teams were down two players already due to the World Cup call-ups, with Houston's Brad David with the U.S. and Boniek Garcia with Honduras, and Kansas City's Graham Zusi and Matt Besler with the U.S.

The game marked the last MLS game for both teams for three weeks because of the World Cup break.