Dynamo storm past Earthquakes

1:51

Houston Dynamo go 2-0 up inside 5 minutes

The Dynamo waste no time with goals from Amine Bassi and Corey Baird in the opening five minutes.

Updated: Jun 22, 2023, 06:49 am

A two-hour severe weather delay could not hold the host Houston Dynamo back from a 4-1 win over the San Jose Earthquakes late Wednesday night.

The game had to be halted in the 61st minute for lightning in the area and did not resume for more than two hours with the Dynamo (8-7-3, 27 points) already holding a 2-1 lead over San Jose (7-6-6, 27 points).

Houston brought Thor Ulfarsson into the game 13 minutes after play resumed. It appeared the lightning show would continue from the aptly named substitute.

Three minutes after Ulfarsson subbed on, Hector Herrera received the ball at the top of the box and laid it off for the substitute. He curled it past two defenders and just inside the far post to make it 3-1 in the 77th minute. Then in the 89th minute, Herrera found Ulfarsson crashing the penalty spot and Thor hammered home his second goal of the night and third of the season.

It took the Dynamo less than three minutes to record a goal as leading scorer Amine Bassi pounced on a defensive miscue at the top of the visitor's box. Houston's press hemmed the Earthquakes deep in their own half, and when a defender attempted a cross-box pass, Bassi pounced. He tapped the ball deeper into the box and then calmly finished around the onrushing goalkeeper for his eighth of the season.

Less than two minutes later, Bassi got on the scoresheet again. He slipped a ball past the San Jose defense to send Nelson Quinones in deep on the right side of the Earthquakes box. Quinones got on to the end of the ball and put in a cross with his first touch to find an unmarked Corey Baird for the second goal.

However, the Earthquakes did find the back of the net in the 41st minute after earning a free kick just outside the box to the keeper's left. Cristian Espinoza stepped up and sent his delivery into the box, where Carlos Akapo got a head to it to redirect the ball just inside the far post. It was Espinoza's 50th assist with the Earthquakes, tying Shea Salinas for most in club history.

San Jose goalkeeper Daniel finished with one save on the night while his Dynamo counterpart Steve Clark did not record a save.

--Field Level Media