Amine Bassi’s penalty kick in the 55th minute lifted the host Houston Dynamo to a 1-0 victory over the New York City Football Club on Saturday.
Bassi drove the ball into the lower-left corner, just past a diving Luis Barraza, after VAR awarded the Dynamo a penalty shot that wasn’t called on the field. Bassi also scored from the penalty spot in last week’s 2-0 win over visiting Austin FC.
Goalie Steve Clark needed to make just one save for his second straight shutout for the Dynamo (2-2-0, 6 points), who have won two straight matches. It was Clark’s 52nd shutout of this 10-season MLS career.
NYCFC (2-2-1, 7 points) ended its two-game winning streak with its worst offensive performance of the young season, as just one of their five shots were on target. NYCFC had possession for 54.9 percent of the game and completed 87.2 percent of their 515 passes. Barraza made one save.
NYCFC had five corner kicks compared to Houston’s one, but the visitors never mounted a serious scoring opportunity.
Houston, which had nine shots but just two on target, maintained possession for just 45.1 percent of the game and completed 85.5 percent of its 433 passes.
Houston had three shots and New York had two shots in the first half, but none of them were on net.
The Dynamo maintained possession for 53.8 percent of the first half, when they completed 86.7 percent of their 256 passes.
New York completed 85.9 percent of their 220 passes in the first 45 minutes.
The Dynamo visit the San Jose Earthquakes on April 1, while NYCFC plays at the New England Revolution that day.
–Field Level Media
