Ivan Franco scored eight minutes into second-half stoppage time to lift the Houston Dynamo to a rousing 2-2 draw with visiting Sporting Kansas City on Saturday.
Franco’s tally came as the Dynamo (8-9-4, 28 points) worked overtime for the tying goal. Thorleifur Ulfarsson assisted with a headed pass to Franco, who had entered as a substitute in the 78th minute.
Alan Pulido’s brace, including a goal on a penalty kick midway through the second half, had given Sporting the lead and set the table for the visitor’s first road win in two months. But the Dynamo did enough to avoid just their second home loss of the season.
Pulido’s goals gave him nine in his past seven matches and helped Kansas City (6-10-7, 25 points) earn a point in one of the hardest places for visitors in MLS.
Sporting took the lead in the 25th minute as Pulido took a one-touch backheel pass from Gadi Kinda and calmly lifted a shot over onrushing Houston goalkeeper Steve Clark and into the center of the goal. The scoring play began when Andreu Fontas beat a Houston midfielder to a pass from the back end and fed Kinda at the top line of the penalty area.
Houston pushed for the equalizer in the waning moments of the first half and nearly had it as Hector Herrera’s shot from outside the box in the 44th minute was easily saved by Kansas City keeper Kendall McIntosh.
The Dynamo tied the game three minutes later on Ibrahim Aliyu’s tally from the goalmouth to the bottom-left corner. Herrera passed to Corey Baird at the top of the area for a pretty give-and-go, received the return pass from Baird, and pulled McIntosh off his line before passing to Aliyu for the latter’s first MLS goal.
Pulido scored from the spot in the 62nd minute after Kinda was fouled in the area by the Dynamo’s Jose Artur de Lima Junior. Pulido beat Clark to the right center of the net after Clark moved to his right.
–Field Level Media
