The Houston Dynamo had to overcome their fourth red card in as many games to gain a 1-1 draw with the Kansas City Wizards Sunday afternoon at Robertson Stadium. After Cam Weaver was sent off only 17 minutes into the match, Luis Angel Landin got his first goal for Houston in the 26th minute. Wizards substitute forward Zoltan volleyed in a goal in the 73rd minute against a tiring Dynamo defense to tie the game.

“I think if we keep 11 men of the field, we win it pretty handily. I thought we could have won it a man down, but we missed a couple of good chances there and goofed up at the end,” Houston defender Bobby Boswell said.

Houston has now won just once in their last six league matches. The Dynamo did qualify for the MLS playoffs with the point, which pulled them into a tie for the Western Conference lead with Los Angeles.

“We’re disappointed obviously, but considering what went on today, when you play 10 men for 70 minutes, it’s tough no matter where you are, no matter who you’re playing against. It was a great effort,” Houston coach Dominic Kinnear said.

Kansas City’s faint playoff hopes needed a boost from a win, but the Wizards were outplayed for much of the match even while up a man.

“It was a playoff game for us. That’s the way we look at it – it was a must-win. Mathematically we’re still alive, but we lost a very huge opportunity today,” Wizards coach Peter Vermes said.

Weaver got the start at forward because Brian Ching had been red-carded against Real Salt Lake in Houston’s last league match. Brad Davis and Ricardo Clark got straight red cards in the two MLS matches before that. Weaver’s studs-up challenge on Santiago Hirsig earned the dismissal from referee Jorge Gonzalez

“I don’t know the way (Gonzalez) sees it, but there’s nothing I can do about it now. I’ve got to be smarter and keep my cleats down, but I’m going for the ball, and I get the ball,” Weaver said.

Kinnear agreed with Gonzalez’ decision when asked about the recent string of ejections for his team.

“I think today it was a red card. I saw the replay of the foul, and I think he made the right decision. It’s not helping us. I talked to the team about that after today. We’re going to look into the stats just to make the guys aware of how many games missed and minutes played with 10 men and games with players being out. It’s not fair to the guys on the field that are playing,” Kinnear said.

Kei Kamara made his return against the Dynamo after being traded to Kansas City last month, getting his second start for the Wizards at forward. He nearly opened the scoring in the 14th minute, getting past Geoff Cameron to touch a Claudio Lopez pass off the crossbar. Several members of Houston supporters group El Batallon were wearing shirts with Kamara’s name and Dynamo number on them, and he went to their section to recognize them for their tribute after the match.

“The fans are showing the Houston organization that they made a big mistake. I guess I get to show them that too next year,” Kamara said.

Landin’s first goal in a Houston uniform was set up by right winger Brian Mullan, who rolled a pass across goal for Landin to tap in at the left post ahead of Jonathan Leathers. Landin celebrated with a cartwheel into a backflip, sticking the landing.

“[The celebration] is something my dad taught me when I was very young,” Landin said after scoring in front of his father, who attended the game.

“My job is to put in a spot he can get to, and he did a great job getting there,” Mullan said.

The game dragged to a crawl during the latter part of the half, as the humidity picked up after pregame rainstorms cleared the area.

“Unfortunately, when (Weaver) was sent off, instead of us putting pressure on and going after Houston, we took our foot off the gas pedal and let them get back in the game,” Vermes said.

The Dynamo has had a habit this season of giving up halftime leads at home this season, even while playing with 11 men. The question seemed to be whether Houston would have to absorb pressure for all 45 minutes of the half, but the Dynamo instead nearly doubled their advantage.

Landin was pulled for Dominic Oduro in the 63rd minute, after having to work as a lone striker following Weaver’s ejection. Oduro had been guilty of some bad misses in the CONCACAF Champions League loss to Pachuca on Wednesday, and he spurned a great chance to score his first league goal for Houston in the 69th minute, shooting over the bar from near the penalty spot after Mullan had drawn KC keeper Kevin Hartman out of the goal.

Kinnear admitted to being disappointed in that miss, “because that makes it 2-0. Guys miss chances all the time. The hardest thing to do in soccer is score a goal. I think (Oduro’s) putting a lot of pressure on himself too. It’s not like he’s trying to miss.”

Instead, Lopez had time and space from outside the box four minutes later to find Zoltan behind Boswell and Mike Chabala. Pat Onstad got a touch to the shot, but not enough to keep the ball out of the net. It was Kansas City’s only shot on goal in the match.

“Claudio Lopez, you give him time, the guy is still a great player. He can pick the right pass, and (Zoltan) gives a good finish,” Kinnear said.

“I think there were three or four mistakes on that,” Boswell said.

The Dynamo play a friendly against Monterrey next Sunday before closing their home schedule against the Galaxy on October 18.

Houston Ratings
Onstad 6.5 – not able to stop KC’s only shot on goal
Hainault 7 – pushed forward well in second half
Boswell 6 – lost Zoltan on the goal
Cameron 6.5 – part of the indiscipline, could have been given an early yellow
Chabala 6.5 – decent contributions coming forward, downgrade for his part on the goal
Mullan 8 – has been on a hot streak lately (Cochrane 80’ NR)
Clark 7 – relatively invisible
Holden 7 – decent creativity at times
Davis 6.5 – had a good shot in first half (Ashe 82’ 6 – not able to contribute much)
Weaver 5 – put his team in a hole
Landin 7 – added some passing in addition to the goal (Oduro 63’ 4.5 – another dreadful miss, though not the same turnover machine he was against Pachuca)

MATCH FACTS

Kansas City Wizards at Houston Dynamo, October 4, 2009
Robertson Stadium, Attendance: 16,854

Scoring Summary:
Hou – Luis Angel Landin (Brian Mullan) 26
KC – Zoltan Hercegfalvi (Claudio Lopez) 73

Misconduct Summary:
Hou – Andrew Hainault (caution; Reckless Tackle) 2
Hou – Cam Weaver (ejection; Serious Foul Play) 17
Hou – Brian Mullan (caution; Dissent) 18
KC – Jonathan Leathers (caution; Tactical Foul) 46
KC – Kei Kamara (caution; Reckless Foul) 49
Hou – Mike Chabala (caution; Handball) 88

Lineups:
Houston
G – Pat Onstad
D – Andrew Hainault, Bobby Boswell, Geoff Cameron, Mike Chabala
M – Brian Mullan (Ryan Cochrane 80), Ricardo Clark, Stuart Holden (c), Brad Davis (Corey Ashe 69)
F – Cam Weaver, Luis Angel Landin (Dominic Oduro 63)

Substitutes not used – Tally Hall, Wade Barrett, Eddie Robinson, Craig Waibel

Kansas City
G – Kevin Hartman
D – Jonathan Leathers, Matt Besler (Chance Myers 76), Jimmy Conrad (c), Michael Harrington (Graham Zusi 67)
M – Davy Arnaud, Santiago Hirsig, Jack Jewsbury, Claudio Lopez
F – Kei Kamara (Zoltan Hercegfalvi 62), Josh Wolff

Substitutes not used – Boris Pardo, Aaron Hohlbein, Matt Marquess, Roger Espinoza

Shots: Houston 7, KC 6. Shots on goal: Houston 4, KC 1. Fouls: Houston 6, KC 13. Offsides: Houston 3, KC 6. Corners: Houston 4, KC 4. Saves: Houston 0, KC 3.