After 185 minutes of scoreless soccer over two games, Brian Ching’s extra time goal pushed the Houston Dynamo past Seattle Sounders FC Sunday afternoon at Robertson Stadium in the second leg of the Western Conference semifinals. The 1-0 win advances the Dynamo to the Western Conference final Friday night at the LA Galaxy.

“It takes Brian Ching’s great goal to separate the two teams, it just shows you how close it was,” Houston coach Dominic Kinnear said.

“It was a hard-fought game. At the end, a little bit of a mistake in the back, and Brian Ching buried a good goal. There’s not much that separates these two teams,” Sounders coach Sigi Schmid said.

The winning goal came after Roger Levesque’s attempted clearance of a Mike Chabala cross deflected off Brian Mullan’s shoulder back to Ching in front of the net. Ching drilled the ball past Kasey Keller on the volley.

“It was a great effort by (Chabala) to get the ball across the goal, and a great effort by Brian Mullan not to give up on it. Because of his effort, the ball falls right to me, and I hit one of the best shots I ever hit,” Ching said.

“Roger’s just got to flick the ball on. The ball’s bouncing, and instead of flicking it on and heading it over Mullan, he ends up turning and he hits the ball into Mullan,” Schmid said.

Houston had dominated the chances, particularly in the first 45 minutes, when forward Dominic Oduro had his most impressive spell as a Dynamo, getting behind the Seattle defense constantly and hitting the left post with a shot in the 23rd minute. Kinnear said that he wanted to use Oduro’s speed to attack Seattle defender Tyrone Marshall, who was back from an injury that kept him out of the first leg.

“I thought I did well. I created a lot of chances. I should have finished one or two,” Oduro said.

“We came in at halftime, and I said, ‘Guys, keep it going, because this is some of the best stuff we’ve played in a long time.’ You’re hoping that all this good play gets rewarded in the end, and it did,” Kinnear said.

Houston keeper Pat Onstad had his most difficult work in the first half in preventing an own goal from Geoff Cameron in the 35th minute, reacting well to kick away Cameron’s clearance of a Steve Zakuani cross.

“If Geoff doesn’t get a foot on it, there’s a Seattle guy right behind him to tap it in. He’s got to try to clear it whatever way he can. Fortunately, I was able to stick my foot out and block it,” Onstad said.

The long ball service to Oduro dried up in the second half. Seattle’s Nate Jaqua could have done better with a couple of chances provided by Freddie Ljungberg in the 53rd minute and Levesque in the 81st minute, but he shot wide both times.

“I don’t think we played particularly well this game. Houston did a good job of winning the duels in the middle of the midfield. Any one-on-one headers, they won the majority of that,” Schmid said.

Ljungberg forced an athletic save from Onstad in the 100th minute, perhaps by accident, when his cross from the left floated near the net and Onstad tipped over the bar.

In the final 15 minutes of extra time, both sides were showing fatigue, and Seattle never could find a combination to threaten the Houston goal. Referee Jorge Gonzalez sent off Seattle’s James Riley in the final minute of the match for a nasty tackle on Ricardo Clark.

Kinnear again criticized the condition of the Robertson pitch, which has gone downhill since the beginning of the college football season.

“It’s a sore subject. You work hard all year to give yourself some kind of advantage when you come home. The crowd’s a part of that, and the hopefully the field is too, and right now it’s not, and we’re not happy with that,” he said.

“Not an easy surface to play on, so it didn’t account for a real pretty game,” Keller said.

It appeared the Dynamo were stumbling into the playoffs until the crucial win away at Chivas USA on the last day of the season, but Houston is now one win away from a third MLS Cup appearance in four seasons.

“The playoffs are a whole new ballgame,” Ching said.

“When the playoffs come, they really sharpen everything up. It’s nice,” Kinnear said.

Houston player ratings

Onstad 7.5 – reacted well when he needed to
Hainault 5.5 – burned by Zakuani’s speed a few times
Boswell 8 – his effectiveness against Montero forced Seattle to play Montero wide
Cameron 7 – good in air against Jaqua
Chabala 6 – had a part in goal, not great defensively
Mullan 6.5 – could have been better with crosses
Clark 8 – much steadier possession than first leg
Holden 6.5 – wasn’t as much of a factor as in first leg
Davis 6 – fairly invisible (Ashe 98’ 6 – a few good runs on his return from injury)
Oduro 8 – best game as a Dynamo (Landin 81’ 6.5 – some flashy passes)
Ching 7.5 – a great finish (Weaver 106’ 6 – not a lot of impact)

MATCH FACTS

Seattle Sounders FC at Houston Dynamo, November 8, 2009
Robertson Stadium, Attendance: 27,465

Scoring Summary:
Hou – Brian Ching (unassisted) 95

Misconduct Summary:
Sea – Tyrone Marshall (caution; Reckless Tackle) 24
Hou – Mike Chabala (caution; Reckless Foul) 44
Hou – Geoff Cameron (caution; Tactical Foul) 93+
Sea – James Riley (ejection; Violent Conduct) 120
Sea – Freddie Ljungberg (caution; Dissent) 121+

Lineups:
Houston
G – Pat Onstad
D – Andrew Hainault, Bobby Boswell, Geoff Cameron, Mike Chabala
M – Brian Mullan, Ricardo Clark, Stuart Holden, Brad Davis (Corey Ashe 98)
F – Dominic Oduro (Luis Angel Landin 81), Brian Ching (c) (Cam Weaver 106)

Substitutes not used – Tally Hall, Wade Barrett, Ryan Cochrane, Eddie Robinson

Seattle Sounders FC
G – Kasey Keller (c)
D – James Riley, Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, Tyrone Marshall (Sanna Nyassi 104), Leo Gonzalez
M – Nate Jaqua, Osvaldo Alonso, Brad Evans, Steve Zakuani (Roger Levesque 67)
F – Fredy Montero (Sebastian Le Toux 91), Freddie Ljungberg

Substitutes not used – Terry Boss, Patrick Ianni, Tyson Wahl, Peter Vagenas

Shots: Houston 15, Seattle 10. Shots on goal: Houston 5, Seattle 3. Fouls: Houston 16, Seattle 16. Offsides: Houston 4, RSL 0. Corners: Houston 4, Seattle 5. Saves: Houston 3, Seattle 4.