E. RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- The New York Red Bulls were five minutes from taking a one-goal lead into the second leg of the Western Conference Semifinal Series, but Kei Kamara struck for the equalizer in the 85th minute to forge a 1-1 draw for the Houston Dynamo Saturday afternoon at Giants Stadium.
The aggregate series moves to Robertson Stadium next Sunday where the two-time defending MLS Cup champions have lost just once during the regular season, while the Red Bulls have one road win on the season.
And they have Kamara, who came on for Nate Jaqua in the 66th minute, to thank for that. Stuart Holden, another second-half substitute, tapped Wade Barrett's cross to Kamara, who put the ball past Danny Cepero from eight yards out.
Juan Pablo Angel put the Red Bulls in front three minutes into the second half, beating Eddie Robinson to a Wolyniec cross and heading it inside the far post from eight yards out.
Dave van den Bergh started the scoring sequence with a throw-in toward the corner, where Wolyniec touched the ball into the box with his left foot. Angel ran toward the cross, bent over and his header bounced inside the far post.
All three of Red Bulls head coach Juan Carlos Osorio's midseason acquisitions -- Venezuelans Jorge Rojas and Gabriel Cichero and Argentinean defensive midfielder Juan Pietravallo -- were not in New York's starting XI.
Instead, Luke Sassano and Sinisa Ubiparipovic patrolled the center of the park together, the first time the two were in the same starting lineup since April 27, when the Red Bulls defeated San Jose 2-0 at Giants Stadium.
With Mike Magee out with an undisclosed illness, Wolyniec, who had eight goals in 12 reserve matches, started up front with Angel.
Osorio went with Leitch, Andrew Boyens, Diego Jimenez and Kevin Goldthwaite defensively, the same back four that were on the field when the Red Bulls defeated Houston 3-0 at Giants Stadium on Aug. 24.
Houston coach Dominic Kinnear went with the same starting XI that drew Chivas USA at The Home Depot Center in the regular-season finale a week earlier. Kamara was Kinnear's first change, coming on for Jaqua in the 66th minute. In the 71st minute, Holden replaced Mullan.
The first half saw no scoring, but plenty of physical confrontations as the teams combined for 23 fouls. In the 29th minute Richards was booked for plowing into Richard Mulrooney to be the first in referee Kevin Stott's book. Brian Mullan retaliated and was booked as well.
The two teams clashed briefly after Jaqua collided with Boyens in the 35th minute, although Jaqua escaped a yellow card. Two minutes later, Angel was booked for elbowing Mulrooney on a 50-50 challenge in the Dynamo 18-yard box.
The best scoring chance in the first half came when Ubiparipovic stripped De Rosario and took a bouncing shot that Onstad tipped away for a corner kick in the eighth minute.
The game came to life with Angel's first career playoff goal three minutes after the restart. Four minutes later, Cepero dived to his right to save Jaqua's header from inside the box in a bid to bring Houston level.
New York was unlucky not to have a two-goal edge when Dynamo 'keeper Pat Onstad came off his line in a race for a through ball, just beating Wolyniec. The ball caromed out to Dane Richards, who took a touch and fired a low shot from distance that had Onstad beat, but Mulrooney cleared the attempt off the line in the 53rd minute.
Three minutes later Robinson received the ball off a Brian Ching header, but he fired high and wide of the net.
Chris Leitch fired an ambitious attempt from 30 yards out that beat Onstad's dive but went off the outside netting in the 61st minute.
Then five minutes later, Dwayne De Rosario ran into space, but he rolled his shot wide of the far post from the left side of the 18-yard box.
In a bid to protect their precious advantage, Osorio brought on Pietravallo for Ubiparipovic in the 77th minute. But the plan backfired when two of the Dynamo's changes combined to give their team the equalizer.
Wolyniec then nearly gave the Red Bulls a dramatic victory, but Onstad dived to his left to push aside his shot for a corner kick in the 90th minute.
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