Flat Dynamo faced uphill battle

From the moment Gabriel Pereyra headed in a late equalizer in the opening leg of the CONACAF Champions League quarterfinals, the Houston Dynamo faced an uphill battle to advance to the semifinals.

After all, no Major League Soccer team had ever won on Mexican soil and the Dynamo were still in preseason mode, while Atlante FC is already two months into the Mexican Clausura.

But Dynamo coach Dominic Kinnear wasn't making excuses after his team was eliminated by Atlante 3-0 in the second leg Tuesday night in Cancun, Mexico.

"Our mentality was not as aggressive as I thought it should have been," Kinnear said after the match. "They won a lot of balls in the air that we should have had. They were more aggressive during the first 20 minutes, and they got rewarded for it."

Because his team conceded the away goal in the first leg, Kinnear knew a goal was necessary for his team to advance. But it was the hosts that came out and attacked from the outset, winning a corner kick inside the first minute.

"We needed to score some goals tonight," Kinnear said. "We switched formations, tried to put attacking players on the field, and created some chances. In the end, however, we could not score a goal. That, obviously, made all the difference."

Houston struggled defensively, looking every bit the team still two-and-a-half weeks from its regular-season opener. Fernando Navarro had a half-step on fullback Wade Barrett when the Atlante player headed down goalkeeper Federico Vilar's driven free kick from midfield and then chipped the ball over a sliding Pat Onstad to put Atlante in front 1-0 on 23 minutes.

Rafael Marquez Lugo doubled Atlante's edge and all but buried Houston 11 minutes later, sending an open header over Onstad's left shoulder after Craig Waibel mistimed his jump.

"Any time you go down 2-0 in the first (34) minutes of play is a slow start, no matter where you're at and what competition you're playing," Kinnear said. "I am very disappointed in the first two goals and unhappy with the way we played overall."

Desperately in need of goals, Kinnear made two changes at halftime, taking off both Barrett and Waibel, but said it had nothing to do with their roles in the conceded goals.

"The substitutions were not made as a form of punishment for our team," Kinnear said. "I told the guys at halftime, 'we need to put more attacking players.' At that point we didn't need to defend any more, as the game had already gone past us a little bit, so what we needed to do was try to score some goals. That's why Corey Ashe came in, and that's why Geoff Cameron saw some action as well. They both came up and gave us a little bit of a lift, but in the end we just couldn't score tonight."

Second-half substitute Giancarlo Maldonado put a stamp on Atlante's victory, chesting down Luis Gabriel Rey's cross and scoring off the underside of the crossbar from eight yards out to help Atlante avenge a 4-0 drubbing by Houston in last year's SuperLiga at Robertson Stadium.

"I think they were more prepared for us this time around than (when we faced them in SuperLiga)," Kinnear said. "At that point, they didn't know much about us, but that has since changed. In the end, it's all about chances. They scored on the chances they had and were very opportunistic with all their goals."