Tempers flare as Dynamo top Impact

HOUSTON -- In an exhibition meeting of a pair of teams who had mixed fortunes earlier in the week in the quarterfinals of the CONCACAF Champions League, the Houston Dynamo knocked off the USL-1 Montreal Impact 3-2 in a tense preseason meeting Saturday morning at Robertson Stadium.

Not even four days removed from a disappointing 1-1 home tie against Atlante FC in the CONCACAF Champions League, and with the return match in Cancun looming, the Orange needed a good showing against a Montreal team that last weekend topped Santos Laguna, 2-0, in their opening leg CONCACAF quarterfinal at Olympic Stadium in Canada.

Brian Ching, who entered the "friendly" in the second half, scored two goals to help the Dynamo improve to 3-1-2 in the preseason, not counting the match against Atlante.

The game nearly got out of hand in the 56th minute as both benches cleared to midfield after Houston's Eric Ustruck was elbowed by Roberto Brown, who was sent off for the incident. No punches were thrown, but the Dynamo's Corey Ashe had to be restrained by his own players just before the things intensified.

In the 47th minute, Ching scored his first goal of the game when he one-timed a nice cross by Ashe past Montreal 'keeper Srdjan Djekanovic. Four minutes later, Ching scored what proved to be the game-winner when he waited just to the right of the far post and knocked in pass from Mike Chabala.

"I think this was a good practice game for us, and one that I think will give us a little bit of confidence going into the game this week," said Ching, who scored his first two goals of the preseason. "It was a good game for me too, personally, too. I am going to have to score goals all year, so I will take the positives when I can get them for sure."

The Dynamo controlled play in the first half of the game, divided into two 35-minute halves. Montreal managed one shot and did not record a single legitimate scoring chance, and the Dynamo took advantage of a turnover to take a 1-0 lead into the halftime period.

After taking a short pass from 'keeper Matt Jordan, Impact defender Nevio Pizzolitto turned the ball over to Kei Kamara who tapped the ball over to a wide open Chris Wondolowski.

Wondolowski buried the shot for a 1-0 Dynamo lead just nine minutes into the game.

In the 17th minute, Montreal recorded its only scoring chance of the half when Andre Hainault turned the ball over to Joey Gjertsen who froze defender Julius James before ripping a shot high off the crossbar.

The Dynamo came out flat in the second half and allowed the tying goal when Roberto Brown worked his way around the Dynamo defense, waited on a perfect cross from Felix Brillant and buried an easy goal past Tally Hall in the 37th minute.

Wondolowski nearly had his second of the match four minutes later, but he was offside when he beat Djekanovic (who replaced Jordan to start the second half) after taking a nice pass from Brian Ching.

Montreal's Peter Byers scored the final goal of the game in the final seconds when beat Hall high into the net in the 70th minute.

Ching, who did not travel with the team the last time the Dynamo went to Mexico, said he was pleased with how the team has progressed during the preseason and with the level of competition in each exhibition match they've played thus far.

"As a group, we have been competing with this core group for the last four or five years, and we will use (the scrimmages) as a competition to get us ready for the rest of the (CONFCACAF) tournament and the MLS regular season," he said. "Hopefully we can go further than we did last year."

After the match in Cancun, the Dynamo will close out their preseason with a match against the Austin Aztex (United Soccer Leagues First Division) on Saturday, March 7.