At least that's been the case this season. After sharing six goals in a 3-3 tie at Robertson Stadium last month, FC Dallas and Houston squared off at Pizza Hut Park for their second meeting Wednesday, and a stoppage-time Dwayne De Rosario equalizer earned Houston a 2-2 tie.
Kenny Cooper scored his sixth goal of the season, which ranks second among MLS scorers behind Landon Donovan, for a 1-0 FCD lead in the 35th minute. Corey Ashe, from a DeRosario assist, tied it in the 59th minute, yet Dallas regained the lead 10 minutes later when defender Drew Moor headed in Andre Rocha's corner kick.
Rocha went off with a straight red card in the 80th minute and Dallas dug in as Houston pressed forward in the final minutes.
Moor missed a chance to clear Ashe's cross in stoppage time and Brian Ching came into behind him to carom a shot off the crossbar. De Rosario tapped in the rebound to earn the Dynamo a most fortunate point.
The tie also denied FCD (3-3-4) first place in the Western Conference; with 13 points, it trails Los Angeles by one. Houston (2-3-5) is in fifth place yet just three points out of first.
Interim FCD head coach Marco Ferruzzi is 1-0-1 in his two games in charge since replacing Steve Morrow last week. President and general manager Michael Hitchcock hopes to narrow his list of candidates down to three at the end of this week, and Hitchcock has already assured Ferruzzi he'll be retained in some capacity if he isn't the head coach.
There's more than a head coach for Hitchcock to worry about. The game drew only 8,541 fans, and that midweek figure isn't only ominous in itself. The announced crowd for last Saturday's match against RSL (8,960) was only larger by 419 fans.
May 28 in Frisco, Texas
FC Dallas 2 Houston 2. Goals: Cooper (Ricchetti) 35, Moor (Rocha) 69; Ashe (De Rosario, Ching) 59, De Rosario 93+.
FC Dallas - Sala, Moor, Davino (Pitchkolan, 46), Serioux, Ricchetti, Saragosa, Toja, Wagner, Rocha, Cooper (Thompson, 88), Oduro (Alvarez, 72)
Houston - Onstad, Waibel, Boswell, Robinson, Cameron, Mullan (Ashe, 46), De Rosario, Mulrooney, Holden (Wondolowski, 85), Brown (Davis, 58), Ching.
Yellow Cards: FC Dallas - Sala 74, Saragosa 80;
Houston - Holden 18, Robinson 57.
Red Cards: FC Dallas - Rocha 80; Houston - Robinson 80.
Referee: Alex Prus.
Att.: 8,541.
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