San Diego vs Houston Dynamo 3-3

San Diego and Houston Dynamo shared six goals in a frantic 3-3 draw at Snapdragon Stadium, with San Diego coming back from 3-2 down to level it late. Gabriel Pirani, sent on in the 58th minute, scored in the 86th minute to rescue a point.

San Diego struck twice in the opening 22 minutes. After VAR confirmed a penalty for Cédric Bakambu in the 18th minute, Anders Dreyer scored from the spot on 20 minutes to make it 1-0. Bakambu then finished from Onni Valakari’s assist on 22 minutes for 2-0, but Houston hit back through Guilherme Augusto, who was set up by Lawrence Ennali on 24 minutes. Mateusz Bogusz equalised on 33 minutes from Guilherme Augusto’s assist, and Augusto then put Houston 3-2 ahead on 37 minutes for his second of the match. At half-time it was San Diego 2-3 Houston Dynamo.

Houston protected that lead into the second half, although San Diego made three changes on 58 minutes, with Alejandro Alvarado Jr, Onni Valakari and Bakambu all replaced. The hosts then made two more changes on 76 minutes, and Pirani, one of those who had come on in the 58th minute, struck on 86 minutes. Houston made two substitutions of their own late on, including bringing on Marcelo Saracchi in stoppage time, but they could not stop the equaliser.

The numbers fitted the pattern of a home side on the front foot. San Diego had 62% of the ball, 662 passes to Houston’s 423, 17 shots to 10 and 10 corners to 3. They also had six shots on target to three and an expected goals figure of 2.55 to 0.93. Houston had three saves to San Diego’s none, while both sides were caught offside once.

Both teams finished with three yellow cards. Houston’s were shown to Lawrence Ennali in the 4th minute, Jonathan Bond in the 19th minute and Guilherme Augusto in the 44th, while San Diego’s went to Kieran Sargeant on 53 minutes, Anders Dreyer on 77 minutes and Aníbal Godoy on 79 minutes. There were no red cards.