2:2 Houston New York Clark Cummings Cahill Alexander 11.03.13 · Playoff

It all looked so good early on. A two-goal lead, a dominating first half... And then, a bad bounce, a bad tackle, and a bad ending to send Metro home tied with Houston 2:2. Oh, and it could have been worse.

Mike Petke only made one change from the team that dominated its Shield-clinching victory last week: Eric Alexander came in for Lloyd Sam. The game plan looked to have worked wonders; Metro stayed tight, counter-attacked, and made Houston pay twice early.

The opener came in the 22nd. David Carney fed Thierry Henry on the left side, and the Frenchman sent a ball into the box that Tim Cahill headed in. Ten minutes later, Dax McCarty sent the ball upfield. Cahill was hacked down, but did enough to redirect it to Alexander. The midfielder did well to weigh his options, and fired home his second in as many games.

So, at that point, and through the end of the first, Metro looked to be in control. Thoughts of domination started to creep up... we should have known better.

Six minutes into the second, a bad clearance from Carney ended at the feet of Ricardo Clark. The ex-Metro took a shot from the edge of the box that deflected of Jamison Olave and trickled in past Luis Robles. And then, in the 65th minute, Olave brought down Omar Cummings on the left sideline.

Was it a straight red? That's up for debate. On some days, Olave might have been lucky. Today, he wasn't. And the game wasn't the same the rest of the way.

Houston attacked in waves, Metro's ten men doing their best to keep the lead. A number of shots whiffed just wide of the Metro net. Alas, two minutes into injury time, Robles' save off a corner kick fell to Cummings, who tied the game at 2:2.

We did say it could have been worse, right? Seconds after the goal, Salazar decided not to whistle what looked like an Ibrahim Sekagya foul inside the box. Houston's cry for a penalty went unanswered, but considering they already got help with the Olave ejection, perhaps they should be happy with the result.

So now, a quick turnaround and a return leg at Red Bull Arena, where Metro is winless in three playoff matches. Oh well. No one said it's gonna be easy...

But it looked so good early on!

Lineup: Robles, Carney, Olave, Sekagya, Holgersson, McCarty, Steele, Alexander, Luyindula, Cahill, Henry. Subs: Barklage, Sam, Wright-Phillips.