Playoff fates in Texas were on the line on Sunday, and it shook out that Houston’s slim playoff hopes are over, while Dallas has a lot more breathing room in its race for one of the West’s final two playoff spots.
Three different goal scorers paced DC United to its first ever win in Houston, a 3-1 finish, while FC Dallas beat a Robbie Keane-less Los Angeles Galaxy 2-1 at Toyota Stadium to clinch a playoff spot.
[ MORE: East nearly set as Toronto fails miserably ]
FC Dallas 2-1 L.A. Galaxy
Stefan Ishizaki returned to the score sheet for the first time since July 28 when he took a Gyasi Zardes cross toward the end line and softly chipped a helpless Chris Seitz to give the Galaxy a lead in the 22nd minute.
But David Texeira made a perfectly-timed run for a No. 9, picked up a through ball from Andres Escobar and slipped it past L.A. keeper Jaime Penedo. It was 1-1 after 52 minutes, and FC Dallas had a new lease on life on the Uruguayan’s fifth goal of the season.
Both Alan Gordon of L.A. and Fabian Castillo of Dallas had chances along the goal line, but in each case the balls drifted wide of the goal.
Then Castillo made it his business to be in the right place, heading a Penedo parry back into the goal and giving FC Dallas its first lead of the night.
Moses Hernandez took a red card in the 89th minute for a tackle from behind on Jose Villarreal, ensuring the Galaxy would have a better chance to equalize. It didn’t happen for L.A. though.
For Dallas, it marks home win No. 8 in a row. The Galaxy walk away from a match on the losing time for the first time in 11 matches.
Houston Dynamo 1-3 DC United
Eddie Johnson, Fabian Espindola and Taylor Kemp scored and Sean Franklin had a pair of assists as DC United took care of business in Houston.
Giles Barnes scored again for Houston, whose record fell to 9-1-1 when hosting DC. The historic loss also eliminated Houston from the postseason, and moves DC to within a point of going worst-to-first in the East.
