Houston Dynamo FC was up 1-0 for 70 minutes of the match. Although Charlotte FC had more possession and shots on goal, the club couldn’t break through on the road in Houston until the 80th minute when they equalized. But second later, due to an unusual mistake, the Dynamo were left out of the tournament.
Houston opened the scoring in the 10th minute thanks to Chris Baird, assisted by Nelson Quiñones at Shell Energy Stadium. But even though the Dynamo defense were able to keep Charlotte off the board most of the night, a mistake changed the outcome of the match.
The 1-0 scoreline wasn’t fair to a Charlotte FC team that was playing better for most of the match and had trouble solving the Houston defense. But in the 80th minute, everything changed. Dynamo goalkeeper Steve Clark tried to contest a long ball toward the box, but he didn’t come out aggressively enough and Patrick Agyemang dribbled around him and scored to make it 1-1.
Just a few seconds after play resumed, Houston defender Micael tried to make a back pass to Clark from outside of the area. But the goalkeeper wasn’t paying attention and the pass back was too hard for him to reach before it rolled into the back of the net and gave Charlotte a 2-1 lead.
Houston had just ten minutes left to recover and although they made a few dangerous attacks on the net, they couldn’t find an equalizer and were eliminated from the tournament.
Look at the two goals:
Charlotte FC now travels to Florida to visit Inter Miami CF, captained by Lionel Messi, looking to beat one of the tournament favorites and reach the 2023 Leagues Cup Semifinal.