Lawrence Ennali's Long-Range Screamer Gives Dynamo 1-0 Payback Win Over Rapids

For 71 minutes, the Colorado Rapids held the ball like the one friend who refuses to give up the aux cord. Then a Houston corner came back out of the crowd in the box, Lawrence Ennali took a look from outside the area, and the German forward ended the playlist with one right-footed swing into the top left corner. Shell Energy Stadium lost its mind, and the only moment that mattered belonged to the team that barely had the ball.

Houston Dynamo FC beat the Colorado Rapids 1-0 on Saturday night, a neat little piece of payback three weeks after Colorado ran up a 6-2 win over the Dynamo at DICK'S Sporting Goods Park on April 11. Jonathan Bond made two saves for his third clean sheet of the season, and according to the Dynamo, it was the club's fifth win in its last six matches across all competitions.

Possession Without Purpose

On paper, this one belonged to Colorado. The Rapids finished with 61 percent of the ball and completed 498 passes to Houston's 290. In practice, all that circulation went sideways. Colorado did not register a single attempt in the first half, according to ESPN's play-by-play feed, while the Dynamo, with far less of the ball, did all the probing.

Jack McGlynn tested Zack Steffen from long range in the 20th minute, and four minutes later Diadié Samassékou forced a diving stop from distance after Mateusz Bogusz teed him up. A quick-fire sequence in the 26th minute saw Artur and Ezequiel Ponce both have efforts blocked off Guilherme deliveries.

Colorado's night was also getting messier by the minute. Rob Holding went off injured in the 33rd minute, replaced by Noah Cobb, and Josh Atencio followed him six minutes later, with Paxten Aaronson coming on. Two forced changes before halftime is the kind of luck that makes a coach stare at the ceiling on the flight home. The half dragged through seven minutes of stoppage time and ended scoreless.

Bond Answers, Steffen Keeps Answering

The Rapids finally woke up after the break. In the 51st minute, Darren Yapi set up Dante Sealy for a header from the center of the box, and Bond reacted sharply to push it away. That was Colorado's best look for a long time, and the Dynamo's response was to go right back at Steffen.

Bogusz was the busiest man in orange. McGlynn slipped him through in the 55th minute and Steffen saved, and four minutes later Bogusz tried again from outside the box, this time off a pass from Ennali, and Steffen was there again. The Colorado keeper finished with four saves and kept his side alive deep into the half.

The game also turned feisty. The referee, Allen Chapman, showed six yellow cards, three to each side, with Felipe Andrade, Bogusz and Ennali booked for Houston and Hamzat Ojediran, Alexis Manyoma and Yapi booked for Colorado. Both benches got involved around the hour: Georgi Minoungou came on for Colorado in the 60th minute, and Héctor Herrera and Agustín Bouzat entered for Houston three minutes later.

The Turning Point: Ennali From Downtown

Houston won back-to-back corners in the 69th and 72nd minutes, and the second one changed everything. Colorado got the delivery out, but only as far as Ennali lurking outside the box. He brought it under control and hit a right-footed shot that rose into the top left corner, leaving Steffen no chance. It was his third goal of the season, per the AP, and it arrived nine minutes after he had been booked. Talk about channeling the frustration.

He nearly did it again in the 80th minute, launching another right-footed effort from outside the box that sailed high and wide after a corner.

Star Watch

Ennali was the headliner: two shots, one goal, two fouls drawn, and he set up Bogusz's 59th-minute chance as well. Colorado kept him quiet for long stretches, but quiet is not the same as solved.

Bond deserves the co-billing. He only had two saves to make, but both came in moments where a goal would have flipped the game, the Sealy header in the 51st minute and a stoppage-time drive from Aaronson that he got to at the top center of the goal. Bond's three shutouts this season have all come in Houston's last four games, the AP noted.

Steffen was Colorado's best player by a distance. Four saves, two of them on Bogusz, kept the Rapids within one swing of a point. Bogusz himself put both of his shots on target and gave Houston its most consistent threat between the lines.

Stats That Matter

• Possession: Colorado 61 percent, Houston 39 percent.
• Shots: Houston outshot Colorado 9-4, with a 5-2 edge in shots on target.
• Crossing: Colorado sent in 29 crosses and completed only four.
• Clearances: Houston cleared the ball 31 times, its answer to all that Colorado possession.
• Saves: Steffen made four, Bond two.

What It Means

Houston moves to 5-0-5 with 15 points, and it is a strangely all-or-nothing season so far: ten matches, zero draws. The Dynamo have now won three of their last four MLS matches by a 1-0 scoreline, beating Orlando City, San Diego and now Colorado, with only a 2-0 loss at Austin breaking up the run. The Rapids' own recap listed Houston eighth in the Western Conference after the match. Next up for the Dynamo is a Sunday night trip to LAFC on May 10.

Colorado falls to 4-1-6 with 13 points, ninth in the West according to its club recap. The AP noted the Rapids are winless in four, with three losses, and the dropoff from that April rout is stark: Colorado scored six on Houston last month and none here. The Rapids host St. Louis CITY SC on May 9, and the status of Holding and Atencio will be the first question on everyone's mind.

The frustrating part for Colorado is that the game plan sort of worked. The Dynamo's club recap pointed out that the Rapids came in with the third-most goals in MLS, and Houston still held them to two shots on target. Owning the ball is nice. Doing something with it is the job.

Closing Take

Somewhere there is a consultant's slide deck that says Colorado won this game: more passes, more possession, more crosses. Houston brought Lawrence Ennali and a corner kick that refused to die. Three weeks ago, the Rapids put six past this team. On Saturday, the Dynamo needed one, and they got the kind that ends up on a loop in the club's highlight reel for the rest of the year.

Stats from ESPN's match data and the AP recap via ESPN. Match notes from Houston Dynamo FC (houstondynamofc.com) and the Colorado Rapids (coloradorapids.com).