HOUSTON — Amine Bassi scored the go-ahead goal in the 79th minute, Héctor Herrera also scored a goal, and the Houston Dynamo beat Real Salt Lake 2-1 Sunday night in Game 1 of the best-of-three first-round MLS Cup Playoffs series.
Houston can clinch a berth in the conference semifinals with a win in Game 2 on Nov. 6 in Sandy.
After an RSL giveaway in its defensive territory, Griffin Dorsey’s back-post shot was swatted away by goalkeeper Zac MacMath but Bassi blasted the put-back from the center of the penalty area into a wide-open net to give the Dynamo a 2-1 lead.
Herrera gave Houston a 1-0 lead in the 22nd minute, when he chest-trapped a pass from Adalberto Carrasquilla and then slipped a low left-footer into the net to make it 1-0.
Diego Luna scored for Real Salt Lake in the 54th minute to make it 1-1, his first MLS Cup Playoffs goal. On the counter-attack, Anderson Julio played an arcing cross to Luna at the top of the area where the 20-year-old midfielder blasted a low shot inside the right post.