Bond bails out Houston as Dynamo play to scoreless draw with Minnesota

Ten shots to 17, five saves from Jonathan Bond, and in the end, nobody found the back of the net. Houston Dynamo FC and Minnesota United FC played to a 0-0 draw at Shell Energy Stadium in an MLS match that produced more chances than goals, with the home goalkeeper standing out as the main character.

The script was clear from early on: Minnesota arrived with more quality and more frequency, but ran into Houston's crossbar and goalkeeper time and again. As early as the 15th minute, the visitors gave notice with two shots in quick succession, from Kelvin Yeboah and Cherrion Valerius, both of which drifted just wide to the right. In the 35th minute, Jefferson Díaz tried his luck with a right-footed effort from the center of the box after a headed flick from Bongokuhle Hlongwane, and Bond got down to make the save. Four minutes later, Yeboah himself tested the goalkeeper again with another shot that ended up in the Dynamo keeper's hands.

The second half opened with the same storyline. Just after the restart, Anthony Markanich tried first with a header from close range that grazed the post, and seconds later fired another shot from point-blank range that Bond once again turned away. Aziel Jackson also had a go in the 53rd minute, sending a shot high through the middle of the goal. Houston, for its part, had its best response on that same sequence, with a left-footed shot from inside the box by Guilherme that Minnesota's goalkeeper stopped right under the crossbar.

With Duncan McGuire coming on for Lyle Foster in the 55th minute, the Dynamo gained a bit more attacking weight, and between the 64th and 69th minutes they had their clearest stretch of the match: McGuire, Agustín Bouzat (twice), and Antônio Carlos all tried their luck without success, none finding the target. Minnesota answered with substitutions of its own, bringing on Marcus Caldeira, Joaquín Pereyra, and Michael Boxall, and Pereyra came close in the 83rd minute with a shot that Bond again kept out, this time diving low to his left.

Neither side found the net despite late pushes, with substitutes like Ibrahim Aliyu, Duane Holmes, Diadié Samassékou, and Tomás Chancalay all entering the fray, and the match fizzled out at the same 0-0 scoreline it started with.

What the numbers say

Houston had more of the ball, but Minnesota was sharper and created the only big chance of the match, according to the stats.

The xG calculated after the fact from the match's shots backs up that impression: 1.645 for Minnesota compared to just 0.656 for Houston, an in-house estimate that paints the picture of a Dynamo side that controlled the ball without turning it into real danger, against a visiting team that created more and better chances but couldn't get past Bond.

The result also falls well short of what we projected before the match, when we gave Houston a 44 percent chance of winning, to Minnesota's 29 percent, with a 27 percent chance of a draw, and combined expected goals of 2.96 (1.65 for the home side and 1.31 for the visitors). The draw ended up being the final outcome, but not for the reasons we anticipated: not for lack of chances, but because of Bond's effectiveness between the posts.

In the Western Conference standings, Houston sits fifth with 48 points, while Minnesota is twelfth with 35, a 13-point gap between the two sides. The point doesn't move the standings much, but it leaves Minnesota with the feeling of having created enough to take more from the match, and Houston with the relief of a goalkeeper who held the result together on a night when the home attack never showed up.