San Jose’s Jamar Ricketts (right) receives a pass as the Dynamo’s Ibrahim Aliyu defends SaturdayMatthew Huang/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

By William Espy

SAN JOSE–The San Jose Earthquakes were back at home on Saturday night as they hosted the Houston Dynamo in a massively important game as the end of the season rapidly approaches. The Quakes only score came from Daniel Munie at the 38th minute good enough to end up winning the match 1-0 at Pay Pal Park.

The game started out very physical, which was clear when Ronaldo Vieira was shown a yellow card in the very first minute.

The Earthquakes were generating chances early in the match, but weren’t able to get them on target very often. Either they would end up in a strong scoring position but fail to get a shot away, or they would be well off target.

In the 19th minute, the Quakes got their second yellow card of the night, this time it was given to Beau Leroux. At the same time, Jamar Ricketts was also shown a yellow card of his own.

Ousseni Bouda nearly gave the Earthquakes the lead in the 32nd minute with a great shot from inside the box, but it bounced off the post and back into play.

The Earthquakes opened the scoring in the 38th minute when Daniel Munie was able to get one past Jonathan Bond for his fifth goal of the season.

A massive goal-line scramble nearly saw Houston get an equalizer in the 60th minute, but between the Quakes’ defense and a big save by Angus Gunn, they were able to keep the ball out of the net.

Leroux and Niko Tsakiris left the match in the 69th minute, with Ian Harkes and Nick Fernandez taking their place, in the Quakes’ first substitutions of the night. The Dynamo got their first yellow card of the night when Bouda was taken down just outside the box by Augustin Resch. Eduard Lowen nearly converted on the free kick, but the ball went just wide of the net.

Bouda and Lowen left the match in the 82nd minute for Jack Skahan and Luka Jovanovic. The Dynamo tried heavily for an equalizer in the 88th minute, but Gunn made a pair of big saves to maintain San Jose’s lead. Those saves would end up being key, as the Earthquakes held on to win 1-0.