Dynamo earns playoff spot, ties for West lead

(AP) HOUSTON - The Houston Dynamo clinched a playoff berth and moved into a tie atop the Western Conference after blowing a second-half lead Sunday in a 1-1 tie against the Kansas City Wizards.

Luis Angel Landin’s goal put Houston ahead in the 26th minute, but Kansas City’s Zoltan Hercegfalvi scored in the 73rd minute against a Dynamo team that was down to 10 men.

Instead of taking over sole possession of the top spot in the West, Houston (12-8-8) settled for a tie with Los Angeles at 44 points and assured itself of a return to the postseason.

Kansas City (8-11-8) remained in sixth place in the East, six points out of a playoff spot after increasing its unbeaten streak to four games (2-0-2).

Houston went down a man in the 18th minute when Cam Weaver was sent off for a hard tackle from behind. Eight minutes later, however, Landin scored his first career MLS goal off Brian Mullan’s cross.

Hercegfalvi tied it after taking Claudio Lopez’s pass behind the Houston defense on the right box, hitting it off Houston’s Pat Onstad and into the right side of the net.

The Dynamo were playing without leading goal-scorer Brian Ching, who was serving a one-game suspension.

Kevin Hartman made three saves for Kansas City.

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Story from: STATS LLC, http://www.stats.com