The Houston Dynamo got a taste of their own medicine Thursday night, as two early goals lead to their 3-1 demise at the hands of Real Salt Lake. The defending champs finally broke their eight-game winless streak against the Orange, led by Costa Rican international Alvaro Saborio’s two goals.

RSL pounced on the Dynamo quickly in the third minute. Kyle Beckerman’s sent a soft cross that found Robbie Finley, who beat his defender to head the ball into goal. The goal was Finley’s first of the season — he led the defending champs with 12 tallies last season.

The Dynamo’s defense never tightened up their coverage, and were punished a second time in the 24th minute. After a whiffed clearance attempt by Dynamo defender Adrian Serioux, Saborio notched his first goal of the game — a quick shot to the near post that beat the outstretched arms of Pat Onstad. He converted again in the 60th minute with a header off a free kick.

Brian Mullan brought a goal back for the Orange in the 72nd minute with a
low shot that snuck in past the defense and RSL’s keeper. That was
essentially their offense Thursday night as they only had one other shot
on goal, a header from Brad Davis that was denied by RSL keeper Nick
Rimando.

The game ends the Dynamo’s brutal stretch of four games
in 13 days, in which they went 2-2. They get some time off before
they’re back on the field next Saturday, May 22 against the worse team
in the league, DC United.

U.S. announces provisional 30-man
World Cup roster
U.S. Men’s National Team coach Bob Bradley named
his initial list of 30 players to be called to camp ahead of the FIFA
World Cup. The list must be trimmed down to 23 players for the
tournament, so performance in camp and two friendlies against the Czech
Republic and Turkey later this month will help Bradley cut that list
down.

The biggest exclusion was that of forward Charlie Davies,
who was involved in a serious car accident late last year. Even though
he made a quick, miraculous recovery, he didn’t get medical clearance
from his French club, Sochaux, which was the ultimate reason for his
exclusion.

Here’s the list 30 men that will be called into camp
by positions.
Goalkeepers (3)
Brad Guzan (Aston Villa), Tim
Howard (Everton), Marcus Hahnemann (Wolverhampton)
Defenders (9)
Carlos
Bocanegra (Rennes), Jonathan Bornstein (Chivas USA), Steve Cherundolo
(Hannover), Jay DeMerit (Watford), Clarence Goodson (IK Start), Chad
Marshall (Columbus Crew), Oguchi Onyewu (AC Milan), Heath Pearce (FC
Dallas), Jonathan Spector (West Ham United)
Midfielders (12)
DaMarcus
Beasley (Rangers), Alejandro Bedoya (Örebro), Michael Bradley (Borussia
Mönchengladbach), Ricardo Clark (Eintracht Frankfurt), Clint Dempsey
(Fulham), Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy), Maurice Edu (Rangers),
Benny Feilhaber (Aarhus), Stuart Holden (Bolton), Sacha Kljestan (Chivas
USA), Robbie Rogers (Columbus Crew), José Torres (Pachuca)
Forwards
(6)
Jozy Altidore (Villarreal), Edson Buddle (Los Angeles
Galaxy), Brian Ching (Dynamo), Findley (RSL), Herculez Gomez (Puebla),
Eddie Johnson (Aris Thessaloniki)

Camp will begin on May 15,
ahead of the USMNT’s game against the Czech Republic on May 25 in
Hartford, Connecticut. Bradley’s final 23-man roster has to be submitted
by June 1. The Americans open up World Cup play in South Africa on June
12 against England.
 

This article appears in May 13-19, 2010.