The Houston Dynamo defeated the San Jose Earthquakes by a score of 2-1 late Friday night. There are a few noteworthy things about that: The Dynamo won on the road for the first time in 21 games; this was the first MLS match involving the Dynamo that had more than two goals scored in it since June 26th; and a loss in this game prevented San Jose from jumping into a playoff berth, and they now will hope for a Sounders loss this weekend.
The Dynamo, to put it simply, got the first of many opportunities to play spoiler on Friday, and they took advantage of it.