He would not be the only Impact player sent off. Montreal would have only eight men left when the final whistle blew.

The only goal of the match was a beauty. Garcia sent a long pas in towards the Montreal goal. Chested deftly from forward Giles Barnes to Ricardo Clark, the midfielder controlled the ball with his first touch, spun and sent an arcing shot off the inside of the left upright and into the mesh behind Troy Perkins for the first goal the Dynamo has scored against the Impact this season.

Beating Houston in normal soccer weather would be difficult enough. But when its 30-31 C at kickoff, with humidity hovering around 80 per cent, the Dynamo’s home-field advantage is exaggerated. Sure, it gets that warm in Toronto in the summer, but BBVA Compass Stadium has a very special way of holding in the heat at field level.

Coach Marco Schallibaum commented on his team’s performance in very positive terms after the match saying, “We came out like a fireworks display, especially in the first half. We could have had, four, five, or six goals but we didn’t get them and for that we have to congratulate Houston for that."

Nelsen: “It’s a great bunch of guys. All the hard work they put in during the week should be rewarded with performances like that — which was a fantastic performance.”

“That’s the difference between being playing a higher level of football and a lower level of football. You take your chances. You might only get once chance away from home and you must learn to take that one chance that you may get.”

With the MLS season moved up to its earliest start ever, forgive us if we don’t feel 100 per cent totally prepared for First Kick. Judging by the way many MLS teams finished preseason, with tentative matches and still looking at trialists with a week to go before the games count in the standings, a lot of coaches aren’t quite ready for the early start, either.

“Overall, I was actually very encouraged about the game,” said Vancouver head coach Martin Rennie. “It was a very young team from us – lots of inexperienced players. For most of the game, we were doing well. We were on top for quite a long time. Obviously, (we’re) disappointed that we lost the goals that we did. I thought we could have defended those a little bit better given that we hardly gave up any chances throughout the game.”

The official “wait till next year” mantra can now be uttered throughout the Montreal Impact camp.

Despite running the balance of play and looking like they were on their way to locking up a relatively easy three points, the Dynamo and their fans looked stunned the Reds escaped with a 1-1 draw at Houston's BBVA Compass Stadium on Saturday night.