Union escape Houston with 1-1 tie after Jack McGlynn scores on his former team

Jack McGlynn knew all eyes were on him Saturday when he played against the Union for the first time with the Houston Dynamo.

And he certainly knew they were when he scored a game-tying penalty kick at the end of the first half, because he kissed the badge on his jersey and pointed to the ground beneath him when he did it — a universal sign of showing where he felt welcomed.

The message got across, especially since he’d told Goal.com last month that he and his family felt the Union were “disrespectful” in how they cast him off.

But McGlynn didn’t get the most revenge he could have, because the Union left town with a 1-1 tie. His goal tied the score after Alejandro Bedoya’s 15th-minute opener.

The game was the Union’s third in a week, one of only two road games in July, and played in Houston’s usual summer heat: 87-degree temperatures and 72% humidity during the first half. So it was no surprise that Union manager Bradley Carnell rotated his lineup heavily, sending out seven different starters from Wednesday’s 2-1 win over CF Montréal.

Bedoya was one of them, and so was the player who started the play that created his 15th-minute goal. Olivier Mbaizo took a throw-in deep in Houston territory, Jakob Glesnes received it, and he blasted a cross toward the far post. The Dynamo’s defense might have expected Uhre or fellow starter Bruno Damiani to be there, but instead they found Bedoya. When Griffin Dorsey misplayed the ball, Bedoya pounced and slammed in his second goal of the year.

The Union played most of the first half well considering their lineup and the circumstances. But their luck finally ran out in the eighth minute of first-half stoppage time.

Jovan Lukić fouled Sebastian Kowalczyk just outside the box (and it was definitely the right call this time), McGlynn’s ensuing free kick hit Jesús Bueno’s right elbow on the way toward the goal, and Rosendo Mendoza called a penalty kick for a handball. McGlynn duly buried it, and duly celebrated.

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Mendoza dished out seven yellow cards in the game, including one to Nathan Harriel in the 26th minute that earned him a one-game suspension for card accumulation. He’ll serve it during next Saturday’s home game against the Colorado Rapids (7:30 p.m., Apple TV).

Carnell made three substitutions at halftime: Olwethu Makhanya for Glesnes at centerback, Jean Jacques for Lukić in midfield, and Tai Baribo for Mikael Uhre at striker. A fourth move came early in the second half, when Kai Wagner entered for Olivier Mbaizo in the 58th and Frankie Westfield moved over to right back.

Bedoya was next to go, replaced by Indiana Vassilev in the 72nd. That came a moment after Jean Jacques had broken in behind Houston’s back line and was wide open to shoot, but chose to pass instead and didn’t find a teammate.

Mendoza returned to the spotlight in the 85th. Wagner served a free kick, Bruno Damiani forced a big point-blank save from Jonathan Bond, the Dynamo half-cleared the ball, and the Union got it back. Wagner sent the ball back into the box, Pablo Ortiz collided with Damiani, and Mendoza instantly pointed to the spot.

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The officials could have done so for a potential handball in the scrum before that clearance, but it seemed to be enough that he saw the second infraction. A long delay ensued for a video review, with Mendoza going to the monitor to scrutinize a few things. He ended up flagging a handball by Harriel that was clearly unintentional, but Mendoza judged that the deflection affected the play so much to be worth calling off everything else.

“For the life of me, I’m not sure, when somebody jumps first, makes a play on the ball unopposed, and somebody runs into him from the opposing team — we have leverage, we’re jumping first,” Carnell said after the game. “All I saw was a real fair play at the ball. And our player gets run into, and the other player goes down holding his face.”

He didn’t want to say much more than that, lest he incur a fine from the league.

The Union were granted an extra substitution in the 90th after Jeremy Rafanello suffered a potential head injury. Quinn Sullivan replaced him.

The last plot twists came in 13 minutes of stoppage time. In the ninth of them, Westfield and Houston’s Lawrence Ennali butted heads, and Westfield clearly made a thrust toward Lawrence Ennali. Mendoza saw it and promptly sent Westfield off.

Finally, in the last minute, Artur launched a 30-yard effort that caught goalkeeper Andrew Rick flat-footed but hit the post and stayed out.

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After all that, the Union (14-5-5, 47 points) still ended the night with the second-best record in the Eastern Conference and leaguewide. FC Cincinnati took first with a late win at Real Salt Lake.

“Sorry it wasn’t a spectacle,” Carnell said.

It was one in a way, just not the kind either team likely enjoyed.