Houston Dynamo beat Sporting Kansas City 2-0 on Sunday to earn Major League Soccer’s Eastern Conference title and a place in the league-deciding MLS Cup.

Houston will face the winner of the Western Conference championship game between the L.A Galaxy and Real Salt Lake, being played later Sunday.

It was fiercely-contested encounter in Kansas City but the Dynamo were deserved winners after grabbing control of the game from the early stages.

Sporting, previously known as the Kansas City Wizards, renamed themselves this season to coincide with their move to their own new stadium, Livestrong Sporting Park.

The venue was packed with a record 20,800 crowd hoping to see their team reach their first MLS final since 2004 but for all the support, coach Peter Vermes’s team struggled to impose themselves.

After a scrappy first half, Andre Hainault scrambled Houston in front in the 53rd minute after Jermaine Taylor got on the end of an Adam Moffat free kick.

Moments later, Houston had a huge chance to double the advantage but Luiz Camargo hesitated badly in front of goal and the Sporting defense managed to clear.

Houston, who did not win in their opening 15 games on the road in the regular season, won the midfield battle despite losing key playmaker Brad Davis to injury in the 39th minute.

Davis has been the single most influential figure in Houston’s run to the final and they will now be hoping he is fit for the game in Los Angeles on Nov. 20.

“It is too early to say,” said Davis, of his chances of making that game, “I just couldn’t be more proud of the spirit we showed, it was thoroughly deserved.”

Dynamo, MLS champions in 2006 and 2007, made sure of the victory in the 87th minute when Honduran forward Carlo Costly broke clear and blasted home confidently.

Sporting threw everything forward in the latter stages but despite a few penalty area scrambles, they created little in the way of real chances and paid the price for their lack of inventiveness against Dominic Kinnear’s well-organised side.

(Reporting by Simon Evans in Miami; Editing by Frank Pingue; To query or comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)

Source: Reuters