Dynamo lived up to their nickname with three goals in a 15-minute blitz towards the end of the first half that effectively sealed the victory.

Sydney FC now face David Beckham’s LA Galaxy in the 3rd/4th playoff on Saturday evening (Sunday afternoon in Australia).

The match started evenly with both teams having chances to open the scoring inside the first 15 minutes.

Sydney’s chance fell to Brendan Santalab after he worked a good passing movement involving Steve Corica and beat two defenders only to see his shot wasted, straight off the feet of the exposed Houston goalkeeper.

Almost immediately Houston midfielder Dwayne De Rosario struck the crossbar with a venomous 25m strike with Clint Bolton beaten.

De Rosario had a second chance to unleash a long range shot in the 27th minute after a defensive blunder by rookie rightback Ryan Walsh.

This time his shot beat Bolton and scraped inside the post to give the USA team a 1-0 lead.

Two minutes later it was 2-0 when Stuart Holden was the quickest to react to a rebound and his shot snuck inside Bolton’s near post.

Sydney were rattled by the twin strikes and the game was put beyond their reach when Houston striker Chris Wondolowski sent another rocket past Bolton to make it 3-0 just minutes before half time.

Coach John Kosmina made a change at half time with Ivan Necevski given a chance between the sticks.

Kosmina’s half time talk must also have struck a chord because the team Sydney looked stronger - slightly - in the second term after a amateurish performance in the first 45.

Defenders Walsh and Brendan Renaud got forward more down the flanks, although Sydney never came close to troubling the Houston 'keeper.

Patrick marked his return to the Sydney side with arguably the strongest performance of the night, making an immediate impact after he came on late in the game.

But Mark Robertson summed up Sydney's evening when his long-range effort not only missed the target, but sailed over the cornerflag and into the corner stand of the stadium.

Sydney defender Jacob Timpano also made a successful return from a string of injuries that have seen him miss most of the last two years.

The former Olyroo captain came into the match in the 73rd minute and looked solid at the back, almost scoring with his first touch when he met a Terry McFlynn corner with a strong header.

Sydney FC now take on LA Galaxy in the 3rd/4th playoff on Saturday night at 6.00pm (3.00pm Sunday, Sydney time).

Houston Dynamo 3 (Dwayne De Rosario 27, Stuart Holden 29, Chris Wondolowski 43) Sydney FC 0
Pan Pacific Championship first round
Aloha Stadium, Hawaii
Referee: Alex Prus

Sydney FC
Clint Bolton (Ivan Necevski 46)
Iain Fyfe
Ryan Walsh
Tony Popovic (Jacob Timpano 73)
Steve Corica (Adam Biddle 64)
Brendan Santalab (Patrick 73)
Ben Vidaic (Nik Tsattalios 64)
Alex Brosque
Terry McFlynn
Brendan Renaud
Mark Robertson

Yellow cards: Brendan Santalab 49, Ryan Walsh 57)
Red cards: -

Houston Dynamo
Pat Onstad
Patrick Ianni
Wade Barrett
Bobby Boswell
Richard Mulrooney
Ricardo Clark (Erik Ustruck 84)
Dwayne De Rosario (Brad Davis 58)
Stuart Holden (Mike Chabala 84)
Corey Ashe
Chris Wondolowski
Brian Ching (Geoff Cameron 64)

Subs not used: Craig Waibel, John Michael Hayden and Corbin Waller.
Yellow cards: -
Red cards: -