The topic of conversation for Crew SC will be, once again, finishing - but the conversation will not be heated. Winning keeps everything cool.

The topic of conversation for Crew SC will be, once again, finishing � but the conversation will not be heated. Winning keeps everything cool.

The Crew won 1-0 over the Houston Dynamo on Saturday night before 17,705 at Mapfre Stadium. Striker Kei Kamara scored the lone goal on a penalty kick. Goalkeeper Steve Clark had the clean sheet. Midfielder Federico Higuain set the rhythm.

The Crew deserves high marks for the intelligence and patience with which it put away the Dynamo. The performance was, in a word, solid. The team has now won two in a row, and its record (2-3-2) is similar to what it was after seven games last season (3-2-2).

Is the Crew a better team now than it was at this juncture in 2015?

�That�s a good question,� said coach Gregg Berhalter, who then paused to consider message control.

�It�s hard to tell,� he said. �Last year, you look at our first three home games, and in two of them, opponents got red cards, also. We were able to open up some good leads. Our first four road performances have certainly been better than the first four road performances last year. We�re comfortable. I like the position we�re in. The important thing is to keep getting better, but there have been some good performances.�

That is a fair assessment. The Crew has been better on the road. It has also been good at home, and the game against Houston was another example. Its inflection changed on a red card in the 18th minute, when Dynamo goalkeeper Tyler Deric was ejected for tripping Higuain inside the penalty box.

Houston coach Owen Coyle did not have a problem with the foul, but he did have a problem with the red card. Coyle noted that Higuain was being pushed wide and that there were two defenders coming back to front the goal behind the play. A red card is issued when a defender � denies a clear scoring opportunity,� Coyle said, and it was not clear that Higuain could have scored.

In any case, the Dynamo was down to a backup keeper and a short-handed lineup when Kamara stepped to the spot and smoked a shot under the crossbar to give the Crew a 1-0 lead.

Now, it might be true that the Crew did a better job of pressing its advantage early last season. I would say this, though: The April 2015 Crew could not have handled any situation as well as it handled what the Dynamo showed them Saturday night.

Coyle tightened the Houston formation in a defensive posture. The Crew had to be content to possess the ball � which it loves to do � and probe from the outside. The team had to suppress the instinct that it absolutely had to score.

�You can start forcing things in that situation,� midfielder Wil Trapp said. �You start to feel like you have to push to get that second goal. You can start thinking, �We need it, because all (the opponent) needs is one opportunity.� That can be dangerous.�

The Crew maintained a wonderful poise. It had the ball the whole game. It got caught offside nine times as it tried to crack Houston�s high defensive line, but these were mistakes of commission. Defensively, the Crew was sublime. Whenever it made a thrust, it was quickly in position to parry.

�I think we�re in a better spot, a year further into the system,� captain Michael Parkhurst said.

It does feel that way. The Crew is are not yet at .500, but it is rising.

Michael Arace is a sports reporter for The Dispatch.

marace@dispatch.com

@MichaelArace1