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Dynamo rout Revolution behind Bruin brace

WillBruinHoustonDynamo1-NewEnglandRevolution2014 (USATodaySports)

By RYAN TOLMICH

Will Bruin entered the 2014 MLS season with a point to prove, and he got off to an ideal start on Saturday evening.

The Houston Dynamo kicked off the 2014 MLS season in stunning fashion, thrashing the New England Revolution, 4-0, at BBVA Compass Stadium in downtown Houston. Bruin scored twice in the game as the Dynamo found themselves with a three-goal lead inside 25 minutes.

Bruin was on his game early and often for the Dynamo, as the 24-year-old forward started his night by finding the back of the net in the second minute. Bruin took a heavy touch at the top of the box that forced the ball into the air before calmly volleying the ball on net and past New England Bobby Shuttleworth.

The Dynamo forward scored again just 12 minutes later to double the Dynamo’s lead. Cory Ashe found a back-post Bruin run with a cross from the left side of the box, which allowed a sliding Bruin an open shot at net for his second on the night. Bruin’s big goalscoring night came on the heels of a disappointing 2013 season that saw him score only eight regular season goals.

Bruin then played distributor for Houston’s third goal, which was scored by Oscar Boniek Garcia. Bruin found a late arriving Garcia at the top of the box, allowing Garcia to take a touch before finishing to make it 3-0.

The Dynamo added insult to injury just before the final whistle with an Omar Cummings goal to make it 4-0. A Ricardo Clark shot from outside the box hit Cummings square in the head and deflected past Shuttleworth, giving the Jamaican his first regular season goal for the Dynamo.

The Dynamo did come away from the match with one drawback, with on-loan midfielder Tony Cascio forced to leave the match in the 55th minute with an apparent knee injury. The Revolution were also forced to make an early move when Kevin Alston was forced to limp off the field.

Comments

  1. NE didnt pressure the ball enough. Especially in the midfield. Dynamo were able to turn, get there head-up and have plenty of time to get attack rolling. Shouldnt happen.

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  2. I thought Houston was going to have problems making the playoffs, but if Bruin has a good year, this will make a big difference.

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    • The questions will be how we cope with callups and whether we can create and finish chances routinely each week. Our midfield depth will be tested with Brazil and we had similar personnel last year and struggled for goals over time. Cummings’ health will be important, as will the general health of the team.

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  3. Great weekend so far:

    1. Dynamo win

    2. NY loss.

    3. LA loss, and while the reffing was atrocious, I think the ledger will fairly reflect the result.

    4. Solid homecomings for some US internationals (Mo Edu & Parkhurst).

    5. Young American strikers looking like they’re back on track (Bruin, McInerney)

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  4. Love the big win! Revs were slow to the ball (especially the 2nd) and not in form. Fagundez will be awesome very soon. Is Alex Lopez injured? Did he even make the 18?

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    • Rumor is there has been some fitness issues with Alex Lopez. He didn’t come in to camp in shape. Nothing pisses Dom Kinnear off more than laziness. He is looking at the bench for the long hall and might be offloaded after taking a young DP tag if he doesn’t get his crap together.

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      • What little I’ve seen of Lopez has been underwhelming. I think we’re being surprisingly indulgent — I’ve seen players like Koke run back out of town in weeks — but then we gave Landin a lot of time too.

        I would not be surprised if he’s gone by the summer window if he doesn’t make a quick reversal of impression. We could always use upgrades, bench options.

  5. Scoreline was a bit flattering for the Dynamo. Don’t get me wrong – they totally deserved to win, and the Revs clearly didn’t get off on the right foot. But the Revs also hit the woodwork twice (including a curler from Fagundez that would have been goal of the week if it had been 3 inches lower) and the fourth goal for the Dynamo was a rather fortuitous deflection of Omar Cummings face that sent Shuttleworth the wrong way. Could easily have been 3-2.

    Aggravating game for us Revs fans. Kobayashi has some nice touches and good vision. Fagundez is going to be wonderful again if last night was any indication – in addition to his curler, he had an audacious scoop pass to Rowe that was straight out of Iniesta’s playbook – Rowe’s first time volley was over the bar.

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    • I’m happy with the scoreline as a Houston fan, but based on what I saw NE will be fine.

      The scoreline is a bit misleading, and I don’t feel like the East is any easier as a result of this weekend.

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      • I felt like the scoreline was fair, they should have started 4 backs and were made to pay for it repeatedly before half.

        They did have their moments but the whole point to their 352 was tilting the formation forward but they didn’t get anything in the net. I’m not familiar with their injury situation but the lineup didn’t feel like their best, kind of like Montreal coming in last fall. Lot of no names and then the more dangerous Sene and Bengston off the bench. They played us relatively even second half — give or take the deflection — but that’s cause they subbed.

        On the deflection goal we’re knocking it around for the better part of a minute. The deflection was fortuitous but perhaps fair considering all the buildup.

        Horst looked good but I want to see what he does when someone tries to run him. NE played a lot of hoofball which was red meat for our CBs, and we made the tackles we had to. But if we play a high line like that other nights a team may throughballs us and then I want to see how much ground Horst and Taylor can cover. But a good first night.

  6. Great start to the season and good confidence builder for Bruin, but i would like to see how we play against some stronger teams. I know they’re meaningless but the power rankings are sure to bring a smile to my face. I”m also curious to how KC will deal with the extra games that come with wining the cup.

    This will be a great year for Dynamo fans.

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  7. Neither the Revs’ lineup choices nor their three man backline made a ton of sense, They weren’t our usual deadball type goals — they all went right down the middle in the run of play.

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  8. Good game. NER has been the boogie man for Houston in the past. Solid work by the veteran Dynamo side. Bad news about Cascio but it might not be too serious. Horst looked better than expected. Strong defender.

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  9. It looked like a MCL sprain the way it happened for Cascio. … And people said the Dynamo were going to struggle to make the playoffs! “Silly experts”!

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