The Houston Dynamo offense enjoyed its best day of the young season, rattling off three goals to knock off the Vancouver Whitecaps, 3-1, on Sunday at Robertson Stadium.
Cam Weaver, Bobby Boswell and Will Bruin scored goals on a night when Vancouver's defense struggled badly, particularly after the departure of veteran centerback Jay DeMerit at halftime with a groin injury.
Weaver opened the scoring late in the first half, only for Camilo Sanvezzo to respond less than a minute later with his own goal. Houston took the lead right back just before halftime when Boswell volleying home a long Danny Cruz free kick. Bruin put the game away in the second half, scoring the first goal of his career when he outran the Whitecaps defense and beat goalkeeper Jay Nolly to a ball just outside the penalty area before slotting home the final goal of the match.
The Dynamo's offensive display was made more impressive because it came despite the absence of veteran striker Brian Ching, who was sidelined with a rib injury.
The night wasn't a complete waste for Vancouver, which saw No. 1 overall draft pick Omar Salgado make his professional debut.
Here are the match highlights.
What did you think of Houston's performance? See the Dynamo making some noise in the East? Starting to wonder if Vancouver will be good enough defensively to avoid struggling this season?
Share your thoughts below.
Is this serious?
How long is Ching supposed to be sidelined? Dynamo are a different team with him on the field.
Bruin is improving though, which is very encouraging.
+1
Although as a Dynamo fan, I’m glad to see one Hoosier in particular make some noise.
Dynamo need to pick up Felix Garcia!!!! Get over your pride guys and get to work!
Bruin is really starting to improve for the Dynamo. With each game, he does more and more of the little things that help the Dynamo.
Hainult played very well except on the goal by Vancouver. Let his mark peel away from him and got caught ball watching.
Dynamo are starting to pull things together a little bit, but still need a lot more time to gel and work this group out.
Dominic Kinnear seems to like using his LM (Corey Ashe) at at LB now. He hasn’t been too bad there, but definitely not his most comfortable position. I wonder if Dom wants to make the move permanent.
Good game for the Dynamo last night… feels like a lifetime since we celebrated a win at home too. Hainault and Boswell played very well with Hainault just eating up everything that came his way. Cruz is starting to look like Brian Mullen with his tenacity and his ability to dribble at the defense. Nice feed by Davis to Bruin to get his first goal… really starting to like Bruin.
This Indiana on Indiana crime needs to stop.
the honeymoon is over for the Whitecaps.
Danny Cruz shredded Vancouve’s defence. I think Dom found himself a little gem.