HARRISON, N.J.–The goals keep pouring in for the Houston Dynamo. After three against the New England Revolution on Mar. 6, and five against FC Dallas on Mar. 12, the Dynamo put up another three against the New York Red Bulls on Saturday.
Will Bruin proved to be the chief driver of Houston’s continued offensive renaissance. He found the back of the net twice in a six-minute span late in the first half of the game. Despite all that action, though, the Dynamo still lost on the road, allowing the Red Bulls a dramatic late-game comeback for a final score of 4-3.
“We know we’ve got the firepower to score, but we’ve got to tighten up defensively and that starts at the front,” Bruin said after the game. “We’ve got to make sure we’re tight and compact and hard to play against, because when we get stretched teams in this league love that, and every team has players that can go play and hurt you.”
Bruin set a franchise record with 16 goals in all competitions in 2012, and has played for the Dynamo for his entire career. Now, he continues to reward the organization that gave him a new contract this past off-season with a strong start.
Bruin got his good Saturday night going in the 35th minute when he took a long ball from Boniek García, and beat Luis Robles with a chip after evading Kemar Lawrence.
“Coming into the game, we knew there was going to space through the middle with how they like to spread their center backs wide,” Bruin said of his first goal. “So it’s definitely something we were looking at, and it worked.”
Red Bulls defender Ronald Zubar helped Bruin get his second goal by whiffing on a clearance. The ball fell to Bruin, who converted a simple finish.
“I saw the ball was going to come and take a short hop, and those are hard to defend,” Bruin said of Zubar’s gaffe.
He finally got subbed out in the 78th minute, having taken two shots and scored two goals. His teammates couldn’t deliver a win after he was gone.
“Obviously it’s a disappointment because it was there in our fingertips and we let it go,” he said, “but you’ve got to take the positives from it. Come Monday, we’ll look more at the film.”
