Will Bruin's on fire.
The sometimes-maligned Houston Dynamo striker has struck pay dirt in each of the last three games. On Wednesday night his heroics brought three points and continued momentum to his club, as he scored the lone goal in a 1-0 win over the visiting Columbus Crew.
For evidence of Bruin’s hot streak one only needs to look at the fashion in which his goal came about. He rose above everyone else and got his shoulder to a perfectly placed Brad Davis free kick. At another time that ball may have fallen by the wayside.
Wednesday night it floated under the crossbar and into goal.
“I’ve been doing a lot of shrugs in the gym, and I just shrugged it over the goal,” Bruin quipped to the media. “I’m just trying to get in the box, get on the end of service and I’ll take if it just redirects off my gut and goes in.”
It was a goal by a player that has hit form of late. During a five game span where the ball refused to find the net, Bruin saw quality shots miss the mark. Not anymore.
What led to his most recent goal, which puts him one behind second-place Brad Davis the Dynamo’s all-time scoring list, was some teamwork with Dynamo midfielder Andrew Driver.
“That was funny. Right before we whipped that ball in, Driver is like ‘Who’s your man?’” Bruin said. “I was like ‘Right here’ and he was like ‘Alright.’”
“We had a few set pieces and I kind of felt like I was a bit of a spare part and I thought I could lend a bit of a hand,” Driver said. “My considerable weight got in the way of the guy and managed to get a free header… Obviously it got us a victory.”
The plan worked and Bruin made sure it counted to its fullest extent.
To any potential critics, it appears it is time to put down the pen regarding Bruin.
“I never understood why they were going at him, I thought it was kind of stupid myself, and it’s the local guys too which is really disappointing,” said head coach Dominic Kinnear. “You want a guy who makes good runs and puts away chances all while working hard for the team on both sides of the ball and you have that in him.
“I love having him on the team and I wish people would just put their 'expertise' aside and realize that we have a good forward here.”
Darrell Lovell covers the Houston Dynamo for MLSsoccer.com.
