Last fall the Houston Dynamo and Mexican Primera Division side Atlante FC won championships within weeks of each other.
Ninety minutes after the two kicked off in their SuperLiga 2008 opener on Saturday night, there was little doubt as to which champion played the better game. The defending MLS champions scored a season-high four goals in a 4-0 lashing of the 2007 Apertura winners at Robertson Stadium on the campus of the University of Houston.
Houston dominated the match from start to finish, scoring three goals in the first half and adding another in the second en route to their highest scoring output since winning 4-1 against FC Dallas in the first round of the 2007 MLS Cup Playoffs.
The Dynamo will face CD Guadalajara Tuesday night in Houston in what is sure to be a tough match for both clubs. Chivas also won its Group A opener, defeating D.C. United 2-1 at RFK Stadium earlier on Saturday.
A late start due to a power failure that delayed the opening SuperLiga match in Washington, D.C., when CD Guadalajara defeated D.C. United 2-1, didn't affect the Dynamo coming out of the game. The Orange scored three goals in a nine-minute span -- the quickest three goals in club history -- as Dwayne De Rosario (20th minute), and Stuart Holden (21st and 28th minutes) beat Atlante 'keeper Federico Vilar.
Brian Mullan added another in the 54th minute for the Dynamo, who missed tying their club record for most goals scored ever by a single goal.
The Dynamo's two-time MLS goalkeeper of the year Pat Onstad enjoyed what was arguably his easiest night of the season as he faced zero shots on goal. Ernesto Pereyra Gabriel challenged the Dynamo in the eighth minute, but his free kick sailed wide and to the left.
In the 20th minute, De Rosario got things started when he beat Vilar after Davis set him up with a perfect cross from the left side. Davis pushed the ball forward and to his left a little bit before firing toward the cage. He found De Rosario who pushed the header just inside the far post for a 1-0 lead.
Exactly 92 seconds later, Holden made it 2-0 when he finished off a great pass from Geoff Cameron. De Rosario got things started for the Dynamo, who dominated possession after the ensuing kickoff. De Rosario then found a charging Cameron near the end line, who dished a perfect pass over to Holden, who beat a helpless Vilar from just outside the goal line.
Holden scored a highlight reel goal in the 29st minute when he deflected a perfect cross from team captain Wade Barrett with his right foot. Barrett saw Holden running toward the net and sent a quick pass to Holden who somehow got his foot in the right place just in time to deflect the shot into the goal. Stunned, Vilar picked the ball out of the net and watched as the Dynamo had its first three goal game of the season.
De Rosario was credited with an assist on that goal, before he and Javier Munoz Mustafa were ejected for violent conduct in the 44th minute.
Giancarlo Maldonado also had a good look on a free kick in first-half stoppage time, but he missed to the right in Atlante's only real threat until late in the match.
After the break, the Dynamo made it 4-0 on Mullan's first goal since June 21, 2007, which came in a 4-0 Houston win against Chivas USA at Robertson Stadium. Cameron started the play and set up his second goal of the night, racing forward on the right before sliding in a centering pass that Mullan pounded home.
Atlante, who will visit D.C. United on Tuesday in a must-win game for both to stay alive in SuperLiga, won the 2007 Apertura last December, defeating Pumas UNAM in the Mexican Primera Division final for the team's third championship. However, the title was the first for the team since moving from Mexico City to Cancun in August 2007.
Andrew J. Ferraro is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
