There is a reason the Houston Dynamo have won back-to-back MLS championships. They don't play for the draw when a win is a possibility.
Bobby Boswell scored on a free kick sent in by Richard Mulrooney in the 82nd minute Saturday, leading the Dynamo to a 2-1 win against the Chicago Fire at Toyota Park. Dwayne De Rosario scored in the 17th minute to give the Dynamo a surprise 1-0 lead.
The Dynamo recorded their second consecutive win after going 0-2-4 in the first six games.
Playing in a constant, sometimes driving rain, against a Fire team that was enjoying its best season start ever, the Dynamo would not have been blamed for playing for the draw. But coach Dominic Kinnear's team had the run of play in the second half and put five shots on goal to just one for the Fire in the second 45 minutes.
"This is a team where we are capable of winning every game we step on the field," Boswell said. "We don't come in here to destroy the game and play for a draw. We want to win. We have our goals, to score goals and not give them up."
"(The winning streak) is a reward for how the team is working," Kinnear said. "Before that, we had some games we were playing well, playing on top of teams, and we just didn't get the result. The results are going our way now."
Mulrooney's free kick from 35 yards out on the right side went into the penalty area and Boswell's clean header went into the upper right corner of the box, over the head of Fire goalkeeper Jon Busch.
Despite an intense flurry of attacking activity by the Fire at the start of the game, the Dynamo scored first, in the 17th minute, on their first shot of the game. With the rain falling, midfielder Ricardo Clark fired a shot from about 25 yards out that deflected off a defender directly in front of him. It took a second bounce off of De Rosario and snuck past Busch, who had slipped on his first step toward the ball.
It was De Rosario's second goal of the season, both coming in the two victories, and only the fourth goal given up by the Fire in their first eight games.
The Fire got the goal back in the 28th minute off a free kick by Mexican superstar Cuauhtemoc Blanco from the right side. Blanco lifted the ball into the middle of the box, and forward Calen Carr headed it down off the turf, bouncing in front of and eventually past goalkeeper Pat Onstad. It was Carr's first goal of the season.
The rain, which had dissipated late in the first half, came back with a vengeance at the start of the second half and it rained on and off the rest of the game.
"I actually like the rain because the ball moves a little bit quicker, and we pass the ball better on those conditions," Kinnear said.
The Dynamo put a series of shots on goal in the second half, four of them in the first 11 minutes. De Rosario had a tremendous scoring chance in the 58th minute when he charged the goal from the right side and Busch made a strong punch save on the direct shot.
The winning goal came on a quick restart, and took place while Busch was still in the process of trying to get the defense organized.
"We watched some video this week and we knew they weren't really sharp on quick restarts," Boswell said. "I saw Richard, and he was giving a look like he was ready to do it quick. I was coming up made the run and the ball came right to me and I just put it away."
With the way the second half was played, it was not a surprise that the Dynamo took the late lead. The decision sort of evened the team's record out, although the Dynamo did have four draws in their first six games.
"I think we have just been unlucky with our results early in the year," Boswell said. "The breaks just weren't going our way. Or we were making one mistake here or there. But things are going to even out over a matter of time."
"We go to games and try to win them," Onstad said. "We don't ever play for a draw or sneak out games. At times that cost us games, but tonight we played a pretty good game of soccer."
Kent McDill is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
