Houston Dynamo stayed the hottest team in MLS as the defending MLS Cup champions extended their unbeaten streak to seven games with a convincing 4-0 win against the New York Red Bulls at Robertson Stadium on Thursday night.
Joseph Ngwenya scored two goals, and Stuart Holden added a goal and two assists, while Brian Ching netted his fourth goal of the season in extending the Red Bulls winless streak to four consecutive games.
After a quiet opening 10 minutes, Houston had its first opportunity to score in the 11th minute when Holden took a lay-off pass from Ching outside the left upper corner of the box and fired a bullet that New York goalkeeper Ronald Waterreus made a diving save to deflect out of the area. Ching picked up the deflection and tried to drive a cross back into the goalmouth but Waterreus kicked it away.
The game was being played basically on either side of the center circle until the 25th minute when New York saw its first scoring opportunity go awry when John Wolyniec let loose a one-timer from outside the area that Houston goalkeeper Pat Onstad dove to his right to stop.
In the 27th minute, New York's Kevin Goldthwaite was issued a yellow card for pulling down Brian Mullan after he tried to race past him on the right flank.
From the ensuing free kick, Holden swung the ball across the face of goal. Ngwenya rose and banged his header down off the ground as Waterreus was slow to react, the ball bounding up into the net for Ngwenya's fourth goal of the season.
The Red Bulls tried to answer, but Claudio Reyna's shot from outside the restraining arc went wide left. And barely three minutes later Dynamo had doubled their lead.
In the 31st minute, Houston won a corner kick and from the service Ching headed the ball off the post. The ball bounced around the area and two Red Bulls tried to clear, but it made it only as far as Ching, standing on the edge of the area. He lashed the shot back through the crowded goalmouth and into right lower corner to make it 2-0 Houston.
The Red Bulls seemingly pulled a goal back in the 39th minute, but it was disallowed by a foul on Goldthwaite. Goldthwaite headed the New York corner by Dave van den Bergh inside the near post, but he had climbed the back of Houston defender Ryan Cochrane to get his header on the frame.
Dynamo tried to start the second half with a bang as Dwayne De Rosario took a backheel from Ching in the area and fired a shot that whistled wide left in the 47th minute. Two minutes later, De Rosario fired a free kick from 35 yards out, but Waterreus deflected the ball over the goal.
On the ensuing corner kick, Holden drove the ball at the near post where Ngwenya came rushing forward. The Zimbabwe-born striker sent a perfect glancing inside the post that Waterreus couldn't stop to make it 3-0 Houston.
In the 53rd minute, Ching took a pass from Holden in the middle of the box, but Ching's one-timer hit the near post. Ngwenya's rebound from the left side of the area went left of the post.
Dynamo continue to be relentless on the attack as Mullan found Ngwenya in front of an open net, but his shot was deflected wide left in the 65th minute.
In the 74th minute, the Red Bulls tried to get on the board as Sinisa Ubiparipovic fired one from outside the box that Onstad knocked over the goal. It was the closest New York came to getting a shot on target on the night.
Dynamo provided the finishing touch in the 79th minute. Newly acquired Nate Jaqua received the ball with his back to the goal outside the area and laid it back to Holden. He took a couple of steps forward before hammering a wicked blast past a diving Waterreus and into the right-hand corner.
Houston nearly added another goal in the 84th minute when Corey Ashe took a pass from De Rosario on the left side of the box and fired a bullet toward the upper right corner that Waterreus batted away. Ashe got a breakaway in the 89th minute, but his shot from the left box went wide left.
Jeremy Rakes is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
