HOUSTON - Brian Ching, Ricardo Clark, Dwayne de Rosario and Pat Onstad were all absent for Houston Dynamo on Thursday night, as the four were with their respective countries playing in the CONCACAF Gold Cup. So the Orange needed someone to step up against the Colorado Rapids.
What head coach Dominic Kinnear saw was several young and seldom used players take the opportunity to play and run with it, including Stuart Holden. The young midfielder entered in the 63rd minute, and 40 seconds later, he made his first touch count with his first goal of the season.
That goal was the difference maker as Houston defeated Colorado 2-1. Holden was happy to get the opportunity.
"I think to myself that I'm here to contribute when Dom needs me," Holden said. "Tonight the team needed a little spark off the bench, and it happened in my first touch. Then, my job was to defend and help the team preserve the win. It was a good, hard fought win for us tonight, and the guys deserve a lot of credit."
Chris Wondolowski and Kelly Gray started at forward and midfielder, respectively, and Zach Wells saw his first start with Dynamo in goal. Wondolowski made an immediate impact earning an assist with his first touch in the third minute.
Wondolowski sent a pass to Brian Mullan who found a streaking Joseph Ngwenya. Ngwenya took a shot from the right side of the penalty area and sent it across the goal inside the far post past a diving Bouna Coundoul to give Houston their first goal of the season in the first half.
After the game, Kinnear was happy about the play of the younger players, but singled out Ngwenya's play.
"I think the work they put in the past, they are starting to get the results for the effort," Kinnear said of the younger players. "For me, Joseph Ngwenya was the best guy on the field tonight. I thought he was excellent. Not just his goal, but his hold-up play, his effort, laying the ball off. ... I thought he was excellent tonight. The guys behind him played really well."
But the win didn't come without a battle from Colorado. The second-place team in the Western Conference finished with 21 fouls on the night, and Houston was whistled for 13 fouls. Ryan Cochrane earned a yellow card in the 82nd minute for dissent.
Dynamo knew the Rapids were going to put up a fight the whole night.
"Colorado is a feisty group," said defender Craig Waibel. "When you come out to play against Colorado, you know they are going to be competitive. They try to take you out of your game. They are extremely competitive, so it's great to get the win."
The win also is important because it gives the defending MLS Cup champions a second consecutive win and moves them within two points of Colorado in the Western Conference. The win streak, no matter how short it is, means even more to the Orange because the win came with four of Houston's top guns missing.
"We're ecstatic about this win," Wondolowski said. "Anytime you can pick up three points on a division opponent is fantastic. Colorado is ahead of us right now, so that makes it sweeter. But even the conditions ... we're missing four great guys. Joe stepped up huge, Stuart comes in, first touch has goal of the week. We're very happy with this win."
Added Waibel: "It's great. I think it's more important now than it ever could have been. We were struggling at the beginning of the season to get two wins in a row with one of them without our big three or four, it's extremely important. The young guys got their feet wet. I don't think anyone played a poor game tonight."
Jeremy Rakes is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
