HOUSTON – The Houston Dynamo offense woke up to the tune of a 4-0 win over San Antonio FC Wednesday night to advance to the US Open Cup Round of 16.
Now the Dynamo want to carry the offensive outburst over into MLS play, which starts up again Saturday against D.C. United (9pm ET, MLS LIVE).
“We have had some time, with two weeks off, to work on some patterns with our forwards and midfielders to get them more dangerous and get them more involved in the game,” Houston Dynamo defender DaMarcus Beasley, who captained the team for the third straight game, said. “Hopefully, we will see that Saturday, and we’ll be firing on all cylinders."
The Dynamo have only scored four or more goals one other time this season – March 12 in a 5-0 win over FC Dallas.
“Today was a good game to get our confidence up,” Beasley said.
Mauro Manotas gave the Dynamo a 1-0 lead in the 39th minute, playing a ball from outside the penalty area into the middle of the field, then hitting a shot inside the near post.
Then Alex Lima finished off a free-kick chance just before the first-half whistle to give Houston a 2-0 advantage. Beasley sent a cross in from the left side, which David Rocha headed over to Lima.
In the second half, Houston struck from another free kick, as Raul Rodriguez hit a diving header to up the Dynamo’s lead to 3-0. Leonel Miranda finished the scoring, as Alex drew the goalkeeper before setting up Miranda to tap into a vacated net in the 66th minute.
Houston head coach Wade Barrett was not surprised by the team’s offensive explosion.
“Mauro doesn’t need many chances in front of goal to put one in the back of the net,” Barrett said. “He does it every day in training. He’s a real asset for us going forward. We had some really good attacking pieces on the field through the run of play but also through set pieces.”
The win was Barrett’s first since taking over for Owen Coyle, but he was humble about the victory.
“I want to win every game we play, so yeah, getting the first one is nice, but hopefully, that will be the first of many,” Barrett said.
