On a night when FC Dallas topped the Los Angeles Galaxy in the first of at least three meetings between the teams over the next few weeks, the Hoops have found another source for vital goals.
Roberto Mina scored two goals in the 4-1 FC Dallas victory and his four goals in the last two games have given Hoops fans a sigh of relief as the Ecuadorian has pulled up the slack in the absence of Carlos Ruiz and Eddie Johnson.
"Great player, he's scoring goals full of confidence," said FCD coach Colin Clarke. "I'm delighted for him, it's always healthy competition. We've got a couple missing at the minute, he's having to do the work, and he's done a great job. I thought he was great tonight."
Mina scored twice in the first half, in the 37th and 45th minutes, to all but seal the deal for the Hoops. Late substitute Abe Thompson added the fourth goal for FCD in the 91st minute.
"Of course I'm very happy about my performance," said Mina. "I think it's the whole team, not only me. It's good that I've been getting that freedom and hopefully I can keep that up into the playoffs."
Mina became the first person in Dallas franchise history to score multiple goals in back-to-back games, quite an accomplishment for a team that has seen the likes of Jason Kreis and Ariel Graziani at forward. The two goals also gives Mina seven on the season, putting him second in team scoring behind Ruiz, who has 11 goals.
He scored his first goal from a tough angle to the left of the box in the 37th minute that took a deflection off a defender, but his second strike was due to a great ball played into Ramon Nunez from Bobby Rhine in the 45th minute. Nunez took the ball into the box and had his shot deflected, but it fell right in the path of Mina who calmly sent it home.
"It's something we work on in training," said Rhine of the long ball. "Good movement in midfield and Ramon sees a little seam between the left back and the center back and I played the ball over the top to him running on and Roberto is working hard to get on the end of it and he ended up in the right place at the right time."
The win is the second straight for the Hoops after a 10-game league winless streak, as they look to gain winning form heading into the playoffs.
"Absolutely delighted," said Clarke on the win. "First half was a great performance -- got the goals that the performance warranted, and second half done a good job of shutting down shop and keeping things tight."
Along with Mina's record-setting performance there was one more noteworthy achievement: It was just the fourth time in MLS history both teams scored an own goal in a match. Troy Roberts played a tough ball back to Kevin Hartman in the 34th minute for the first own goal and Rhine tallied the second in the 86th minute as he headed a Galaxy cross past his own 'keeper.
Scott Joiner is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
