Coming into the Mile High City for a rematch with their Western Conference rivals, Houston Dynamo were determined to start strong, coming out aggressive from the opening whistle. The strategy paid off, as they buried a ball in the Rapids net in the 16th minute, then held off a resurging Colorado team for the duration of the game, taking a 1-0 victory in their first shutout of the season.
"The big objective was to come out in the first 20 minutes -- because that's when they like to try and jump on teams -- and play well and put pressure on them in their half of the field," said Dynamo head coach Dominic Kinnear. "That was the main objective coming out of the locker room, to make sure we started well, and I thought we did start well."
Brian Ching scored the only goal of the game, coming on a corner kick from Dwayne De Rosario that Ching headed at goalkeeper Joe Cannon, who deflected the shot back at Ching. With a second opportunity on goal, Ching delivered, kicking the ball into the right corner for his sixth goal of the season and his fifth in two games against the Rapids.
"That's kind of one of my strong suits, set pieces," Ching said of the corner kick resulting in a game-winning goal. "I just try to make good runs in the box and lose my defender. I know we have a couple of guys on the team that can swing in great balls, Dwayne tonight, Brad [Davis] normally swings in a good one. Kevin [Goldthwaite] and [Brian] Mullan swing in great balls. My job is just to get open in the box. I did that tonight, and I was fortunate that it bounced right back to me and I put it away."
With the U.S. World Cup roster just days away from being announced, Ching's strong start makes him a contender in the selection process. His six goals lead the league, and his breakout spring would be hard to overlook.
"It can only help," Kinnear said of Ching's strong performance. "Any time somebody scores, it grabs your attention."
The task for the remainder of the game was to keep the Rapids from grabbing any of that attention for themselves.
"After the goal you tend to think, 'let's protect this,'" Kinnear explained. "Our movement off the ball towards half time was a little bit stale compared to last week."
But Dynamo didn't relent, coming out strong in the second half and holding their ground for another 45 minutes while under increasing pressure from the Rapids.
"I told them, if we keep it zero, obviously we're going to win the game, because we got our goal," said Kinnear of his team's approach in the second half. "Let's make sure we do everything to protect the lead, but let's not abandon playing."
Colorado ended up outshooting Houston eight to four, although Houston took the lead with two shots on goal to Colorado's one.
"Colorado can rue their missed chances, but I think we were a tough team to beat tonight," Kinnear observed.
While Dynamo's offense kept pressing throughout the game, it was the defense that made them tough with its best showing of the season, shutting down the Rapids' scoring game and earning goalkeeper Pat Onstad his first shutout for Houston's new franchise.
"It's nice," Onstad said. "Better than letting in goals, that's for sure. The guys played well tonight in front of me. They really limited their opportunities. They maybe had three good opportunities. Obviously we got a little lucky with the post, but I think you make your own luck in this league."
The post he was referring to came into play in the 75th minute, when the Rapids' Jovan Kirovski turned a free kick into the Rapids' last best scoring opportunity, getting a shot on the goal that was saved by the right post.
"It was good free kick, it went over the wall," said a relieved Onstad. "That's my job to try to get there. Fortunately for me I had the post do my job today."
If the post had not saved the shot, who knows how Kinnear might have reacted. He was already upset about the quick whistles called on his players throughout the second half, and he did not believe the foul called on Adrian Serioux to set up the free kick was a legitimate foul.
"They were gaining territory by questionable calls," said Kinnear. "They were gaining territory and free kicks that way. They were trying to get fouls, and they were rewarded with fouls. We broke out two or three times, and if we had picked the right pass, then we would have punished them. We just weren't picking the right pass tonight."
Houston picked up ground on Western Conference leaders FC Dallas, who tied D.C. United earlier in the day, and gained further separation between themselves and the third-place Rapids. To blank the Rapids on the road was definitely a confidence booster for Dynamo, taking a critical interconference game and making a bold statement.
"It's a good personal victory for us, because we've been giving up a lot of goals in the last four games now," said Ching. "That was one of our strong suits last year [as the San Jose Earthquakes], giving up the fewest goals in the league. This game is a good start. They definitely put a lot of pressure on us in the whole second half. It was good to see us hold up defensively under that kind of pressure, fend off their barrage and come off with a victory."
Dynamo take on FC Dallas next week, with a chance to clear the view in front of them and rise to the top of the conference.
"They're a good team, we know that. It has to be the same type of effort as tonight. We have to be better on the ball," Kinnear said, looking ahead to the showdown. "No matter where you're at in the season, it's always good to be in front of people. There's one team in front of us. That's our job now, to try and catch them."
Owen Perkins is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
