Mauro Manotas scored his team-leading 10th and 11th goals of the season during a five-minute stretch of the second half, and the Houston Dynamo fought back to salvage a 2-2 draw Saturday night against the Colorado Rapids in Davy Arnaud's head coaching debut.
The goals sealed Manotas' third consecutive double-digit scoring season in MLS, and snapped the Dynamo's losing skid at four matches after the club fired coach Wilmer Cabrera earlier in the week.
Arnaud was promoted from an assistant on Cabrera's staff to interim manager, beginning with Saturday's tilt at BBVA Stadium.
Diego Rubio recorded a brace of his own for his eighth and ninth goals of the season, his most in MLS, to give Colorado a two-goal lead in the first half. Eight of those goals have come in Rubio's last 10 appearances, but his rampant form wasn't quite enough to see the Rapids through to a third win in four matches.
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Goals
- 7' - COL - Diego Rubio | WATCH
- 38' - COL - Diego Rubio | WATCH
- 74' - HOU - Mauro Manotas | WATCH
- 79' - HOU - Mauro Manotas | WATCH
Three Things
- THE BIG PICTURE: While it's always good to snap a losing skid as bad as Houston's — in which all four defeats were decided by a single goal — a point does neither team any favors in terms of the Western Conference playoff picture. The Dynamo are still five adrift of the playoff line while the Rapids are eight off the pace. And seventh-place Portland enters Sunday's home match against Atlanta with three matches in hand on both.
- MOMENT OF THE MATCH: How well is Rubio reading the game right now? He anticipated Maynor Figueroa's lackadaisical, hard-to-fathom square ball to poach his second goal of the evening.
- MAN OF THE MATCH: Diego Rubio. While Manotas' outburst was more explosive, Rubio did more of the legwork on each of his goals, including an absolutely filthy first touch on the opener. He also nearly set up Sam Nicholson to make it 3-0 before halftime, which probably would've been enough to secure all three points.
Up Next
- HOU: Sunday, August 25 at FC Dallas (8 pm ET | FS1, TSN)
- COL: Saturday, August 24 vs Real Salt Lake (10 pm ET | MLS LIVE on ESPN+ and DAZN in Canada)
