Throughout the pre-season, rookie forward Will Bruin has been close to getting that elusive first goal, very close. On Saturday, Bruin got the goal and two more for good measure. It was one of those kicking the door down moments for the forward from Indiana University and while it wasn't against an MLS opponent, Bruin was still pleased to have gotten the first, of will hopefully be many more, out of the way.
"It's great to finally get that monkey off my back and get that first goal," Bruin said post-match. "It's definitely a confidence boost getting the first goal, but I'm still looking to get the first goal against an MLS team."
That goal against an MLS team will no doubt come and depending on the health of Brian Ching, Bruin's opportunity could come sooner, rather than later.
If Ching is healthy, he'll start on April 19th. The real debate who who will start next to him up top in Kinnear's favored 4-4-2 formation. Based on pre-season performance you'd have to think that Bruin and Jason Garey are the favorites, but the re-signing of Dominic Oduro late last week adds yet another option to Kinnear's plate.
The upside of all those options should end up being a positive since every forward on the roster should realize there are several other capable players right behind them waiting to take their place should they fail to perform. The competition and pressure should only go to help the team in the long run, but for now it will just give the coaching staff a tough decision to make in two weeks.
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Brad Davis continued to show just how important he is to the Dynamo's offense on Saturday, assiting on two of Bruin's goals and scoring one himself from a set piece. With Davis out of the game in the second half, Houston looked less dangerous.
It's a potentially worrisome trend, especially if Davis picks up an injury at some point during the season that causes him to miss several matches. All the offensive production we've seen during the pre-season has been encouraging but with such a high percentage of if coming from and through Davis, it's easy to playing the what-if game in your head.
Davis is going to be a big part of the ultimate success or failure of the Dynamo this season, but more key might be who else steps up in the midfield to help generate offense and prevent opposing teams from being able to focus on defensively eliminating Davis from a match.