Monday Morning Centre Back: A Plethora of Offense

Six league matches without a loss? Not too shabby. The Dynamo's demolition of DC United on Friday continued Houston's hot streak and kept them near the top of the Eastern Conference, right where I'm sure they feel they belong.

Will Bruin was the man on Friday, scoring his first career MLS hat trick and wowing the crowd with his "dancing bear" celebration with teammates Brad Davis. The rookie forward has quickly proved the Dynamo made the right decision in trading in to the 11th spot in the SuperDraft to select him and he seems to be catching on very quickly on how to succeed at the professional level.

"Against New England in the last home game, I had some chances, and I didn't put them away." Bruin said after the match. "Tonight I finished them. As a forward, you have to have a short memory. I really wasn't thinking about the misses at New England. I just went out and took my first opportunity from today's game, and it carried on."

A short memory is key for a striker and it's a fantastic sign for the team so see their young forward putting his struggles behind him so quickly. Head coach Dominic Kinnear praised Bruin in his post-match press conference.

"He listens and he learns and he wants to get better." Kinnear said. "The guys appreciate his energy and effort on the field."

The Dynamo suddenly have the enviable problem of having serious depth up front in the attack. Cam Weaver and Bruin have been excellent the last few matches and Brian Ching returned as a late sub on Friday, having finally recovered from his rib injury sustained against the Red Bulls nearly a month ago. Of course, there's also Sergio Koke who made his debut late in the match. So many options...a plethora if you will. 

The only problem of course is playing time and Kinnear will have to manage minutes and personalities as the season moves forward. For now, the effectiveness of Weaver and Bruin allows Ching to not rush back from injury and gives Koke time to settle in Houston and get comfortable with playing in MLS. It's a nice luxury to have really.

I think we'll likely see Kinnear experiment with various forward combinations during the coming weeks as he tries to determine which pairings work best together and what pairings best fit different match situations. Then again, he could just roll out Weaver and Bruin for the time being and ride the hot hand, so to speak. Considering just a couple weeks ago there was real concern about the Dynamo being able to get offensive production from their forwards, I think we all have to be very pleased with how things have turned out.

One final thought...I think we finally saw on Friday the kind of game Geoff Cameron is capable of playing at the central attacking midfield role. Not only did he make a spectacular play to help setup Bruin's first goal, but overall he was active and looked confident in the role. Any thoughts?