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The Houston Dynamo are back to their winning ways, hammering the New York Red Bulls 4-1 on Saturday night. The goals started early at BBVA Compass Stadium, and ended with hat-trick during stoppage time.
Here are three takeaways from the Dynamo’s bounce back win.
1. Remick gets his first
The Red Bulls jumped out to an early lead, thanks to Bradley Wright-Phillips’ 13th minute goal. The Dynamo’s response was swift. A minute later, Alex put in a short cross inside the box to Dylan Remick, who headed in the equalizer. The goal was the Dynamo rookie’s first career MLS goal.
“It was a pretty cool feeling,” Remick said after the match. “Surreal is best word to describe it.”
The young defender admitted to losing Wright-Phillips on New York’s goal, and was happy to redeem himself so quickly.
“It was good to make amends for it and keep going.”
2. Cubo also gets his first
Cubo Torres has been on fire to start the season. The Red Bulls were victimized three times on the night by the Mexican international, notching his first professional hat-trick. After two seasons of inconsistent play across all competitions, Torres’ confidence is flying high.
“I think any player that feels like his back is against the wall, whose confident of his abilities on the field, he’s always going to put in maximum effort,” Torres said after the match. “That’s where I currently am. I feel happy, I feel confident.”
Cubo’s first goal on the night came via a penalty kick in the 41st minute. 10 minutes after the break, he put back a rebound, bouncing his shot off the hands of Red Bulls goalkeeper Luis Robles. Then in stoppage time, he curled a free kick over the wall, past the outstretched Robles – channeling his inner-David Beckham.
Cubo is not shy letting his emotions score on the pitch. He’s playing the best soccer of his career donning the Orange jersey. He’s scoring goals in bunches, making everyone happy in the process.
“He loves to score goals,” Dynamo head coach Wilmer Cabrera said of Cubo. “And I like that.”
3. Dynamo play a complete 90 minutes
Cabrera admits his team has taken their foot off gas in second half of games. They start off strong, having scored two goals in the first half of all four games so far. But in their previous match at Portland, the Dynamo let a 2-1 halftime advantage slip away with three unanswered second half goals allowed.
Against the Red Bulls, Cabrera urged his men at the half to up their intensity. They responded with two more goals – and more importantly to the coach – a second half shutout.
“For us, it’s very important because we are growing up; we’re moving forward as a team,” Cabrera said. “That’s something that is very important. We need to continue what we’ve been doing.”