Dynamo pleased with dominant show

HOUSTON -- The Houston Dynamo were well aware that Chivas USA had a depleted squad coming into Wednesday night's midweek match at Robertson Stadium.

They were also quite ready to quash the memory of allowing a season-high tying three goals, despite a 4-3 win against Real Salt Lake last Saturday at home.

That victory got the Dynamo into first place, but it was harder to enjoy. They scored four goals in the first half, but they had to come back and stave off a desperate Real team that wanted nothing to do with giving up their lead in the Western Conference standings.

So they zeroed in on Chivas USA, a team missing many key players including Ante Razov, who has always been the proverbial thorn in the Dynamo's side when the two teams meet.

And the result was a masterful first-half performance that resulted in four goals in the first 45 minutes for a second consecutive match. That hadn't happened in MLS in 10 years, since the L.A. Galaxy turned that trick in the 1998 season.

Brad Davis, who assisted on Stuart Holden's goal in the 11th minute, said the team was more than happy to take advantage of the Chivas lineup troubles.

After all, Houston was missing three key players of its own to international duty (Brian Ching, USA; Dwayne De Rosario and Pat Onstad, Canada).

"There is no question they are going to hurt when (Razov) and a guy like Maykel Galindo are out of the lineup," Davis said. "Seeing those guys out, there is no question we were happy. You are never going to complain when you not having to play against those guys."

In his post-game comments, Dynamo head coach Dominic Kinnear praised his team for a dominant first half and preserving the shutout in the second 45 minutes. Kinnear found nothing to complain about, even though his team has failed to score in the second half in two consecutive games.

"I thought the play, the movement in the first half especially, was just fantastic," Kinnear said. "The finishing and the defense were very good too. The attitude to win the ball back as soon as we lost it was impressive, and all around the finishing was there in all forms. There is not much more we could ask for tonight and we kept the shutout."

Kinnear said last weekend's performance wasn't necessarily the reason for keying in on the shutout. His team, he said, is good for a goal a game for the most part and getting a shutout should be good enough for three points.

"Anytime you want to keep it at zeros you give yourself a chance," Kinnear said. "The first thing we mentioned at halftime was that we have done enough to win the game, let's not do anything silly to let them back in it. I thought we were pretty disciplined in that aspect and we did what we needed to do."

Richard Mulrooney, playing for the first time since June 12 against New England said it was still important for the team to recover from the three goals allowed performance against Salt Lake.

"It was just one of those games the other night," said Mulrooney, who played in the team's reserve match last Sunday. "I can't really describe it, but we did make a few mental errors that we haven't made in awhile. But having said that I think we made up for it."

The Dynamo blew the game open with arguably the most dominant 24-minute span in team history.

Holden got things started in the 11th when he chipped the ball past Zach Thornton. Kei Kamara scored the first of his two goals 11 minutes later when he spun around a defender at the top of the area and slotted home after taking a pass from Richard Mulrooney.

Nate Jaqua cleaned up a rebound in the 28th minute and Kamara rounded out the scoring in the 35th minute when he took a perfect cross from Jaqua and headed past a helpless Thornton.

Kamara now has three goals overall since joining the team in a trade from San Jose last month. He also scored in the SuperLiga final at New England on Aug. 5.

"I am really just glad to be here right now," Kamara said. "I am playing with -- every game now -- the best players in the league. This is my third year now and I have been around a lot of good players, but now, being around these guys, they are making me better every time I step on the field."

Kamara nearly upped his Wednesday output to his first career hat trick, but he hit the post in the second half. He didn't need to be reminded after the game, and he actually looked sad when it was brought up.

"It was just meant to be that I was only going to score two goals tonight," he said. "But it was a good game overall by the team. Right now winning is all that matters and we got a really good victory tonight."