HOUSTON -- Houston Dynamo head coach Dominic Kinnear has been tweaking his lineup all year long, so it was no surprise when Brian Ching and Dwayne De Rosario got their first start together up front with a share of first place on the line.
Their timing wasn't always perfect, and De Rosario struggled to stay onside throughout the game, but the move paid off in a big 3-1 win against Toronto FC at Robertson Stadium Sunday night.
De Rosario scored his fourth goal of the season in the first half and Ching added two, his fourth and fifth of the season, in the second as the Dynamo recorded their first-ever win against the Reds.
"I think Dwayne and I really work well tonight and he really adds unpredictability up there on top with me," Ching said. "That is just another threat where defenders on the other side need to be aware of both of us. But the whole team really played well tonight, from the back to the front, and that is why we won tonight. I think the combination works well."
With the victory, the Dynamo moved into a tie for first place in the Western Conference with the LA Galaxy. Both teams have 17 points, but the journey for the Dynamo has been more incredible as the team has rallied from a winless April and concurrent time in the basement.
Kinnear said his two stars impressed him with a formula that created quite the mismatch for a TFC team missing two of its top players.
"I thought the guys really played well tonight and that might have been our most complete game of the season from start to finish," Kinnear said. "The way De Ro runs off the ball and created up front for us with Ching, that probably tormented them tonight.
"I thought the two of them played very well together and before this match I told them that I thought this was what was best for the team and their movement up top just gave the other team fits."
Sunday wasn't the first time the two played together at forward. In a 2-2 draw at FC Dallas on May 28, De Rosario played forward with Ching for the final half-hour and the two teamed up to produce the tying goal with just seconds left in the match.
De Rosario said playing up top with Ching gives the team an advantage, even though he does prefer his normal position in the midfield. But he is willing to do anything to help the team move up in the standings.
"(Before tonight) teams were putting two guys on me in the middle and locking me off, so I was getting limited touches," De Rosario said. "So we tried something new, putting me up front. It paid off tonight. Whether it will be an ongoing thing, I don't know. I like my midfield position, but this gives me the opportunity to get the ball more. It's hard to double-team two guys when it's me and Ching up there."
Already leading 1-0 through De Rosario's goal in first-half stoppage time, Dynamo defender Patrick Ianni jumped into the play in the 52nd minute and ran down the left sideline before feeding De Rosario with a crisp pass. Instead of shooting, De Rosario sent the ball over to Ching who settled the pass and fired a shot past Reds goalkeeper Greg Sutton.
Ching made it 3-0 in the 69th minute when he headed a cross from Stuart Holden into the goal after being left completely unmarked in the heart of the penalty area.
Defender Richard Mulrooney said it was fun watching De Rosario and Ching carve up the opposition on a night where so much was on the line.
He complimented the team's superstars, but was quick with praise for the other eight men on the field that helped the Dynamo win on another hot and muggy night in south Texas.
"Those two guys really made it easy for us, but having said that everyone did a great job tonight," Mulrooney said. "I thought our passing was crisp and our possession was good and our defense was good in the sense that we did a really good job of shutting down some really dangerous players."
De Rosario, Ching power Dynamo
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