MLS After Dark at its finest!
Houston Dynamo FC club-record signing Ezequiel Ponce scored his first brace for the club to complete an enthralling 4-3 comeback victory against Western Conference-leading San Diego FC at Snapdragon Stadium on Saturday night.
"It was our best performance to date. We brought the level of intensity, the heart, and we also brought the quality. And we put those two together, probably for the first time over the course of 90, 100 some minutes, whatever that game was," said head coach Ben Olsen post-match.
"We put it together. We were resilient. We kept coming back. And then to get the three points, it was just – this hopefully is the type of game that can change a season."
Ponce to the rescue
Trailing 3-2 in the second half, Ponce was determined to take a result back to Houston as he slipped behind the SDFC back line for a potential equalizing goal, only to be denied by Video Review due to Duane Holmes straying offside. But the 28-year-old Argentinian would not be silenced.
Shortly after, Ponce was back on the attack, nicking the first touch on a soft backpass to goalkeeper CJ dos Santos and earning a penalty as the SDFC shot-stopper took out his legs. Following a lengthy delay for the stricken keeper, Ponce slammed his finish down the middle from the spot.
“He was for me, he was the player of the match," said Olsen. "What I'm excited about is he looked very lively on the offensive end, and two goals really pushes a guy forward, who is paid to score goals frankly.”
Ensuring maximum drama, his second goal, the winner, came in the 100th minute. While center back Ethan Bartlow paraded forward through the center circle, Ponce stepped back onside before rolling his defender and placing his grass-cutter into the side netting from just inside the 18-yard box.
“I know he's been getting a lot of stick for not putting up the numbers that, you know, a big-money player does, and now he's starting to creep," said Olsen. "I think he's got a few in the last two games and that's where we need him.”
Ruthless resilience
Coming back from a goal down twice in a match is never easy, but to do it while handing the Western Conference leaders their second-ever loss at home is almost unthinkable.
“I think that just the resiliency over all of the group I felt pretty impressed by," noted Olsen. "To go down and then it just kept flip-flopping. And then to have something in the end there, I thought our fitness was impressive.
"I felt like we had more energy than they did towards the end. Sometimes that's coming from Houston in the summer. We get this beautiful breeze going on here. I think these guys feel like they can run for days. So, proud of 'em.”
Nobody embodied that perseverance more on the night than Lawrence Ennali. The 23-year-old German winger tore his ACL in just his second Dynamo game last August after arriving at the club. On Saturday, he made his first MLS start, scoring his first goal since injuring himself against LAFC.
“What I've thought of him is that we've been waiting for him to come back for a year because he has moments like that," said Olsen.
"Show me a play that we've had in the past two and a half years where someone just broke out through in speed and transition and scored a goal. I could tell you when it happened, actually, one time in my tenure. It was with Ennali in LAFC before he got hurt. So this is what he can do, and in some ways, in a lot of ways, it's a piece that we've been missing for a while.”
The goalscorer himself felt similar emotions.
"Just a big relief," Ennali described his emotions upon scoring. "I remember getting injured on a similar pitch like today, a new pitch, and everything in LAFC in August last year. And nine months later, after a lot of hard work, commitment and discipline, of course, to come back and score on my starting XI debut, I would say, is just amazing. I'm very happy."
Helping overcome the first deficit of the night, Franco Escobar followed up Ennali's equalizer with the goal of the game to give Houston a 2-1 lead heading into halftime. The fullback doesn't score often, but when he does, it's usually a banger.
“I can’t take credit for Franco beating two guys and shooting it off the bar," joked Olsen. "I can’t take credit. I’d like to, but I can’t.”
Postseason position
By earning three points against the conference's best, Houston recorded back-to-back wins for the second time this season after their 1-0 victory over St. Louis CITY SC, also courtesy of a Ponce goal. As a result, the Dynamo jumped back above the playoff line into eighth place in the Western Conference (7W-9L-5D), along with three other clubs also on 26 points.
"I just hope we can get a lot of confidence from the last two wins, not just today, also last weekend," said Ennali. "Keep the momentum, believe in ourselves, that everything is possible, and keep going."
Surely Ponce finding fine form and Ennali returning from a long-term injury in their biggest win of the season is the best spark the Dynamo could ask for heading to Real Salt Lake next Saturday (9:30 pm ET | MLS Season Pass).
“Well, we'll see. This is the challenge, right? And what do we do with it?" Olsen asked rhetorically. "That's the challenge. Now we go to Salt Lake, and what do we do? Do we stay there? Do we stay where we can again, bring both sides of the game at the highest level, or our highest level?
And then we give ourselves a chance. Sustaining that is something that I told the players, it can't always come from us, and me, and the staff. They have to decide that that's what they want. Hopefully, this can be a turning point in the season.”
