HOUSTON – Will Bruin’s last goal gave his Houston Dynamo team an early lead in an eventual 3-1 win over Sporting Kansas City and a victory that’s propelled them on a five-game unbeaten streak. It was also a month ago.
Bruin suffered a right mid-foot sprain on that goalscoring play and it has cost him four games so far. But he was back on the training field on Tuesday, as the club prepares for the next in a line of playoff-like matches that will have massive implications on whether they make the postseason tournament.
“It’s been frustrating because it’s time,” Bruin told the media Tuesday. “It’s one of those injuries that there’s nothing I can do to speed it up. It’s just a process and I don’t like that. ... I don’t want to come back not 100 percent because I feel I’d be hurting the team and Omar [Cumming’s] doing a good job. Hopefully I feel better tomorrow and that’ll be a good progress towards the weekend.”
Though Bruin would not commit to a return date, when he does make his way back to the lineup he’ll join an improved forward corps that has suddenly given life to the Dynamo's fading campaign.
Houston has seen a revival in recent weeks with Cummings picking up Bruin's slack while working well up top with Giles Barnes, who assumed Bruin’s in-the-box role. Cummings and Barnes have produced, combining for four goals and two assists.
“It’s a good problem to have,” Kinnear said of possibly adding Bruin back to the mix. “Sometimes a guy going down, gives a guy a chance and Omar’s definitely done it production-wise and play wise. It’s something we haven’t had in a while, but it’s a good thing to have.”
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The good news for Kinnear and the Dynamo is that the trio gives Houston options. None of the three offer the same skill set, with Bruin an in-the-box forward, Cummings a speedy striker that will stretch the back line and Barnes a mix of the two.
“There’s some uniqueness there and they definitely change the game for us in different ways,” said Brad Davis. “That’s what you want to have, you want to have competition for positions and you want to have different looks at each position and that group definitely brings it at that spot.”
Darrell Lovell covers the Houston Dynamo for MLSsoccer.com.
