Eventually a shot was going to go in for Will Bruin, but that has not made the wait to open his 2012 account any easier.
After three games and five weeks it seemed like the second year forward had found everything but the back of the net. Things changed Sunday night as “The Dancing Bear” hit a well placed shot to beat Chicago Fire goalkeeper Sean Johnson to the near post in the 24th minute, accounting for Houston’s lone tally in the lightning-shortened 1-1 draw.
Entering the night with nine shots – six on goal – and no goals, it was a relief for the second-year forward to finally see one cross the goal line.
“It was much needed because it should’ve been a few already,” Bruin told MLSsoccer.com via phone after Sunday night’s match. “The first one’s always the toughest but when you get it you can finally start to relax a little more and stop playing so uptight.”
Entering the season much of the talk out of Houston Dynamo camp was about the strides Bruin was making as an overall player. His play and ability to get into good positions – evidenced by the well-crafted run he made to beat Chicago’s backline on the goal – were living up to the hype through the early going.
But his misfortunes in front of goal had minimized the impact of much of that good off the ball play.
“The longer you go without getting goals the more frustrated you become in yourself and the harder it gets,” said Brian Ching, who set Bruin’s goal up with a perfectly weighted through ball. “I think it’s extremely important for a striker to get that first one. I was extremely happy for him. You could tell with the look on his face how much it meant.”
What it means for Bruin is the relief of some self-imposed pressure and a looser, more relaxed mentality going forward.
“I always put pressure on myself because, playing up top, I expect to score and I expect to put away my chances,” said Bruin, whose tally came 10 minutes after the game had been resumed following a 70-minute weather delay. “I was hoping to get one before the break, but unfortunately I didn’t. I wanted to get one started off immediately when we started back up tonight and thank God for that good touch from Brian. Now hopefully more will come.”
Darrell Lovell covers the Houston Dynamo for MLSsoccer.com.
