After being blasted by New England in their MLS opener, drawing 0-0 at home to Costa Rican club Saprissa in the Champions Cup semifinals, and staring at a 3-2 loss to FC Dallas in their home opener, the Houston Dynamo fans, reminded of last year’s slow start, must have been thinking: “here we go again.” However, with just seconds to go, the unyielding Brian Ching beat two Dallas defenders and then sent through a hopeful, slow-rolling pass toward the top the eighteen. With no defender in sight, rookie midfielder Geoff Cameron stepped up and stepped into Ching’s ball, unleashing an unstoppable right-footed blast that flew passed keeper Dario Sala, and sent Houston’s 20,000 fans into a frenzy.
What a way to mark your MLS debut. And as the Houston Chronicle’s Bernardo Fallas points out, that wasn’t the only bright thing that Cameron did all afternoon. The University of Rhode Island product also combined with Dwayne De Rosario to set up the Dynamo’s second goal, which brought the match to 2-2. Though he looked composed on the field, Cameron said he was anything but inside: “Coach [Dominic Kinnear] came up to me and said, ‘You’re going to start outside right mid,'” the third-round draft pick said. “It was a great opportunity, but I was really, really nervous.”
Said coach Kinnear after the match: “It shows that (Cameron) was a confident kid stepping onto the field.” As for the rest of the team, “One minute we were helping ourselves, shooting ourselves in the foot the next.” Indeed, FCD profited from Houston’s defensive lapses. “We donated two of their three goals,” defender Craig Waibel said. “We didn’t make them earn them.”