The Portland Timbers and their fans have made JELD-WEN Field one of the toughest places to play in MLS. But you wouldn't know it from watching Danny Cruz last Friday.
After Andre Hainault opened the scoring in the 36th minute, Cruz struck a spectacular long-range blast past a diving Troy Perkins in the 59th minute to kill off the game for the Houston Dynamo and, ultimately, win AT&T Goal of the Week for 31.
A scrappy battle in midfield eventually fell to the Dynamo's Luiz Camargo, who played the ball to Cruz on the right side. From there, Camargo cut inside to open up space, and Creuz cut inside to fire an unsaveable shot toward the far post to secure a much-needed win for Houston in a hostile road environment.
Cruz's goal won the honors in a landslide, garnering 45 percent of the vote, 39 points ahead of runners-up Sebastián Grazzini and Andrés Mendoza. It is Cruz's first Goal of the Week award of the season, and the Dynamo's second after Adam Moffat won the award in Week 22 with his long-range bomb against, incidentally, the Portland Timbers.
For a complete list of AT&T Goal of the Week winners, click here.
- Danny Cruz (HOU) 45%
- Sebastián Grazzini (CHI) 16%
- Andrés Mendoza (CLB) 16%
- Ryan Johnson (TOR) 12%
- Marvin Chávez (FCD) 10%
