4:3 New York Houston Kljestan Grella Martins 2 Bruin 2 Alex 03.19.16 · League

Down three players. Down on the scoreboard. Down after losing the first two games of the season. It looked like you could put a fork into the season. And yet, somehow Metro turned it around, with two late Felipe goals, both from outside the box, turned a deficit into an emphatic 4:3 victory.

It took a while for Metro to settle, but after a quarter hour, they started to look like their old selves. Kemar Lawrence crossed to wide open Bradley Wright-Phillips, and the Englishman was unlucky to hit the ball straight into Houston keeper Joe Willis. Minutes later, a clear handball was not called in the Houston penalty area. And then, in the 22nd, Gonzalo Veron, starting for Mike Grella, took the ball from Sam, cut into the penalty area, and split two defenders. The ball dropped to Sacha Kljestan, whose shot across the goalmouth finally ended as the year's first goal.

The game turned in the 35th minute. With most of the Metro team caught upfield, the ball dropped behind the defense. Ronald Zubar was ball-watching, Lawrence couldn't catch up, and Will Bruin evened the game. Six minutes later, Bruin got Houston the lead after Zubar completely whiffed on the ball in the penalty area. This is not the first time that happened.

Bu then, Metro was already down Veron, who hurt his hamstring and was replaced by Grella. Right before the half, it was Gideon Baah's turned to pull up lame, and he was replaced by Ouimette. Then, early into the second, Houston's Andrew Wenger sprung on a breakaway that forced Luis Robles to make a terrific touch save. Once again, Zubar was nowhere to be seen on the play. It turned out he completed the trifecta of hamstring injuries. Metro had no choice but to insert Connor Lade and shift Kemar Lawrence to central back.

Metro tied it in the 63rd, Felipe's shot of a corner kick was parried, Houston failed to clear, the ball bounced off Grella and into the net. Two minutes later, the Dynamo got the lead back, when a shot from Alex went through the penalty area and into the bottom right corner.

Metro finally woke up, with frantic sequences off corner kicks. One of them ended with a Grella shot that was goalbound... but unfortunately hit Kljestan. Then, in the 77th, a superbly placed rocket saw Felipe nod the game at threes. And then, six minutes later, it was Felipe again. The Brazilian stepped to a free kick just ouside the penalty area and deftly placed it into the net. It was Metro's first free kick goal since Titi Henry in April of 2012.

Houston had a chance in injury time off a free kick of their own, but Sal Zizzo's face did an excellent job by getting in the way of a follow-up shot. It ended terifically, but...

Our starting central defenders are... Ouimette and... who?

Lineup: Robles, Lawrence, Zubar, Baah, Zizzo, McCarty, Martins, Kljestan, Veron, Sam, Wright-Phillips. Subs: Grella, Ouimette, Lade.