Torres’ record-setting benchmark ‘a moment of history’
Early this season, the newest chapter in Erick Torres’ Dynamo career focused on an athlete who was on the way back after two scoreless years.
That chapter took on a drastically different tone last week. Now it’s all about how he is a record holder.
By scoring two goals in Wednesday’s 3-3 draw with rival FC Dallas, Torres went from one goal below Brian Ching’s Dynamo single season record to one goal above it. The record now is 14 and is likely to increase during the final eight games of the regular season.
Torres would have had an opportunity to add to it this weekend, but Saturday’s home game against Sporting Kansas City was postponed because of Hurricane Harvey.
“It’s something wonderful for me in my soccer career,” Torres said through a translator. “When I came to the Houston Dynamo, my mindset was on making history, on scoring as many goals as possible for this team.”
The record is a big deal by itself, but the timing of Nos. 13 and 14 was about as good as it gets.
The Dynamo trailed, 3-1, and did not seem to have what it was going to take to get anything out of the match. That changed when Torres scored in the 71st minute.
The remaining 20 minutes had the feeling of enough time for the Dynamo to get another, especially because they had attacking reinforcements in Mauro Manotas, Romell Quioto and Tomas Martinez.
Manotas made the play that led to Torres’ equalizer in the 86th minute. Manotas dribbled into the right side of the penalty area and hit a hard pass toward the center. It deflected into the cross bar.
Torres was there for the rebound and leveled the match, giving the Dynamo a share of the points when all had seemed lost just 20 minutes before.
“It is a big point for the team,” Torres said. “The mentality is very important. To comeback from a 3-1 deficit against a team like FC Dallas, who defends well, and in 45 minutes score twice on them and try to get the win is something that we have to value.”
Dynamo coach Wilmer Cabrera values the comeback and Torres’ record. As he has all season, however, he emphasized that having success does not mean it is time to rest. The Dynamo, he said, need to keep their foot on the pedal.
That is especially the case for Torres, Cabrera said, because if he does not score more goals the team may suffer.
“(The record) is important for him to continue showing why he is the top scorer of the Houston Dynamo,” Cabrera said. “It is a moment of history for him and for the franchise, but this is not going to stop over here. It needs to continue. We cannot be comfortable thinking that we have achieved is good. It is not good enough.”
Torres’ 36 career goals are good enough to put him on the top of another list — the most scored by a Mexican player in MLS. He is 12 goals ahead of Giovani dos Santos of the LA Galaxy.
While discussing his Dynamo record, he said his heritage is important to him and potentially for Mexican players who come to the league.
“To come as Mexican citizen to represent Mexico as appropriately as possible, to come and open doors for my fellow Mexicans, I can only be thankful,” Torres said. “It is something beautiful to become the top goal scorer in a single season for the Dynamo.”