Mauro Diaz had a goal and an assist as he lead FC Dallas to a huge 4-1 victory over rivals Houston Dynamo in front of 16,744 fans. The game started off all in the home side's favor as they drove hard at the exposed right flank where Oscar Garcia was inserted at right back in place of Sheanon Williams. Another exposed nerve was Nigerian midfielder Rasheed Olabiyi.

Diaz, Colombian International Fabian Castillo and homegrown midfielder Victor Ulloa made life difficult for Ricardo Clark and Olabiyi. It was a silly foul in the box by Rasheed that gifted Dallas a penalty kick in the 25th minute, which was duly converted by Diaz. Shortly thereafter, Rasheed was subbed off in favor of Williams, pushing Garcia into the midfield.

After more possession and saves by goalkeeper Tyler Deric, the Dynamo finally managed to challenge youngster Jesse Gonzalez. Garcia worked the ball into central midfield where Clark was left open in a pocket of space. He wound up and took the shot, giving Gonzalez no chance to make the save.

The second half started off well with the Dynamo creating several chances but couldn't quite get their shots on target and past Gonzalez. The home side absorbed the pressure and hit the Dynamo on the counter for two quick goals. The first came in the 51st minute from David Teixeira, and the second in the 53rd from Kellyn Acosta.

Once they were comfortably up, FC Dallas relaxed their efforts a bit, bringing the Dynamo back into the game. However, they couldn't take advantage of the gained possession and created few chances. Indeed with their near 48% possession, they had only five shots, three of which were on target.

After the two early goals, the game devolved into a tight midfield battle. The home side managed a few half chances but nothing that Deric couldn't handle. Dynamo manager Owen Coyle brought in Rob Lovejoy to provide speed to the side, along with Luis Garrido to stabalize the middle of the field.

It was a nervous return for Lovejoy to the stadium that saw his career stall with a ligament injury back in May. After all of the downtime, he put his time to good use, making nice runs and generally being a nuisance. For his first minutes in almost 5 months, it was a solid 30 minute showing.

Leave it to this team to lose their temper and get a silly card. Raul Rodriguez was shown a straight red in the 90' when he tripped up Michael Barrios. While it was a hard foul, it's kind of iffy that it was worthy of a straight red. That said, considering the stupidity of the foul, it's not one worth arguing much over. Teixeira went on to add a fourth for Dallas in the third minute of stoppage time.

Dallas heads north for a match against the Vancouver Whitecaps on Wednesday night while Houston heads home for the Charity Cup match against Liga MX side Santos Laguna before hosting the Seattle Sounders the following week on October 18.