Houston Dynamo coach Ben Olsen believes club-record signing Ezequiel Ponce is beginning to quieten his critics, having scored twice in Saturday's thrilling 4-3 win at San Diego FC. 

Ponce joined Houston from Greek side AEK Athens for a fee estimated to be around $10million last June and has scored 12 goals in 31 appearances in MLS.

But with Houston sat outside the playoff picture in the Western Conference ahead of Saturday's trip to Snapdragon Stadium, the Argentine had faced criticism from some fans and pundits.

However, Ponce was the hero as the Dynamo climbed into a play-in spot with a 4-3 comeback victory over the Western Conference leaders, netting twice late on to flip the game on its head.

The Dynamo trailed 3-2 with 87 minutes gone, but Ponce won and converted a penalty to equalise, then drilled into the bottom-right corner 10 minutes into 17 minutes of second-half stoppage time.

"He was for me, he was the player of the match," Olsen said of Ponce. "What I'm excited about is he looked very lively on the offensive end, and two goals really pushes a guy forward, who is paid to score goals, frankly.

"I know he's been getting a lot of stick for not putting up the numbers that a big-money player does, and now he's starting to creep up.

"I think he's got a few in the last two games and that's where we need him."

The Dynamo's victory took them above Austin FC and the Colorado Rapids in the standings.

Austin's game against Los Angeles FC postponed due to flash flooding in Texas, while the Rapids lost 2-1 to Sporting Kansas City.

"I think that just the resiliency over all of the group, I felt pretty impressed by," Olsen added. "To go down and then it just kept flip-flopping. 

"And then to have something in the end there, I thought our fitness was impressive. I felt like we had more energy than they did towards the end. 

"Sometimes that's coming from Houston in the summer. We get this beautiful breeze going on here. I think these guys feel like they can run for days! So, I'm proud of them."

Houston are only behind seventh-placed LAFC on goal difference, albeit Steve Cherundolo's team have four games in hand after their Club World Cup campaign and could climb as high as second with four victories.

San Diego remain top, one point clear of the Vancouver Whitecaps, who suffered a surprise 3-0 defeat to the LA Galaxy on Saturday.

Matheus Nascimento put the MLS Cup holders in front in the second minute, with a second-half brace from Joseph Paintsil further extending their lead before Vancouver had Jayden Nelson sent off in stoppage time.