Thursday, March 29, 2007

Glen Davis in the Deadly Toxin

My alma mater's newsrag (affectionately called "The Deadly Toxin") has a nice but brief article on Houston's own Glen Davis. I'm anxious to check out that soccer program Glen expects to air on TV later this year.

In other news, I know the results of friendlies mean little, but the 0-0 result the US earned with Guatemala (or Gautemala, as ESPN's graphics showed) is a sign that the US needs to develop better creativity in breaking down a bunkered team. No reason to panic of course, but we definitely need to learn the lesson and change our strategy (and maybe personnel) when facing such a defensive ploy. We will face Guatemala in the CONCACAF Gold Cup, so we'll probably face the same strategy again.

And regarding USMNT personnel, how many more chances will Eddie Johnson be awarded? I sure hope his game picks up for the KC Wizards, for his sake as well as for the Wizards'. It would be nice to have him as an asset for the USMNT, but let's start with the club that pays his bills first.

Monday, March 19, 2007

Check out this goal...

Last year in Bridgeview, DeRo had an amazing goal from midfield. It was an excellent combination of talent and vision. The weekend the EPL provided an even longer range goal, although it was founded more on good fortune, I would think. From ESPN...

Goalkeeper Paul Robinson scored an extraordinary goal from his own half to embarrass his England rival Ben Foster in Tottenham's Barclays Premiership 3-1 victory over Watford. [Jay DeMerit did not play, so was blessedly not part of the problem.]

Robinson wheeled away in celebration after his free-kick bounced over Foster, the young goalkeeper on loan from Manchester United who has been putting pressure on his as England's first choice.

"That's why you're number one," sang the fans after his goal, remarkably the second of his career after netting for Leeds before arriving at Spurs.

Friday, March 16, 2007

Bipolar Play Can Still Win Games

Work put me in Lake Charles, LA, this past Thursday, so I wasn't able to watch the game vs Pachuca. I managed to record the match, and when I got home at 9, I sat down with trepidation to watch.

The first half saw my (almost) worst fears confirmed: we were playing prosaic, pathetic, panicky soccer. We didn't concede a goal yet (that would be my worst fear) but a goal didn't look far off given our play. Our touch was off still, yes; but the worst part was the lack of awareness and the inability to display any game intelligence. As bad as they looked in Costa Rica, this was much, much worse. In Costa Rica, Dynamo looked exhausted; here at home, Dynamo looked amateurish. Horrible passing and horrible decisions weren't just the purview of the pseudo-newbies, like Kelly Gray, but of solid veterans like Eddie Robinson, and -- gasp! -- Mullan and Davis.

Dynamo's work rate was solid, which led to many good defensive plays, and these were often followed by a good pass. But the next decision was -- almost without exception -- a blind, Hail Mary pass easily intercepted by the Pachuca defenders, or a hasty, lazy pass to the Pachuca forwards.

Pachuca forwards Luis Landín and Christian Giménez had plenty of opportunities to grab a lead. Their poor finishing (perhaps due to nonchalance?) saved the day for the Dynamo. Zach Wells' solid goalkeeping also helped.

My halftime funk was pleasantly spoiled by a reversal of quality in the second half. Dynamo became aggressive, confident, and savvy, and we saw them stringing passes together. In the 57th minute, after sustaining increasing pressure from the hometown team, Pachuca did a poor job of clearing a Houston free kick, and the ball landed at Craig Waibel's feet on the right flank. His subsequent cross was clinically headed by Brian Ching and the game changed yet again. Dynamo's confidence amped up some more, as did their play. The crowd was even more energized and the Tuzos became unsettled.

Bully for Coach Kinnear, who much have said something at halftime (he sure was vocal on the sidelines too), and bully for him for keeping the foot on the accelerator by subbing in De Rosario and Chris Wonolowski late in the game. In the 84th minute they provided a much-needed insurance goal -- and equally needed was the class of the play that led to the goal. On a throw-in deep in Pachuca territory, Brad Davis finds DeRo, who displays outstanding vision in sending his pass into space for Davis to run onto. Davis penetrates further, and (with great peripheral vision) sends a crafty cutback pass to Chris Wondolowski, who easily slots the ball into goal. Game, set, match. That goal accomplishes much in its timing as well as in its caliber.

To cap things off, Alejandro Moreno has a pure-sitter of a goal in stoppage time that would have given us a 3-goal lead that would be difficult to overcome in the second leg. He missed the opportunity, but we'll call it even since Pachuca missed similar opportunities in the first half.

(Zach Wells provided the biggest boneheaded decision in the second half when he was caught out of position on a Pachuca foray...but Waibel was there, too, to head out the ball headed to goal, preserving the lead and bailing out Wells in the process.)

With the 2-goal lead we're sitting pretty, but we're definitely not out of the woods. The return leg will take place somewhere near the edge of our Troposphere (actually 8,000 feet above sea level), and Pachuca will probably not sit their effective attackers again. Their backs are against the wall and they won't take us for granted.

Better play will be needed by the Dynamo. Most of all, the team needs improved possession. A goal (or two, dare we hope?) would be nice...and it is comforting to know we have solid goalkeepers, regardless of who mans the posts (Wells or Onstad).

As difficult a road as we face in Pachuca, we still need to lose by 3 goals (or 2 goals and a PK loss), which puts us in a better position than DC United, who have to win at Guadalajara.

And, at least in the first legs of these semi-finals, it looks like the mojo-pendulum may have swung from United's Christian Gomez to our own DeRo. Gomez looked like a maestro in United's Quarterfinal matches, while DeRo was ineffective. In the semis, DeRo looked sharp in his brief appearance, whereas Gomez was neutralized for the most part by Chivas (or was it something else?).

Friday, March 02, 2007

Orange in Aggieland

The environment and the result was the complete opposite of the first leg. The field was pristine, the crowd friendly, the weather cool, and the result a shutout win, 2-0.

The play wasn't diametrically divergent from the first leg, but it was better.

The team's fitness was a bit better, and there was much better passing, possession, and ball control. But the finesse wasn't there, nor was the smart teamwork. In fact, they often looked disjointed.

In the 25th minute, Moreno and Dalglish fail to take advantage of a beautiful Mullan cross because they are in each other's space. One of them (Moreno, I believe) should have delayed his run to give the other (Daggers) room, and to be in position to make hay with the subsequent deflection.

We did well in the flanks, but our center play was spotty. DeRo is my biggest criticism, not because he's playing horribly, but because he's not playing up to his abilities. He is our playmaker -- our Tracy McGrady -- but his touch was poor and his vision was myopic. So goes DeRo, so goes the Dynamo usually -- but luckily not last night. Perhaps I'm being too harsh and should be more forgiving since it's the preseason, but blame DC United's Christian Gomez for setting my standards high for MLS playmakers.

(Speaking of DC United, how about that new signing, Luciano Emilio? He looks to be the real deal. He's a potential golden boot contender. I'm interested to see how we handle him when we face DCU May 26.)

Rico played well I thought, but he seemed to disappear for stretches. In fact, I thought our usually strong spine was weaker than usual. I'm particularly disappointed in DeRo--not because he's playing particularly badly, but because he's not playing up to his form. He's our playmaker. Normally I might blame it on being the preseason, but Christian Gomez has set the bar high. (And speaking of DC, how about Luciano Emilio? He looks like he might contend for the golden boot this season. I'm looking forward to how we handle him when we meet in May.)

I was also disappointed with the decision (whether conscious or not) to bunker in late in the game after we got the lead. I hate when we do that without reason. (We had a reason in Costa Rica.)

We did well in the attacking third, but should have done better. I thought Ching (our Yao Ming?) did well when he came on. He definitely had the best contribution-per-minute-played ratio, earning the foul that led to the series winner, putting the ensuing header on frame, forcing the Puntarenas keeper to make a fantastic save, and giving Kelly Gray the opportunity to punch in the rebound and get us to the next round.

The referee let the most egregious and dangerous of fouls go -- but woe to the player to spoke harsh words!

Puntarenas is a good team and beating them was quite an accomplishment, particularly considering that we weren't playing on all cylinders. Our next opponent, Pachuca, will be much more difficult, though. First of all, they're a talented team (the defending Copa Sudamericana champions), secondly we face them away for the second leg, and finally we'll be playing 8,000 feet in the air when we do face them on their home pitch. Dom may want to have the team wear snorkels during practice to simulate the inability to gulp down oxygen.

The second leg is also 3 days before our season opener versus the LAGgers. How's THAT for timing?