Those Durn Wizards

The last MLS game I went to see was in Dallas. The Wizards were visiting that day and my family and I were rooting for the hometeam. The Wizards spoiled the party that day and stole a win by one goal.

Tonight, the same durn thing happened. The Wizards win off a rocket of a volley in the 90th minute by Burciaga, who is now on my poo-poo list. Wizards win 2-1.

Still, I cannot cast blame upon the Dynamo. We were the better team: dynamic, attacking, and threatening.

The game didn't start that way, with a Wolff drive barely pushed out by Onstad in the opening minutes, then a header by Eddie Johnson that was saved by the woodwork. After that, it was the Dynamos game. Unfortunately, while the Dynamo excelled in the back third and middle third, they couldn't finish in the attacking third. Not until Ching finally connected on a header in the 64th minute. Unfortunately, for the second week in a row, we couldn't protect the initial lead for more than 2 minutes, and Sasha was able to equalize with his unmarked header off a corner kick against the run of play.

Earlier about the 55th minute, Burciaga perfomed a cynical trip just outside the KC penalty box and receives a yellow. Later, he takes Mullan down from behind, near the goal line just outside the box. That should have been a second yellow. Later, with the score tied at 1-1 and about 15 minutes to play, Kerry Zavagnin (a good mid) adds a little melodrama after receiving an elbow from De Rosario, thus manipulating the Ref into giving De Ro a straight red. Given his reaction to the previous fouls, the ref should have given De Ro a yellow...but a red would have been entirely justified had the ref's previous calls been consistently punished.

A man down, Dynamo still played aggressively and didn't resort to "bunkering in." In the 90th minute, just after the Fourth Official revealed that 3 minutes of stoppage time would be added, Burciaga -- who should not have been on the field after his previous fouls -- made the strike that would be a dagger to the heart of the home side. It was admittedly a beautiful shot, but I wasn't sorry when Burciaga's poor sportsmanship afterwards elicited a second yellow card. No more histrionics from you, dude; now get off the field and go find a stage for your act and let the soccer players play.

(I must admit, I think the yellow card issued to Burciaga for his post-goal celebration was almost as ridiculous -- almost! -- as the straight red issued to De Ro. I think it was the ref's attempt to admit mea culpa on not issuing Burci a second yellow earlier.)

A few minutes before De Ro's ridiculous red card, it looked like Wade Barrett had put Dynamo up 2-1. Unfortunately, it was called back by a mysterious offside call. After the game, I raced home full of indignation to watch the tape of the game. (Another decent game calling by Charlie Pallilo and John Doyle; the latter actually making some funny self-deprecating remarks about his tendency to speak about San Jose on the field.) I watched the recording and -- drats! --Barrett was offside. The AR got that one right. At least I can still grumble about the DeRo Red Card.

In two games we've seen 6 goals by the Dynamo (5 by Ching), 4 goals by the visitors (2 per game? need to cut that down), and 3 red cards. Next game is on the road at DC. Here's hoping that the PowerOrange win their first road game (sans DeRo though it will be) and get back on track. They're bound to, the way they're playing...as long as they don't continue to allow those infrequent (but costly) lapses in the defensive third.