Holden up to the Revs

Well, tonight the Dynamo could consider themselves lucky to come out with a draw. Playing with 10 men for the final 15 minutes or so makes the 1-1 result palatable...but it still isn't.

The Revs threatened sporadically, but without much real bite, while Dynamo had several penetrating runs that ended in poor shots or belated attempts that were easily blocked.

Ching played well in the first, but the wet field (and physical jockeying) seemed to keep him off his feet for much of the second half. Moreno had several of those great drives at goal that were fruitless. Davis also had a great look in the second half that suffered from its poor timing. In the first half, DeRo had a 1v1 running at goal, and those are in the net8 times out of 10, but he was denied.

Bad luck played its role too: In the first half, the Revs managed to clear the ball off the line; Ching also had some shots (by the peg and by the noggin) that sailed just wide or high.

But the story of the night was rookie Stuart Holden, the local boy, who came on the field around the 60th minute and scored the equalizer just three minutes later on his first touch. (The goal came from a beautiful cutback pass from Moreno after one of his many runs.) Holden had another nice attempt sail just wide a few minutes later.

Dropped to 10 men after Barrett saw his second yellow after the 70th minute, Dynamo slipped into a more defensive posture, but still had several dangerous counter attacks. Their 2 game winning streak stumbled with the draw, and the team dropped from 3 points out of first place to 5 points out of first after FCD beat RSL.

Still, we're unbeaten in 10 games, and we're 6 points ahead of Chivas USA in the standings.

Best of all: the rainy weather kept the temperature down (DeRo looked a bit peppier tonight) and my son caught a T-shirt at the game. Now THAT's a trophy.

There's only a short rest ahead boys; we visit the Rapids on Wednesday. Good luck in the rarified air.