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?