Defeat at Eight Thousand Feet

Dynamo played with heart and held on to the lead (or a share of it) for 105 minutes of this 80-minute contest. I think the only thing that the team should be ashamed of is the first half of this game. They played that half as if it were the second half and they were exhausted. Their defending was undisciplined, but worse was the distribution and the passing. Players would bust their guts to win and/or keep possession, and then would drop it off to a teammate who would then promptly backstab their hard-working teammate by giving the ball over to Pachuca with a blind punt of the ball.

The first half ended with 2 goals for Pachuca (and a 2-2 aggregate tie), both goals coming in the first 15 minutes. The first goal came off a free kick, which was headed in by (an apparently offside) Gabriel Caballero. It looked like Ryan Cochrane failed to mark Caballero, freeing the Tuzo for the header. The second goal came off a PK by Argentinean Christian Gimenez, after a poor tackle in the box by Craig Waibel. On the PK, Wells got a good hand on the ball, but the ball squeezed in nonetheless.

The Dynamo redeemed themselves in the second half, and played outstanding ball for the vast majority of that 45-minute period. In the 52nd minute, Ching won the ball at the touchline (and Mexican cameramen should remember that the entire ball must cross the entire line before being called out into touch...a majority of the ball into touch is not the same thing), crossed the ball to DeRo who touched it to Mullan for the exclamatory finish. Advantage Dynamo...until Davis makes a poor decision on a tackle in the box. It wasn't a foul, but was close enough for the ref to give Pachuca (and Gimenez) the PK. Wells jumped the wrong way, and Pachuca was up 3-1 (but tied 3-3 aggregate).

Still, Dynamo's passing was crisper, there was more off the ball movement, and the on-ball players were looking at their options and making good decisions. Then, in the 80th minute, Ching looked to have locked up the win with an uncontested header. I found much joy in the despairing visage of the crowd...but Pachuca's first goal from the run of play -- endowed by Cochrane when he paused long enough for his mark to gain space in the box -- tied up the aggregate at 4 and sent the teams into OT.

If the CONCACAF followed the pattern followed by Europe and South America, the away goals would have allowed the Dynamo to move on. Instead, the rules required the teams to play OT and then PKs if necessary. This rule gives an enormous advantage to the second host of the 2-leg match...and what an advantage it is when the field is 8,000 feet above sea level.

OT saw Pachuca control the run of play and the possession, which is no knock on the Dynamo who are more accustomed to playing with oxygen. Yet, early on DeRo had a fantastic header that required the Tuzo GK (Miguel Culero, who showed no class in shoving Dominic Kinnear just prior to the start of OT) to make a spectacular save. Seconds past the 15-minute mark of the first half of OT (and 105 minutes into the combined match), the Dynamo D-line inexplicably didn't close down Gimenez as he dribbled up the center, and with that space the Argentinean let loose a rocket of a goal. Dalglish came on for DeRo in the second half of OT. Ching uncharacteristically missed a wide open header. In the closing seconds, Ching got the ball into the net, but a handball had killed the play. The game ended with handshakes (unlike when the Tuzos lost to us in Houston) and jersey-swapping.

This is the third or fourth time (counting CONCACAF matches and the Carolina Challenge Cup) that the Dynamo refused to play two entire halves of soccer. If the poor halves were always in the final 45 minutes, we could chalk up the deficiency to poor conditioning; but the problem strikes in the first halves too. Some criticize Dom for this, but I must say that the fact that he gets them back on track after halftime suggests that Dom is making the adjustments expected of a savvy coach. If a team isn’t performing, that isn't always the coach's fault; but if the team isn't adjusting, that would be the coach's fault.

I thought Cochrane and Davis were liabilities for this match, while Barrett and Mullan were strong. Ching did what he was supposed to do -- and more with his flank play at times, including the cross that led to the first goal -- and DeRo came and went throughout the match. I think Wondo might have been more effective than Dalglish tonight; he couldn't have been less effective.

The fortunes of the game could have changed at so many points. Moreno should have had that 3rd goal in the first leg. (Which would have precluded the need for OT in the second leg.) The first Pachuca goal should have been called offside. Wells almost saved the first PK. The second PK was arguably not a foul and arguably not in the box. DeRo had a point block shot saved. The ref almost blew his whistle before the last goal. Ching missed a header that he NEVER misses towards the end. Yes, Pachuca had bad luck too; but this isn't a Pachuca blog.

In the end, the ref didn’t blow this game, nor did the Dynamo. It was just a poor combination of bad luck, thin air, and a slow start for the team. The Tuzos played solid, possession-based soccer, and Dynamo still came within a hair of winning the aggregate score. Had any of the factors -- luck, oxygen, or a smart start -- been tweaked, the scales would've tipped in the Dynamo's favor.

In the end Dynamo did something that the Tuzos couldn't: they lost with class like the sportsmen and athletes that they are.

Maybe we'll see the Tuzos again in the SuperLiga tourney this summer.