Blame the Metric System!

There's something about the Canadians and their darn metric system that confounds us. We lost to them up there (but is that the same as a tie using standard measurements?) and now we settle for a tie (is that the same as a win with the conversion?) down here. One point out of a possible 6 versus the expansion team; I blame the metric system.

(Note: the Canadian side had only 2 Canadian starters: the GK and Brennan. The two subs -- Pozniak and Lombardo -- were also Canadian.)

Tonight was a frustrating rehash of the beginning of the season. Despite dominating the field, we couldn't get the ball in the net. Ching had a 1v1 with the GK in the first half. Post. Ngwenya had shot after shot, and offside after offside. Holden: Blocked or post. Clark: High, wide, or to the keeper. D-Ro: wide. Jaqua: header high. All in all, we had 16 shots, and probably twice that many scoring opportunities. Toronto had 4 shots, 2 on goal, and that was about it for their opportunities.

With Edu sent off for his Flying Death maneuver on Mullan towards the end of the first half, and shots raining down on the Toronto goalkeeper, Srdjan "I'd Like to Buy A Vowel" Djekanovic, it seemed only a matter of time before we got one into the net. We even ended the game with 3 forwards: Ching, Jaqua, and Wondolowski. Dom also shifted the Middies around at the end, with Holden on the right, Mulrooney in the middle, and D-Ro on the left. I think that helped a lot (Holden was having trouble with O'Brien), but it didn't tickle the twine.

No goals; no Haiku.

But wait! There's still reason to celebrate. From the Dept. of the Glass is Half Full: We set an MLS record for consecutive minutes without conceding a goal. We're now at 695 minutes (the 2000 KC Wizards had the record at 681) and counting. I believe Dynamo's unbeaten streak of 10 games is a club record, and our shutout streak is at seven games. Plus, our 33 points put us at the top of the Conference and in the lead for the Supporters' Shield. Also, our 10 wins are just 1 shy of our season total in 2006. (Yeah, our 2006 losses were only 3 more than our total today, but I'm trying to keep it positive here.)

Other cool things: birthday wishes were posted on the Megatron for my oldest son. Happy 14th Birthday, bud!

How cool would it have been if Jaqua had squeezed his first touch into goal? Immediately after coming on, he had the golden chance following a corner kick. Dom has looked like a genius at times when his subs' first touch resulted in a goal or an assist. It's happened with Holden, Wondo, and Jaqua.

And how cool was it when the crowd cheered at the 77th minute -- during a routine goal kick -- when everyone realized the scoreless streak had attained record levels? That's a pretty savvy crowd.

But the crowd was sure light tonight. Just over 11,000 -- not a great showing. Our section (221) was very crowded, so I thought the attendance number would be higher. I guess they cram people into the eastern bleachers when possible to make the camera shots look more dynamic. Weather was probably a factor in the low turnout. Good thing the crowd was loud and ebullient.

Speaking of effusiveness; what was with Abbey-O demanding the streamers be taken off the field? We've had goalies complain about that before, and the refs just shushed them. Heck, Abbey-O has reffed here before and never had an issue with the party favors. This is the first time a game has been stopped for lawn maintenance at the Rob. (Except for when the sprinklers went off during the Dynamo vs Dynamo Open Cup match last summer...) I thought it was ridiculous that he stopped the game; but once he did, I thought the crowd should stop throwing things so we could continue the game. (Still every delay made the 77th minute get here faster.) I think we need a ruling from the MLS on this. Streamers are completely innocent; if cups and trash were being thrown, that would be a different issue entirely.

Despite the positives from tonight, losing to an expansion club that is one man down makes the evening a little sour. We seem to have trouble putting away games when a man up (see RBNY in our first road trip this season).

I think during the All-Star break we should do some finishing drills. Okay, it's not much of a break, but at least we don't have 4 games in 1 week.

At the All-Star exhibition. John Spencer will be the Asst. Coach (to Nichol, coach of our opponent next Sunday), and Ching, D-Ro, and Clark will represent.

Then it's off to New England, where the pesky Revolution will try to end our defensive streak. Here's hoping they don't, and that we find that net again. (Do we need to have a Thursday game to score?) Also, now that we're through facing the Canadian opponent, I hope that D-Ro will not try so hard and will return to his natural, game-controlling self.

Congratulations on the Dynamo U-17 team for going undefeated (so far) in the SUM U-17 Cup. Yeah, they're winless as well, but they're also undefeated!