The Dynamo Machine Keeps Plugging Away

The Dynamo-Houston defense lived up to its billing and got its fifth straight clean sheet. We only got ourselves one goal, but it was all we needed.

The goal wasn't pretty by any stretch. After DC cleared one of our corners, the ball ended up with Mulrooney, who took a little long in my eager mind to decide to shoot, but shoot he did. The ball got stopped in the crowd in front of the goal, and Ching managed to redirect it into the goal. Gotta say that I didn't realize Ching had even scored that one until much later.

We had a few more opportunities that were prettier than the goal, but nothing trumps a goal. In the first 10 minutes, I thought we were going to get our goal when we had two solid threats. One of them saw Ngwenya with an open look on goal, but he decided to pass it off and the ball was lost. Later, Ching [watching the tape later: it is D-Ro] hustled to the goal line to save the ball and chip it in front of goal, but with an open goal staring us in the face, no one was there to capitalize as Holden hustled up to try.

Then in the 19th minute Gomez had a pretty innocuous free kick that bounced in our box (bad news, that) and somehow lazily floated towards the top corner of our goal. We were saved by the woodwork, but it would've been pretty embarrassing had that slow ball gone in.

From my position (low down section 219 tonight), I thought Ching had a sure goal in the 27th or thereabouts. With the ball at his feet at the edge of the 18-yard box, only one defender in the area (pinned to his side of course), Ching winds up and rips a shot that was deflected by the back's shin. With the deflection, I was lined up behind the ball's path and it was bearing in on the upper 90. I thought the ricochet would make it too deceptive for Perkins, but the GK had incredible reflexes and managed to knock the sure goal out for a corner.

Just a few minutes later, Robinson and Emilio are going at it on our half and Robinson smoothly wins the ball, only to get twisted up with his own momentum. The Brazilian collects the ball and Onstad faces him alone...and comes out on top. This was by far the most dangerous moment of the first half (other than that confusingly scary free kick). A few minutes later, we got the goal and I figured one goal would be all we need in Robertson Stadium.

But then the second half started and I became a bit more worried. Our back line limited DC 's opportunities on goal, but we were totally outclassed in the midfield. It wasn't that we had bunkered in or had given up, but for a stretch from about the 55th minute to the 65th minute, we could only manage about 2 passes to every 11 of DC's. They were stringing the passes together like beads, but luckily the passing was basically just possession-oriented and not penetrating. Things became a bit more even as the half wore on, but I think DC's desperation made them a bit more effective.

I thought that we had some good individual performances in the second half, but we sure weren't clicking. One player would make a nice pass, and another would have just cut the other way. One would zig while another would zag. The subs didn't change the game complexion much, but were a good move given we have three more games this week. I didn't think Nate Jaqua added much when he came in, but it was good to give Ngwenya some rest. Ashe did manage to keep our speed up in Ngwenya's absence. DeRo needed the rest and Clark needed some time to gel with his teammates. (And did Clark's jersey look yellower than the other jerseys? Maybe that's what happens when it sits at the bottom of your drawer for a month. My wife thought it just hadn't absorbed 8 pounds of sweat and that's why it looked different.)

We do need to work on game-killing possession play in these 1-goal games. It makes for tense moments otherwise. And I repeat this question: Why can't the stadium keep the clock running past 90 so we at least have an idea of how far into stoppage we've gone? Maybe I need to start an email campaign to get that going.

Bottom line is our defense is tops of the league. We have allowed only 10 goals this year, 5 fewer than the next lowest total (owned by Chivas-Carson). At home, we've scored 13 and allowed only 4. In only one game (at DC) we have allowed more than 1 goal -- and that was limited to 2. Credit goes to Onstad and our back four, no doubt; but it's also a result of our solid midfield with talent in the center and hustle on the wings. Perhaps Bradley should give some of our defenders a better look at the next US National Team camp.

Odd bits:
You know, you can't expect better weather in Houston in July. With the occasional breeze, it was actually bearable tonight.

We tied the series with DC this year. While we're done with them for league play, we do meet them once more here in Houston, on August 1 for the SuperLiga tournament.

We are only 2 wins shy of our season win total last year. Our 2 ties are 11 shy of our season total for last year, but I'd gladly swap draws for wins any season.

Tuesday we face the Charleston Battery in the US Open Cup. Even if it means we struggle, I hope we give our reserves some time on the field. It'd be good for them and good for our club's future. If we do move on and face FCD, I hope we mop the field up with them!