We are on Fire!

In our short history, we've lost to Chicago twice (at home) and tied them at Toyota Park in a game that featured D-Ro's goal from the midfield line. We've never beaten them, until tonight.

For our third Thursday night game in a row, we beat our opponent 4-0. Mullan, Mulrooney, Holden (who played like a veteran), Ngwenya (who played like a maestro at times), and Jaqua (who really wanted to impress his former fans) were in the zone tonight. I didn't see Clark do too much today (I didn't even see his first half blistering shot until the replay because ESPN thought we might want to see a Beckham commercial in the middle of the game), but (1) he was playing out of his usual position, and (2) he didn't need to do too much today. We tended to by-pass the midfield or use the flanks to great effect tonight.

Despite the clean sheet, I think our back line was a little loosey-goosey at times. (That's a technical term, by the way.) Perhaps it was over confidence. We are now firmly in second place to the 2000 KC Wizards for consecutive minutes without conceding a score. I worried that the thorn-in-our-side-that-is-Thiago would make one of his signature moves and sneak a ball in, but nope. Onstad was flawless and our overall team defensive abilities kept us out of trouble for the most part.

Ngwenya's amazing goal has moved me to Haiku:

A touch: "Bye, Curtain;"
Another: rounding Pickens
A knife to the net.

The first touch around Curtain was immaculate. The move around Pickens, well timed. The shot from the impossible angle was amazing precision. Definite GOTW candidate. That was a Ngwenya that I've never seen; I wonder if the Crew had ever seen it?

Kinnear has done an amazing job crafting a team in this, his sophomore year in Houston. The team is the best integrated group of individuals in the MLS. They have talent, but their obvious rapport with each other is what separates them. I loved the relaxed smiles Onstad had during the game, including his relieved grin after Cochrane's own-goal-that-nearly-was whizzed past the post in the first half.

Sliding, dirt flying,
His leg -- akimbo -- strikes out,
"Flee to safety, ball."

Another great game tonight -- and in front of a great crowd too. Impressive showing by the Fahr faithful: more than 20,000 on a Thursday night. Here's hoping for equally impressive attendance this Sunday at the Rob, where we hopefully can avenge our loss to Toronto and shut them out in the process.

Finally, about that Beckham commercial that took up the screen while Rico was teeing up his shot: the "S" in ESPN should stand for "Sports" not "Soap Operas." We're glued to the TV to watch a game, so show a game. Talk about Becks if you must, but don't hide the reason we tuned to your station. By the same token, my main focus is the game, not the news. If you feel your sports fans need to have an in-game update on whether A-Rod will negotiate his new contract now, later, or never, because that's news that just can't wait, then at least make the news video a smaller screen than the game -- the game that made me tune to your station in the first place. Thanks.

A small postage stamp
With Orange mites on green,
Oh, that's the 'Mo Game!