Gifts from the Galaxy - Playoffs here we come

Last night's 3-1 win was sweet on so many levels. For one, we needed the 3 points. For another, it's always nice when we can top the Galaxy.

Looking at the stat sheet, it doesn't look like the Dynamo were very superior to their opponent, and that was certainly true in the chippy, choppy first half. Neither team looked particularly composed in the first half, but the second half was all Dynamo.

Thanks to the miracle of modern media, I missed the first 20 seconds or so of the first half, so I didn't see the build up that led to the foul that led to the penalty kick that led to our eventual game winning goal from D-Ro. It was gratifying to see D-Ro put the kick away so forcefully and decisively. From that point on, the game was Orange.

My wife and I jumped and cheered when Jaqua flicked in Ching's cutback pass for the goal off the far post at about the 60th minute...only it turned out the ball bounced the wrong way off the post and into Joe Cannon's arms. How did it do that? Ching, himself, had two sure opportunities with the ball at his feet, time to ready his shot, and no one between him and Cannon, but one shot went to Cannon and the other went just wide. Truly, the score could've been 5-1 in our favor.

The Galaxy are struggling to say the least. The teams midfield is capable, but the forwards are toothless (if we -- Clark was it? -- had not let Gordon run free on LA's corner in the 26th minute, they would not have had the free header and might not have gotten even that one goal) and the defenders are definitely raw and indecisive (on numerous occasions they inexplicably didn't close down our forwards in the box, and they habitually commit silly fouls). Clark's insurance goal was indicative of how naive the Galaxy's defenders were. Perhaps the game would have been different had Abel Xavier been in -- we surely wouldn't have had so many sitters in the box in that case -- and with Beckham in, Donovan would have been able to help out the struggling forwards more. We were definitely hurt by some of our missing starters, but the Galaxy have cast their lot on a select few players who weren't able to play. Maybe there's something to be said for balance when forming a team?

Thankfully we might have nearly all of our starters available at our next match, versus FC Dallas in Frisco on September 30. Hopefully Ngwenya and Mullen aren't new additions to the injured reserve, but our rare bye-week this weekend should provide much-needed help with everyone's recovery.

For now, we are definitely in the playoffs. We have 13 wins (better than our 11 wins last year) and our 45 points are only 1 point behind our season total for last year with 12 more points available on the table. We have conceded 21 goals this season, which puts us well on track toward setting a new MLS record for goals conceded in a season (the record is 29, held by 3 teams) and for goals conceded per game in a season (we need to allow no more than 27 to match the record, held by 2 teams).

I think our objectives for the remainder of regular league play should be to get at least 10 of the 12 points (and all 12 are feasible), which will help us position ourselves for the playoffs and probably get us into the top 4 teams for next year's SuperLiga. We should also work at keeping our Orange Crush defense focused on what they do best (and hope the RSL game was an aberration) to lock down the new defensive record. For the immediate term, and with those two goals in mind, we should rest our battered lads and hope the rest doesn't turn into rust.

Go Dynamo.