Emerging from the Belly of the Beast

Once again, there won't be an MLS team in the CONCACAF Champions final. Dynamo lose to Saprissa 3-0 last night. Saprissa's win is a fair indication of the performance on the field, but the magnitude of the result doesn't quite tell the story. I felt Saprissa played well enough to win, but I think the Dynamo acquitted themselves quite well, especially if you consider how they seemed to be forced to play under the Mark of Cain last night.

The Dynamo were hamstrung from the beginning. They were without four starters, including the vital Pat Onstand, and lost a fifth starter mere minutes into the game when Craig Waibel pulled up lame. They played with a shaky GK and no true centerbacks for the rest of the match.

Still, the Dynamo held its own for a majority of the first half, and did so in one of the most formidable stadia in Central America. They didn't threaten much, mainly due to an inability to connect passes on the slick artificial surface, but they easily absorbed pressure. They should have gone into the half tied, but for a soft goal conceded by the Dynamo near the end of the half. Even then, Carraccio could have even the score at 1 just before half, but his shot went wide and he had no support in the center or right to follow up on the open goal.

The first 15 minutes of the second half were dismal for the Orange. That was the only stretch where they looked like they were overmatched, but even then it took ball watching defense (in our penalty box, no less -- unpardonable!) with Mulrooney leaving his mark and Mullan not picking the mark up to enable Saprissa to score on a blistering shot that Caig had no chance on.

After the 60th minute, the Dynamo cranked it up a notch and played like the team that they are. Ching nearly halved the deficit with a rocket headed towards the right corner, but a brilliant save by the Saprissa keeper, who was woefully out of position mere seconds before as he tried to clear the ball, kept a clean sheet.

As the game approached the 80th minute, Saprissa scored their third and final goal off a fast break counterattack that caught Caig in no man's land. Fast break goals have proven to be a weakness of the Dynamo this season and preseason. They better find a way to overcome this weakness.

Saprissa will now face Pachuca in the final. Pachuca, you'll remember, eliminated the Dynamo from the CONCACAF Champions tourney and the SuperLiga tourney, winning the championship of both in the successive game.

Pachuca got into the final after losing to DC 2-1 last night, but winning the aggregate scoring by 3-2. DC won the moral victory. I'm tired of the MLS winning only moral victories, how about you?

About Caig. The online fan consensus is that Caig is awful. I won't say he's awful, but I will say that he doesn't seem up to a starting GK role. The blame for the loss doesn't rest on his shoulders, but I can see Onstad snagging two of the shots and keeping the game to a 1-point loss. In fact, that's the same ratio as with the FC Dallas game: 1 solid goal conceded due to poor defending, 1 weak shot going in under Caig when he should have easily snagged it, and 1 shot going in because Caig got caught in no man's land. Onstad would have easily got the weak shot and probably wouldn't have been caught in no man's land in both games. Caig had some decent stops, but he also seemed to stay on his line when he should be coming out to punch or catch crosses, and he incorrectly got caught in no man's land there at the end. His poor hands and poor positioning is a suprise, because as one online source says in its pregame assessment "This is a guy that's walked out onto the field at Tynecastle while wearing a Hibs uniform and spent most of the current season watching Gretna implode. Sorry Saprissa, but he's seen worse."

Get well soon, Onstad. We've seen that Kansas City is mortal, and we need you to back us up this weekend.

Media roundup
MLS recap of the Saprissa loss.

The Chronicle recap.

Glenn Davis' player assessment

US Soccer Players says "MLS clubs aren't built for two-leg aggregate goal midweek competitions, with all those qualifiers necessarily in place. It's a depth of squad issue more than anything else. Houston's best available option when forced to make a change early was to sub on an injured player. They join the Revs as already having to start players low on the depth chart three weeks into the season. There's an easy answer...Like any business, if MLS wants to expand opportunities, they need the personnel to cover."

ESPN has a late addition to the fray. Carlisle echoes Davis' comments about the MLS schedule belying the Commissioner's desire for the MLS to do well in international play: "The sight of the Dynamo playing the weekend before Wednesday's match -- on a Sunday afternoon no less -- borders on the ridiculous." Word. Also, the injuries from the FCD thugs and before left the Dynamo with a makeshift side where "The teamwork and cohesiveness that have long been the Dynamo's trademark vanished." Can't argue with that either.

Costa Rica's "Tico Times" weighs in as well, noting the Dynamo's disappointing performance, but also their dominance in the first leg.

And Goal.com posts an article sympathetic to the odds faced by the Dynamo.