I think I'm pleased all in all. I certainly don't think we deserved a win. The first 30 minutes saw us as the 2nd best team out there -- pretty depressing stuff when the other team is Dallas. For the first time versus Houston, Dallas played like they should play with the collection of talented Latino players in their midfield. They were possessing well and passing sharply. The Dynamo? Weren't.
Except for the first game of the season (the debacle versus New England) and some of the international games, the Dynamo always looked like the sharper team on the pitch. They may not have gotten the results -- and that blame falls squarely on the performance in the attacking third -- but they controlled the tempo, the ball, and the real estate and just looked unlucky.
Unfortunately, the past two games, versus San Jose and Dallas, the MIO didn't even have the moral victory of being the better, if unluckier, team. That clearly needs to change if we want to have any hope of accomplishing anything nice for the naranja this season.
Add to the fact that we gave Dallas two goals. Saragosa should have had the first goal in the 26th minute, but Kenny Cooper would end up getting the first goal in the 35th. (Sending the dozens of Dallas fans crazy in the stands.) It came after horrendous positioning by Waibel, followed by his slow recovery run and slow backup by E-Rob in the center, gave the poky Cooper all the time he needed to trudge to the ball that he had pushed 8 yards in front of himself, then slot a solid shot around Onstad into the far netting. I would call the defense here "cavalier" or "complacent" with absolutely no urgency The second goal was also from ball-watching and listless defending. It saw Moor rising up completely open to head a corner kick into the net. As the ball sailed through the air and Moor rose to meet it, the Dynamo were so flat-footed that I thought the play must have been whistled dead. Nope. The defense was just ball watching.
Some games this season, the Dynamo are so passive that it almost is if their past success gives them too much confidence, so much so that they have become complacent. As if they think their skill and their destiny is to win each game, or at least to keep the other team from getting the goals they need for them to win the game. I wonder how far the Dynamo will have to fall behind before they realize their complacency won't get them very far. Other teams have augmented their rosters and changed up their dynamic to adapt to the ever-improving league. The Dynamo haven't. In truth, perhaps they didn't need to make any changes, but they still don't have the right to be complacent. And last night showed that they still haven't fixed their problem at forward.
The final sign of the Dynamo's lack of control came with E-Rob foolishly pushing Saragosa in retaliation for a foul in the box. E-Rob already had a yellow and could have put his team at a serious disadvantage (down a goal and down a man) but was lucky that Dallas got a red card as well. As it is, E-Rob did put the short-handed Dynamo in a bit of a bind for our next match. We'll be without his services as we face NYRB. Due to injuries and national team call-ups, we were already stretched. You've exacerbated the problem. Thanks, E-Rob.
It was not all doom and gloom last night. After the Frisco Folks scored, Dallas reverted back to its reactive, defensive, "protect the lead" style of play. Houston then looked more like their own selves, though still not quite their own selves. The improved play could be attributed to us switching to a 3-5-2, but we had switched much earlier and didn't see any resulting improvement until after the Dallas goal. I think the improved play might have been more a result of desperation on our part, complacency on their part, and the extra midfielder helping us to maintain possession.
We squandered many chances, but did well on the two goals we got. Ashe's goal, was a result of a good run by DeRo on the right flank, who sent a great ball to Chingy inside the FCD box. Ching trapped the ball beautifully and sent a nice square pass to the onrushing Ashe. The brilliantly-timed equalizer (in the 93rd minute, y'all!) saw a sweet cross by Ashe result in another frustrating off-the-crossbar header by Ching, but the rebound fell to DeRo who won't miss many of those gimees.
Other bright points:
- Ching's ear-to-ear grin after Ashe scored his first MLS goal.
- The Dom (who didn't seem too happy in the post game interview; I bet he's ticked at the situation E-Rob put him in) climbed into the stands after the game to thank the traveling Orange Supporters. Pure class!
Media roundup
Offical MLSnet recap.
The Chronicle's B-Fall-less recap. "For the second straight week, the Houston Dynamo came out flat." Dynamo notes state that, along with all of the other lineup changes, Onstad will indeed miss the game versus NYRB.
B-Fall's thoughts and grades are here. "Seeing the Dynamo fight until the very last minute is both admirable and encouraging. Watching them twice fall behind in the score is troubling and yet another step backward. (Anyone remember the ties vs. Dallas and L.A. last month?)"
The DMN recap.
An article on the match, including the contribution of Corey Ashe. Credit to the color-man, Steve Jolley, on The Tube last night. Early on he said that Ashe should come on due to his speed allowing him to get behind the FCD D. I thought Jolley was wrong. Turns out he was right. Excellent game for Ashe.
Post-game quotes.
Here's a recap from Goal.com. Interesting description of the Dynamo equalizer by none other than Greg Lalas: " The game slid into stoppage time, setting up the opportunity for De Rosario. Ashe set things in motion, beating Wade Barrett [um, Wade Barrett?] to the endline and crossing to the far post. Ching rose over his marker to meet the ball, but his shot caromed off a stretched Moor and fell to De Rosario. De Ro fired it home to earn the Dynamo a massive road result."
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