Hold yer Fire!

I came to this game with some doubts, but the Dynamo's strong, aggressive effort was in solid form tonight and earned them a hard-fought 3 points. (Game recap.) Besides the 3 points, the best part was that the game was exciting with both teams playing strong. And the rain made it seem as if the match was being played in England.

The first half saw two fluky goals. Ours came off Ricardo's foot, caromed off a defender, and then off DeRo's head before surprisingly ending up in goal. Theirs came from a Blanco free kick that Carr headed down from the crowd. From Onstad's cavalier look at the bouncing ball, I thought the ball was going well wide, but it turns out Onstad was just caught unbalanced or perhaps he thought Mulrooney had the ball.

Overall, I thought the half played pretty even. The Fire came out strong, but after the first 10 minutes, the Dynamo might have had the better play overall, particularly after Clark's/DeRo's goal. At halftime, The Dom seemed pretty ticked, perhaps with the reffing.

The second half saw the MIO amp it up a notch and take the game to the Fire. "The Dynamo had five shots on goal in the second half to just one for the Fire, belying the belief that the road team plays for the tie and the home team plays for the win" says one article. And with the game winding down, Big Man BoBo headed a Mulrooney free kick into the net for the game winner. (It's a good thing he got to the ball before DeRo did, because DeRo was offside.) Big Man Bobo says, "We don't come in here to destroy the game and play for a draw. We want to win. We have our goals, to score goals and not give them up." Big Man BoBo not only scored, but also did an awesome celebratory slide (in the Navy we'd call it a "carrier qual").

Trailing the game, the Fire went back to their more aggressive ways, but even then the Dynamo didn't collapse into a shell. Man, I love this team!

Blanco is just a fantastic player. I'd love to have his footwork and accuracy. Clark did well to neutralize him most of the game. One thing I detest about Blanco's game is how the refs kowtow to his endless litany of dissent and haranguing. Some may argue that Blanco gets a lot of soft fouls called for him, but I don't see that as much of a problem as his endless lobbying for calls or (worse) cards. MLS officials need to put the kibosh on that and soon.

Overall props to the Fire for showing class. Other than the excessive lobbying for calls, they played a solid game. And remember how I said the quotes are an excellent way to see which teams have coaches and players with class and which have those who wallow in whining, poor sportsmanship, and lack of accountability? Remember how Colorado joined FC Dallas on the List Of Whiners? Well, the Fire acquitted themselves quite well. You'll find no excuses from Coach Hamlett. This is what he said when asked about Houston's game-winning goal: "Whether it was offside or not, they scored and won the game." And Justin Mapp: "Give them credit, because they did well, but we came up short."

I thought the whole broadcasting production was top notch tonight. Matt Musil was an excellent addition to the crew, even if his name does sound like a cereal designed to keep you regular. The way the cameras were focusing on Houston players and fans so much, it seems that The Tube must actually invest in the production by paying to run its own cameras rather than using generic national feed. That's simply outstanding. Another solid play-calling by Charlie Pallilo. I really dig having a local broadcast for the home soccer team rather than sitting through the soulless fare of most national broadcasts.

Alrighty, then. We have a few days off before having to face San Jose in San Jose. Should be a good time for the MIO. Hopefully it's also productive.

Media roundup - more match reports:
From the Chronicle (no B-Fall?)

From the Chicago Sun-Times.

Here's an interesting recap from Big Soccer. "Credit Houston for: alert, continuous, and useful movement; connecting multiple passes on multiple occasions and generally playing positively - it's good to be the home team, right?" Also: "And I love Charlie Pallilo...or whatever his name is and however you spell it. Between the 'Section 8/Maxwell Klingler' comment and barking '5-second violation!' he's a pretty magical presence in the booth."

Ah, here's B-Fall...with player grades.