It's three points, so it gets two posts...

The weekend concludes with the Dynamo's 3 points putting them right back in the race for the Western Conference. They're 1 point from second and 2 from first. Go figure. Only DC United trails them in the Eastern Conference though.

As with any win (or loss), a little luck was involved. Still, the win was a deserved one.

I agree with others that Bobby Boswell played well. Onstad says "I thought Bobby Boswell had his best game of the season for us." He definitely saved the game outright on one occasion, and did his job stifling the attack throughout the game. I just wished he was better at passing the ball forward when he wins the ball, but he's got outside backs that do that just fine.

Our midfield is still solid and our backs now seem to be clicking, so we only need to worry about our forwards. Those Colorado forwards by the way, were fast. I thought for sure we'd get burned on a fast break. While we did get burned by their speed on their goal, it wasn't a true fast break I guess. I wonder if we can bottle up any of that speed to give to our forwards.

I linked to the "official" match report yesterday and here it is again. And here is another MLS article. "Now, for the first time since winning the MLS Cup last November, they won't have to talk about what could have been or what should have been."

The post game quotes are helpful in seeing which opponents are good sports (like Columbus Crew coach Sigi Schmid the last time we faced the Crew) and which are poor sports (like FC Dallas coach Morrow every time we face Dallas). Rapids Coach Fernando Clavijo toes the line of poor sportsmanship when he says "In the second half, I thought there was one team there." For portions of the second half, sure. But larger portions of the first half were all Dynamo, and a good portion of the second too. If he wants to apportion victory based on the time spent dominating the game, we win 3-1. So there. Regarding the handball, Clavijo says "The outcome should be decided by the two teams and I don't believe that today was the case." I hope that when he sees the replay of the game when he returns to Denver, he realizes the call was the right call and the ref didn't decide the game, Umo Imehelu decided the game when he used his arm to deny the ball from Barrett.

The 'Pids GK, Bouna Coundoul proves himself to be a moron when he says "I was expecting better from [the referee]." Since the ref made the right call, I guess he means that he expects the ref to allow his defenders to use their arms when their skills can't cut it. Then Coundoul adds the badge of poor sportsmanship to his cloak of torpidity when he states "They were lucky enough to get the 'W,' but they didn't deserve it. In the second half, we were the better team on the field. But sometimes, it's out of our hands when it comes to the referee." Again with the feeling that 15 or so minutes of solid play, plus another 15 or so of even play, means more than the remaining 60 or so that saw you on the defensive. The math doesn't even support it, much less the Laws of the Game.

And you know what? You'd have had more time to get the equalizer you needed if you didn't take 15 seconds to get the ball back in play every time you touched it. More of your precious time was wasted by your 'mate Mastroeni, who spent more than a minute and a half rolling on the carpet because of contact that is but a small fraction of what he unleashes on others repeatedly through the game. I think if you had been behind, he would have found his cheek to have not been hurt severely enough to stall play. Something to think about Coundoul: stalling can hurt you in the end.

Back to the media. Here's The Chronicle's story on the match and the Dynamo Notes. B-Fall's player grades are here.

Jarrambide has a good summary of the game in Glenn Davis' blog.

A final word. Most of us root for the Dynamo because of geographic coincidence; we happen to be located in or near the town in which the Dynamo play. But the reason we become passionate supporters and recurring rooters is because the Dynamo never quit, they play exciting ball regardless of the result, and the players are good sportsmen and upstanding people. Check out this article (also mentioned by Lark). The Dynamo -- the Men In Orange -- are great guys. Plain and simple. It's easy to root for guys like these.