First things first: last night was awesome, destroying Mexican club Atlante 4-0 at Robertson. Simply awesome. Here are B-Fall's player grades. Nearly all A's, but just short even after a 4-0 win?
We got goals from both forwards (DeRo and Mullan) and two from our attacking midfielder (yup, that's Holden, who serves when DeRo is not in). Cameron served up two assists, Davis served up one free kick assist, and Barrett threaded one through for Holden's fabulous second goal.
Holden, Mullan, and Cameron were men of the match with their tireless play. Atlante were obviously in pre-season form, but let's hope this match serves as the catalyst for a great second half of the season for these three MIO, and for the team as a whole.
But first we have to face Chivas Guadalajara. They look to be in better form than Atlante. I didn't see all of their match versus DC United, but their 2-1 victory seemed to be due to a lot of luck, with DCU hitting the post hard on two occasions and missing a PK (Jaime Moreno, at that!) late in the game. Still, although they didn't look dominant, they looked better than Atlante did versus us, and we'll have to face them without DeRo.
This is the second match in a row (and maybe the fourth this season) where I thought "What the hell is DeRo doing? Is he trying to get kicked out?" Last week at Salt Lake he instigated a pushing and pointing match and he did the same last night. He didn't even get a warning in Salt Lake, but the SuperLiga ref wasn't having any of those childish shenanigans and sent DeRo off. What DeRo did was not deserving of a red card, but when you engage in tom-foolery (senseless tom-foolery at that), you take your fate out of your own hands and put it into someone else who might be capricious with it. If you want to control your destiny, act like a man.
So it seems ERob isn't the only hot-head we have on the team. DeRo has shown his temper on multiple occasions. My question: is it getting more frequent? Is there a cause? Is the increased hacking and double-teaming frustrating him and building up his irritibility?
Finally, hooray for the MLS Players Union, who is calling out the MLS. It seems the league is more than happy to market SuperLiga as having a "One Million Dollar Pot" if it sells tickets and hype, but only as long as they don't have to give that money to the players that have earned that money for the MLS and generate the revenues for the league every week. It seems that in the US, the pot is actually only $150,000 for MLS players, or just over $5,350 per player on a 28-man roster. The MLS struggles with credibility from soccer fans and sports fans in general. Improving the quality on the field and opening up the bureaucracy to the light of day would both go a long way towards improving credibility. Giving players what they earn, especially when the league itself hypes the amount, would help improve the motivation of those on the field and reduce the impression that the MLS is a Soviet-style apparat. Red card goes to the MLS on this one.
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3 comments:
I guess this serves as my postscript.
In rewatching the "fracas" that led to DeRo being sent off, DeRo looked to be set up. The fouler (Mustafa) pushes DeRo lightly. DeRo pushes back lightly. Mustafa (Simba's dad?) knuckles DeRo on the head, and the two are separated. Then another Atlantean, under the guise of helping out, approaches DeRo and gives him a subtle headbutt.
DeRo could have avoided the situation by just taking the freekick instead of getting into a discussion with Mustafa. Unfortunately, he placed his fate in others' hands after that, and the Atlantean on-field mafia is apparently good at surreptitious assault.
Great win for our boys.
I wondered the same about it serving as a catalyst, let's hope.
I also wondered: is Stuart our pivotal player, as in if he plays well can he carry the team? Can he be our universe?
DeRo can be temperamental and other teams must be aware of it. It's a shame he will miss Tuesday's match but maybe Stuie will be our man.
Finally, I was disappointed with the attendance. It's a shame more people did not come out but I wondered if the start time had an effect?
Yeah, while Stuie may not be The Man yet, he sure is a great component in the Dynamo system. And he sure looks like he's developing to be The Man of the future. Add that to the fact that he is essentially a native son of Houston, and you have the perfect player for the Dynamo. I want him to be the enduring franchise player for the Dynamo, and I hope that comes to pass.
I am sure that the 9PM start time affected attendance -- and that was on a Saturday. Tonight is a weeknight, so attendance will be weak...except for those fans who are passionate for tonight's Dynamo opponent (Chivas-something-or-other).
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