Orange in the Sky

A mile high today the Burnt Orange are playing Colorado. And the Men In Orange are playing the Rapids. Both orange teams face the prospect of an upset, but the Dynamo have an advantage: the Rapids are playing well. If the Rapids were slumping and looking like a pushover, the Dynamo would get a draw at best. Why? Because that's how they roll.

We have won only 1 time since August. Luckily, we haven't lost even that many times; but the four draws stick out like a sore thumb. Those from the CONCACAF tourney are actually accomplishments, given that they were on hostile fields and at altitude on one occasion. But the MIO need 3 points from their MLS matches to secure home field for the playoffs. The Western Conference is too tight -- and the parity of the conference is too unsettling -- to leave things to chance.

Keep your TV tuned to The Tube.

And to the human side of the MIO: Here's a great article that talks about how the Dynamo (and particularly Pat Onstad) reacted to Hurricane Ike. "We're really ingrained in the community, so what happens to Houston happens to us as well."

In other news: After this game, Ching is off to help the USMNT secure their passage to the next round as they face Cuba in World Cup Qualifications. A win puts us through to the 6-team final round and allows Coach Bradley to experiment with personnel with the remaining matches.

Just a day before the roster was announced a co-worker of mine was talking about Pachuca and asked if I heard of Jose Francisco Torres. "Nope," said I. He told me that Torres was a middie for Pachuca and was from Longview, Texas. (The Longview part sounded familiar to me when he said that, so I must have heard a commentator talking about that when we played Pachuca in SuperLiga, but my memory is not what it was.) My co-worker continued by saying Torres is a great talent and is someone that my co-worker would love to see on the USMNT. He'd bring a fresh style and presence to a team that is devoid of creativity.

Less than 24 hours later, and Torres has been called up to the team. My co-worker didn't even know the USMNT had a match coming up. THAT was a weird coincidence.

Okay, Bradley, let's cup-tie this phenom and bring some style to the USMNT...but let's secure our berth to the next round most importantly.