Ol' Fashioned Texan Shootout at UNAM

What a great result in Mexico City last night, bolstered by scoring 4 goals. (Recap! And another!) What an opportunity lost too, after conceding an un-Dynamo-like 4 goals. But the accomplishment of the Dynamo is nothing to sniffle at.

The game started off with a scary moment: Fox Soccer Channel listed Caig as the man between the pipes. It wasn't until the first goal kick was taken that I was relieved to see that Onstad was rightly in goal. Phew! But I wonder, could Caig have actually let in more goals that the 4 we let in? (Answer: probably. Onstad made at least two brilliant saves, in addition to his other run of the mill saves.)

Let's look at the goals:
1. Dynamo score a bit against the run of early play. Waibel's header off a corner kick fits into the Dynamo set-piece paradigm.
2. Dynamo goal: Cameron proves he's no ordinary rookie yet again, hustles down the right flank, sends a cross that Ashe brings down for Kamara to unload into the net. A great combination by the middies and forwards, and a terrific finish by Kamara.
3. Pumas goal: a through ball exposes a gap in the line putting Onstad on the wrong end of a 1v1 situation. A seriously hurt Holden is part of the reason for the gap, and the hosts take advantage rather than go out of their way to be sporting. In truth, it was the ref's job to stop play.
4. Pumas goal: after a foul by ERob that either shouldn't have been a foul or should have been a red card ("last defender" rule), Pumas gets a free kick that's blocked by the wall, but it caroms to a Pumas player who knocks it in from 25+ yds. The ball didn't look particularly well struck -- especially for a shot from so far away -- but Onstad was probably screened and couldn't get to it.
5. Dynamo goal: Kamara is poised and puts away a PK that he set up with a through ball to Ashe, before Ashe was tripped from behind.
6. Pumas goal: moments after Kamara botches a 1v1 chance with the GK (he did well to get in that position, but completely misfires afterwards) the Dynamo backline ball-watches, letting a middie through and letting Paco Palencia run onto the subsequent cross to equalize.
7. Puma goal: the Dynamo defense again are flat-footed, letting a man run free on a corner kick to head in the go-ahead goal. Pumas beating the Dynamo in the air? I used the term "lazy" last night, and that's not a word I ever associate with the Dynamo, but a more appropriate word would probably be "fatigued" given the altitude and the recent schedule.
8. Dynamo goal: Pumas had the better play in the 2nd half, but the Dynamo got the only goal of the half, Waibel bookends the scoring with another header, this one after a busted corner kick turns into about 3 crosses into the box by the Orange. Waibel (completely onside) times his run with a Mullan short cross, and finds himself alone with the goalie whereupon the Bald One ensures his team goes home with a point.

And then the game closes with a blast from distance by DeRo that forced the best save of the night by the Pumas keeper. DeRo, a late sub, nearly stole 3 points at the end. B-Fall says: "Hands down, the best match of the tournament."

Great bullet point summary of the key elements by Glenn Davis here.

Perhaps the biggest disappointment of the night was that, up 2-0, all the Dynamo had to do was play their normal defensive quality -- nothing beyond themselves or requiring uncanny luck --and they would have gone home with 3 points. But the fact is, the MIO scored 4 goals at altitude in smoggy Mexico City, held Pumas scoreless in the 2nd half, and did so without their full starting XI and with several young players that not only played, but were able to create opportunities against a strong Mexican side. Don't forget, having 2 points after 2 away games is excellent strategically.

The other worry about the night: how are Holden and Cameron, both of whom came off the field injured? Here's hoping they're AOK.

Finally, did anybody count how many times the Fox Soccer announcer mistakenly said Ashe was driving into the attacking third, when it was in fact Kamara? Kamara had an outstanding game, beyond even his 2 goals (and forgetting his awful finish when 1v1 near the end of the first half).