It was good to start off the weekend with a final Dynamo home game. It ended as I thought it would with a Dynamo win, but I was disappointed that the Dynamo didn't handle Firpo better. (Recap. Recap 2.) They should have had a second goal in the first half, and should have done a better job of creating opportunities that could lead to a second goal in the second half. In the end, they made the match a lot harder on themselves and a lot more anxious for their fans by playing down to the competition.
I know that's soccer at times; but it happens a little too frequently for my tastes with this team. Of course a lot of the problem was the gamesmanship used by FIRPO to compensate for their incompetence, and the inconsistent officiating didn't help either. I think a substitute was called for earlier in the second half, but many of our off-the-bench talent was already on the field, and with Holden, Davis, and Cameron out, we didn't have a good option to help out in midfield, where we were struggling. Kei Kamara was a good sub when he came on.
Kei was an example of the best of the Dynamo that night. I loved how Kei twice waved his arms at the crowd to energize the stands. That was his way of saying "We're in a tight one down here, we need your help, guys." After the game, he and his teammates took to the center circle and applauded all four sides of the stadium. That was much needed, and much appreciated by the supporters. Soon after, my sons and I were walking behind the north goal on our way out of the stadium, when we saw Kamara walking down from the El Batallon section. I don't know what he was doing there, but I figure he had been showing his appreciation for the season-long fervent support.
(In addition to Kamara, Frankie Hejduk also knows how to get the supporters energized.)
While intermingling with the supporters groups is above and beyond the call of duty, the applauding of the fans is the sort of fan-feedback that a team should provide on a regular basis. It acknowledges the fans and is recognition that should be demonstrated by any player who expects fans to be cheering for him. I did notice that all three players subbed out (Jaqua, DeRo, and Ching) applauded the fans as they came off the field. The cheers for Jaqua, and his response, were a little more ardent due to the fact that we all knew that was his last appearance in Orange. He'll be wearing Seattle Emerald next year.
The game had a weird vibe to it. Maybe it's been too long since I attended a CONCACAF match. They didn't do the Star Spangled Banner after the line ups. The players didn't stand facing the crowd while the line ups were announced (they had moved to the shaking of hands, flipping of coins, and posing for pictures). And I didn't spot the Dynamo Girls even in the stands. I don't remember a confetti canon when Ching scored either. It was a no-frills game, I guess.
My sons and I were sitting in Section 203 for the game. We took the seats from a co-worker of mine who had season tickets but was heading out of town for the holiday. It turns out, the seats are right next to those of a former co-worker of mine. I worked with him from 1995-2000 and hadn't seen him since. It was good to catch up with him, but he did tell me a story about the Dynamo players that disturbed me. One day he came to a Dynamo Reserves match, and he saw Holden, DeRo, and another player (I can't recall who he said) watching the game from the goal line seats. He decided to go sit not too far from them. He didn't bother them -- he didn't even speak to them -- he just wanted to take in the game and watch some Dynamo first teamers root as fans too. Well, they called security on him and forced him to move. (He said he thought it was Holden, of all people, who called security.) I thought that was a pretty crappy thing for players to do at a game. It wasn't like they were out on the town; they were at a Dynamo game. If they wanted privacy, they should go to one of the boxes. It wasn't like he was bothering them anyway. I hope that my old friend just misunderstood the situation and it was security -- and security alone -- who saw him and decided to relocate him.
At any rate, the Dynamo players did show their fan appreciation on Wednesday, and they were definitely the classier of the two teams on the field. Overall, they gave us a season of quality and came close to bringing home some silverware in the Pan-Pacific Cup and SuperLiga. They had also positioned themselves well for completing the nearly impossible three-peat. However, this year, for the first time, they brought home no awards -- not even El Capitan for the first time ever. Still, they're better positioned than most teams for a solid 2009 campaign, and they're the only MLS team heading to the quarterfinals of the Champions League Cup.
A few moves off-season should ensure a good 2009 -- and hopefully a better start than 2008. We also need to get that stadium situation settled (and find a way to do so WITHOUT allowing football lines on the damn grass). If $10 million really is the difference between a downtown stadium or none, you'd think that Anschutz would pony it up since they'd easily make that back with a stadium located in the Central Business District.
Maybe such gifts are better discussed around Christmas time. Right now we're enjoying Thanksgiving and we should be thankful for what we have.
Thanks for a great season, Dynamo and Dynamofans. Here's hoping for an even better one next year.
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2 comments:
Great quote by Dom in the Chronicle. "I'm happy we won, but I don't have a lot of good things to say about their team. I wish we had beaten them 10-0 tonight because playing against a team like that is frustrating. It brings out all the ugly things in soccer. To see people punch players between the legs and spit at people and then hug you after the game is embarrassing. I’m glad they lost."
These CONCACAF games are very entertaining except for the diving and cheap shots and other crap from the south-of-the-border squads. We'll get some more next year.
That is an interesting story about the Dynamo players at the reserve match. I hope that there is something lost in the translation as the guys don't really seem to have that much of an ego and by all accounts, Holden is one of the nicest and most personable guys on the squad.
However, it does bring up an interesting observation that I have on the Dynamo players. They all seem like pretty good guys but almost too subdued as they relate to the fans, almost like they are still not sure they want to be here. I gauge their emotion this way: Year 1, they seem a little irritated about the move and being in Houston; Year 2, realizing they are here now so they make the best of it; Year 3, a little more "in to it" with the fans. What is strange to me is that the newcomers to the squad (Boswell, Kamara, even Jaqua and Ngwenya) seem more emotional with the crowd than the guys who moved here from San Jose.
It brings up my next point, if MLS continues to grow and raise salaries (nothing wrong with it), they will lose some, not all, of the connection the players have with the fans. Right now, some guys make very good money but most make good solid but unspectacular money for a professional athlete in a major league. To at least some degree, the common guy can relate to them unlike most other pro sports.
I go back to the NHL of 20 years ago where guys made good money but the average salary was something like $200,000 per year. A few years later it was going up dramatically and ticket prices went thru the roof and the friendly Canadian with the missing teeth was not the guy you saw at the mall, but the guy ordering yachts from a catalog. They went much more corporate and lost the connection with many fans that they once had. The passion is still there, but from a smaller group of fans than before.
While I want MLS to grow, I don't want it to turn into the type of leagues that we already have in MLS. I suspect the economy will take care of some of that.
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