A tie with El Tri

It's always exciting to see international soccer -- particularly US international soccer, of course -- here in Houston. Last night Reliant Stadium was LOUD. The crowd was passionate but surprisingly amicable. Heck, in the final 10 minutes of the game, US and Mexico fans alike sent a few waves around the stands.

(But then this morning has reports of a shooting in a parking lot. Cue the xenophobic, bigoted rants on chron.com.)

I thought a 2-2 draw was a fair result. The US goals were quality goals (and they almost had a 3rd) and the US should not have conceded goals it did. On the other hand, Mexico could have easily had at least two in the run of play without relying on the US being uncharacteristically disorganized on set plays. Furthermore, the US was too often disorganized at the back and its flanks were weak on both sides of the ball. Thus, 2-2 was a result both teams should appreciate.

As for that 3rd US goal, it turns out Dempsey was offside when the ball was initially passed to him. It's unfortunate that the center ref waited for -- what? -- 10 minutes and an apparent goal before calling it?

On the other hand, I think Jozy Altidore's breakaway in the first half -- long before the game's first goal -- was wrongly whistled dead. Altidore won the ball off clumsy possession play by Rafael Marquez, then Marquez successfully covered his gaffe by flailing to the ground after minimal contact, and Altidore's one-on-one with Mexico's GK, Ochoa, was whistled dead before Jozy could show us what he could do.

Some rambling thoughts...

• I am surprised that Bradley never subbed out any of his defenders, given how pathetic the back line looked at times. I expected to see Parkhurst at some point, and hoped to see Robinson, but Parkhurst was the only defending option on the bench (other than Lewis, when necessary).
• Bad news: the Dynamo website states that "Brad Davis is out indefinitely after suffering a right groin strain while training with the US Men's National Team, the team announced today. Davis has been evaluated by Dynamo medical staff. Stay tuned to houstondynamo.com for further updates." That explains why he didn't play. I think he would've fared better than Bobby Convey.
• And what has happened to Bobby Convey? He used to be a "player of the future." Now he looks indecisive and clumsy. He's had a hard road recovering from his past season-ending injuries and surgeries.
• I've always been on the fence with Michael Bradley, but his recent club play converted me to a Boy Bradley supporter. But his game last night was weak. His tackles are always suspect, but his passing is usually his strength. Last night saw several errant and intercepted passes -- which is inexcusable given that he should be in mid-season form. He maintained good possession on several occasions and successfully won back a ball after he had lost it near our defensive third, but wasn't much of a factor (in my opinion) overall.
• Maybe it's because there was no true attacking mid to work with, but I thought Clark, like Boy Bradley, was limited in his effectiveness in the middle. He had a journeyman effort, but not the creative and even controlling role he can demonstrate from the middle.
• Dempsey is still playing out of position I think. He's better as a right midfielder, but that's not a position where we're lacking in options.
• I'm trying to think of who did impress me. No one with any consistency. Several had shining moments, including those who I whined about in this post. I'd have to say Oguchi Onyewu fared the best. I wondered why he was taking the one throw in, then as it flew 50 yards into the penalty box I said "Oh, that's why." Then he followed up with that quality long range header into goal. He held the center of the back line pretty well (defense had its issues, but the biggest weaknesses were the flanks and he wasn't responsible for the poor coverage on the two Mexico goals) and his yellow card was undeserved. Furthermore, without Dave O'Brien in the booth, we didn't have to hear the constant reiteration that Onyewu is built like a linebacker. Other thoughts: Altidore probably had more good than bad. Tim Howard too, although I partly blame him for the disorganization of the back line. He realized the noise made communication difficult (and nearly took his captain, Bocanegra, out of the game), but he never seemed to take the opportunity to take corrective action. He had trouble controlling the wall formation even after halftime. He was having so much trouble with that in the first half that I thought the break would see that easy fix made, but nope!
• I can blame the rustiness of Clark, Donovan, Moor, and Altidore (if he had any) due to the fact that they are in pre-season form (and Moor and Altidore are young). Feilhaber and Convey might be excused because of their lack of time on the field for their clubs (but if they're not good enough for their clubs, what does it say about us that they're part of the top 18 for their country?). As for the others: no excuses.
• Dynamo fans, take heart: both of Mexico's goals can be blamed on FC Dallas. Drew Moor of Dallas blew his positioning and his marking on both goals. On set pieces no less. To repeat: the US lost to Mexico on set pieces.
• Moor halfway made up for his error with the great service to Jozy Altidore for the 2nd US goal. But that only accounted for half of the deficit Moor put us in. Moor had good service to Altidore late in the 2nd half too, but the cross was slightly deflected which affected ALtidore's timing and made his header go wide. Moor's successes are described on the MLS recap of the game, but the MLS recap attributes Moor's gaffes to anonymous "defenders".
• Question, is Jonny Magallon, who scored the brace for Mexico, any relation to Consul General of Mexico Carlos Gonzalez Magallon? The Consul General attended a Dynamo function (a reception for FMF Secretary General Decio de María) the night before the US-Mexico match. He must have enjoyed seeing his last name on the scoring sheet for his national team, even if he's not related to Jonny.
• And finally, we got to see the new ESPN broadcasting team of John Harkes and JP Dellacamera. I like both guys in general. It sounded like they've still got some work to do on their integration and chemistry; they didn't combine well on some of their commentary. Harkes has apparently worked on eliminating some of his annoyingly overused phrases/tics. Maybe the sound wasn't too good in the broadcast booth, because JP seemed to be lost at times, particularly when play was stopped; this is where Harkes needs to step in. And Harkes, it's okay to decry a bad call when the ref deserves it! It may be that I like Harkes better as a person than as an announcer, with Wynalda as the converse.

Most surprising quote of the night, leading me to question the translation or transcription: "These are hard-fought games. As far as play, we probably deserved the win, but the result is fair because they capitalized on their style of play,which is one we have a lot of respect for." That was Hugo Sanchez who said that (with the italicized emphasis my own)!

Paying the Piper

Dynamo have tempted fate all year, in 3 of the 4 matches of CONCACAF Champions Cup, in the Carolina Challenge Cup, and in the league games thus far. They've established a modus operandi of playing flat as if their reputation entitled them to a win, then -- after Dom uses halftime to remind them that one must, you know, play to win -- playing 45 minutes of soccer in the second half to rescue their reputation and salvage the match. Using this questionable technique, Dynamo dispatched Puntarenas in the second leg of their meeting, built a commendable lead versus Pachuca in the first leg of their meeting, came with 7 minutes of getting past Pachuca in the second leg, won the Carolina Challenge Cup after drawing with the Charleston Battery and having to come from behind versus Red Bull NY in the final, salvaged a tie with LA in the season opener, and eked out a win versus Chivas in the second league match.

Unfortunately, Red Bull got a red card in the first half yesterday, and I think that made Dynamo a little too comfortable to try any halftime adjustments. As a result, they reduced their 45 minute passion down to 15 minutes, and it just wasn't enough time.

Red Bull owned the first half. Dalglish (on a feed from DeRo) had the only serious threat for Houston in the half. The second half saw a more balanced game, which suggests that 11 Dynamo equal 10 Red Bulls. But even a man down, Red Bull looked as dangerous as we ever did, and certainly looked the more dynamic. About 15 minutes into the second half, young Jozy Altidore (who says "Impossible is Nothing") turned Eddie Robinson like a pro and knocked the ball just over Superman Onstad at point blank range, off the crossbar and into the twine.

The real problem here was the fact that no one challenged Hunter Freeman in the midfield, giving him the time and the space to make the pass to Jozy. This has been an intermittent problem with Dynamo going back to last year, but is even more egregious when done against a 10-man team. I can remember the team giving Ante Razov plenty of space in the midfield [last season, that is] and allowing him the time and confidence to make a 35 yard (or so) strike. Many assists, as well, were enabled [last year] by this lax pressure at the top of our defensive third.

Even after the goal, Dynamo didn't seem to want to score until about the 75th minute, which coincided with the introduction of Ching, Mulrooney, and Wondo. Then, Dynamo seemed to operate with a bit more urgency, but by then they were trying to score on a bunkered team, and Dynamo have serious problems with that.

I was very surprised with the introduction of Wondo. He didn't have much of an impact on the game, but I like the implications that his introduction suggests: forwards, unless you start performing, you'll be on the bench. Before the game, I thought it highly unlikely that we'd see Mulrooney, but in the first half the midfield's play was so sub-par that I thought Mulrooney would be injected to instill some passion and perhaps to send a message to the starters. His introduction was most welcome and I thought he made a case for himself as a Dynamo. Wouldn't it have been sweet irony if his shot in the closing minutes had gone in?

Boy I miss the DeRo of last year. I thought he had some moments of inspiration in this game, where he made an incisive pass that led to a solid threatening shot, but he'll be remembered for the inexplicable handball in the box. If that ball had been heading toward goal, it would surely have been a solid red...but maybe that would've ignited the team, which seems to feed on adversity rather than self-motivation.

DeRo says that the salary imbroglio isn't affecting him: "I love the game too much for outside stuff or decisions to affect me on the field." He realizes that improved play would help his case in bargaining for a better salary, so a work slowdown isn't in his best interest. Perhaps DeRo is trying too hard. Perhaps he needs a Taoist approach when playing.

Let's switch to something positive.

Another solid performance for Onstad, highlighted by his save of Mathis' PK. He's been bailing out the defense this year. As talented as Zach Wells is, I can't help but wonder if Pachuca would've put 5 goals on Onstad.

The Dynamo supporters were amazing even on the road. I heard the Dynamo chants (Is it "Dyna, Dyna, Dyna, Dynamo"?) more than I heard any RBNY chants. And the attendance was listed at a mere 12,400.

The more I hear Max Bretos calling games, the less I like him. I knew he was a Galaxy homer (he calls their games on the local LA broadcasts) but he was also practically pleading for calls to go for NY and against Houston. Christopher Sullivan is always balanced and has good technical analysis. (He did seem taken with Pachuca in the Dynamo-Pachuca match though -- but who can blame that?) Sully was correct that NY carried the play and Dynamo under performed.

Let's hope we turn things around versus the Fire this weekend. So far we're undefeated with the silver ball. At this point, losing when a man up and scoring one goal in three games does provide some cause for concern.