Rapids, Stadium, Ngwenya, and the cost of criticism

To whet your appetite for the Dynamo's first victory this weekend (Yeah, you heard me: victory. That means: scoring.), here is an MLS article about the similarities between the MIO's start last year and this year. As long as that equates to a third MLS Cup, deja vu is fine with me. Here's the official game preview. In three meetings at Robertson, we've won twice and tied once.

And here's an article about Ianni. "Ultimately, Ianni wants to be a preacher." Who knew?

B-Fall's Thursday blog covers a range of topics as we approach the Rapids match. The Dynamo are working on finishing, particularly Ching and Mullan. (Yay!) Sideline reporter Jeanette Fernandez is gone. Real Salt Lake coach Jason Kreis was fined by the league.

This is the article where Kreis airs his grievances. (Here are some commentary and the MLS press release.) I can't say I blame him. If this is a professional league, we expect the officiating to be professional. In many ways, the officiating will define not only a game, but a league. Consistently calling most contact as a foul will help attackers, increase scoring, and force defenders to improve their positioning rather than rashly tackle. Consistently allowing physical play will help defenders, discourage diving, and establish a more physical style of play. Inconsistent policies and calls will not establish any style of play and will just frustrate players and fans, and eventually owners too when the fans stop paying to watch a sport with the integrity of the WWF (or whatever it's called these days).

Despite my confident forecast of victory, are you still worried about our offense? B-Fall has the latest on Ngwenya. "Ngwenya added a dimension to the Dynamo attack, bringing pace into the arsenal. His presence near the opponents' box kept defenders on edge and gave teammates Ching and Dwayne De Rosario more room to operate." Glenn Davis has an interview with Joe on his blog. "My pride has been hurt by not being able to play for a bottom placed team and I really want to prove people wrong here in Europe ...if I did come back to MLS it would definitely be Houston though!"

I don't know that Ngwenya is the answer, but speed could definitely help open things up for everyone else. It helped last year...

More on the stadium saga
The Chronicle has articles about the potential entry of TSU as a partner for Dynamo stadium. This article talks about how the stadium would be a facility shared equally by the Dynamo and TSU, while this article has B-Fall stating that the joint venture would work to the benefit of the Dynamo.

I think it would work to the benefit of AEG, but I'm doubtful it would be better for fans, except that the toilets might be cleaner. Yippee.

LOST is about to start. Must go...

Chivas, on the rocks

Chivas is coming to town, having about as much trouble in the young season as the Dynamo are. Thing is, Guzan is a good keeper who can shut us down, Kljestan is a proven goal scorer as is the Razov/Galindo combination. And that Galindo? He's fast. Our back line? Not so much.

Last year we managed to keep a clean sheet versus Chivas in all three of our matches, while we scored 1, 4, and 0 goals in the matches. This year Chivas has won only one game (to our none) and lost three (to our two). They've beaten RSL, drawn with Dallas, and lost to Dallas, LA, and Columbus. Versus similar opponents here are the goals for and the goals against:

v Dallas:
Houston GF: 3, GA: 3
Chivas GF: 1, GA: 3 (over 2 games)
v LA:
Houston GF: 2, GA: 2
Chivas GF: 2, GA: 5
v Columbus:
Houston GF: 0, GA: 1
Chivas GF: 3, GA: 4

A slight advantage goes to Chivas for goals scored (6 versus our 5) while a more significant nod for goals conceded goes to Houston (6 allowed versus 12 allowed by Chivas).

The only solid conclusion about tonight: either team can win. Let's make it the Dynamo, since they'll be at home and they don't want to start May like they left April: winless.

My guess: Dynamo 2, Chivas 1.

Media roundup:
MLS game preview.

MLS game article. Witty Waibel quote: "Winless? Who is? We are? I didn't even realize that we were winless."

The Chronicle's pre-game article. The Championship rings that will be passed out today are "nothing more than a memento of triumphs past in a present in which that winning feeling has been tough to duplicate." Here's hoping that the Lords of Irony don't follow the ceremony with an unceremonious loss. The Dynamo "seem to have graduated from frustration to optimism throughout the week as they digested last Saturday's 1-0 loss at Columbus, which kept them winless to start the season."

Here are Game Notes from The Chronicle. Stuart Holden will play for the (re-)injured Brad "Keebler" Davis.

Here's an article on Stuart Holden. "Holden, who was born in Scotland yet calls Houston his hometown, is one of the team's better passers and has a rocket for a shot that is highly accurate."

Glenn Davis' blog covers the key matchups.

B-Fall talks about Joe Ngwenya. "With league play over, Ngwenya appeared in just one game for a team that finished second to last in the standings. If you're thinking Ngwenya is not happy, you are correct."

Random soccer stadium talk:
US Soccer Players talk about the Toronto stadium, and the qualities that make it one of the better stadiums. "Toronto has the appropriate stage, a working critique of the earlier rounds of soccer-specificity that wanted micro sized Euro stadiums as a partial grab at authenticity. Well, they got it...." And "One of the working critiques of the building currently under construction in Salt Lake is that it's too close to the Bridgeview model. Toyota Park shouldn't be the template after seeing it in practice. The same is true for the rest of the League's multi-use venues. None of them are bad necessarily, but they're not the Camden Yards style revolution in stadium construction. Shifting the focus towards staging events rather than soccer takes away from the environment. Even Carson doesn't quite get it right." I italicized the sentence that really summed it up for me.

Ives Galarcep talks about his experience at the BMO here ("The benefit of having a stadium filled with season-ticket holders is that all these people know each other, so when one section can finish the chant another section starts it's pretty damn impressive.") and here ("A typical Toronto FC match day begins with the club's largest supporters' groups, the Red Patch Boys and U-Sector, converging on a pair of local pubs hours before kickoff.")

Another Year with the Silver Ball!

Another perfect ending to the season: Dynamo Houston crowned MLS Cup Champions again. (Game recap.) Another year with the silver ball and scudetto, only this time we do it with a star over our shield.

As a Legend In My Own Mind, I correctly "predicted" it'd be a 2-1 victory with us either (1) going ahead 2-0 then conceding a late goal to halve the lead or (2) going down 1 goal then replying with 2 unanswered. Of course this was no true prediction, it was merely a wild guess, and I would gladly have been wrong as long as the Dynamo carried the day. Regardless, by following the above option #2, the Dynamo created a better storyline and further entrenched themselves as the never-say-die team of the MLS.

The first half was fairly even, I thought, with the Dynamo unable to capitalize on their opportunities. I'd say the run of play was tilted a bit in New England's favor, a fact that was highlighted by the 0-1 halftime scoreline. The second half (thanks in part to a switch to 3-5-2) saw the field tilt to favor the orange, leading to Ngwenya's "determination goal" and DeRo's excellent rocket of a header. In the final 10 minutes we resorted to withstanding the spirited barrage from the desperate New England side. The highlight here was Onstad's reaction save of Jeff Larentowicz's point blank header around the 86th minute.

Okay, time to correct the history books: it wasn't the switch to a 3-5-2 that turned the tide tonight, nor was it individual brilliance on the part of the players. No, it was me subbing out my untried lucky shirt and bringing on a veteran to seal the deal. It was about the 60th minute when I did this, and our fortunes changed immediately thereafter.

No, I'm not forsaking the rookie shirt. It'll get its chance again next season. But sometimes you need experience in a big game. The rookie shirt may get there someday.

Overall, it was a very even contest -- just looking at the stats will confirm that. This is to be expected with these two teams that are both forged on consistency and teamwork. The only real differences between the two is (1) the Dynamo, while playing a 4-4-2 (compared to the Revs' 3-5-2), are more attack minded in general, and (2) the Dynamo individually seem to step up in the big games.

As close as the game was, it was a deserved win for the Dynamo. Khano Smith should have been sent off. Zidane's head butt was fiercer, but was to the chest. Smith's was to the face -- and in front of the ref no less! He should've been sent off for being stupid if nothing else. (Or maybe incessant diving?) Also, I felt that Jaqua was indeed fouled in the box around the 15th minute. Had it been anywhere else on the field, it'd been free kick Dynamo. Perhaps the referee thought it was too early to make a game-changing decision like awarding a PK -- okay, this line of reasoning from commentators always confused me. When a call is justified, the referee isn't the one making a game-changing decision; the fouling player had made the game-changing decision with his foul.

(On the reffing topic: Alex Prus, the center ref, is not one of the four full time professional MLS referees. Why wouldn't the MLS pull from this corps for the championship game? Do they feel these aren't really the best of the crop? I guess Jair Marrufo didn't impress with his reffing of the Dynamo-Wizards playoff game.)

It's great seeing the Dynamo on the awards platform. The guys sure looked happy (and exhausted), with even the most stolid players breaking out in wide grins. And Don Garber, after missing the Western Conference Championship, was present for the award.

Was it me, or did Don Garber seem a bit unenthused to be awarding the trophy to the Dynamo? Was he sad for his buddy, Sunil Gulati, who still is the President of Kraft Soccer for the New England Revolution, while also being the president of the United States Soccer Federation? The potential conflict of interest has been noted by many, but the MLS is still a small cabal of insiders. That's one great thing about the new teams and new ownership: it's bringing new blood into what can be perceived as an inbred family.

Enough cynicism from me.

I saw the news reports on Channel 2, Channel 11, and Fox-26. All good, and all positive, and all with the Dynamo victory as the lead item. There were some flubs -- like Matt Musil reporting that Ngwenya's goal came via a feed from Ching, but he knew Ching was on the bench and even wrote as much in his blog. Still, he cared enough to attend the match on a day when the Texans were playing, and for that he gets my respect -- even if he gets free kicks confused with penalty kicks.

Anyone know why the team refers to the "voice of the Dynamo" Steve Mark as "Screech"? They did so on the 790 postgame report.

With the Cup in the books, now Coach Kinnear needs to settle on his protected lineup and hope we don't lose anyone too vital to San Jose in next week's expansion draft. Then Dom is apparently going to Britain and Spain to reconnoiter. Then we have to prepare for the CONCACAF Champions Cup in February (and onward, hopefully), and also the Pan Pacific Cup in February. We'll be exhausted by time the season starts and will, thankfully, have a while before we have to worry about the US Open Cup and the SuperLiga. Here's hoping that our League schedule is kind, given the extracurricular competitions in which we'll be expending our energy.

But that can wait. Before worrying about the future, let's celebrate this season at the Houston City Hall on Tuesday at 5:30.

How about this Hot News?...
Hot news: Fox Soccer has as one of its top news items the breaking story that Beckham says he wants to play in the World Cup in 2010. This is indeed breathtaking insight. Unreported is news as to whether any Americans want to play in the World Cup at this time; however, it has been rumored that both Tom Brady and Peyton Manning say they want to play in the Superbowl at the end of the season. The Houston Astros say they want to win the World Series next season. The Houston Dynamo haven't said, but are presumed to want to win the MLS Cup next year. Off the record, I believe that there are a few players on the Revolution, DC United, RBNY, Chivas USA, KC Wizards, FC Dallas, [insert your favorite MLS team name here]..., and FC Toronto who also want to win the MLS Cup next season. If I can confirm this, I'll be sure to let everyone know. (Well lookie there: I did have some more cynicism in me.)

Go Dynamo! Back 2 back champions!

Killing their way to another MLS Cup

Yet again, the New England Revolution will grace the MLS Cup with their special brand of anti-soccer. Beating the Chicago Fire with an acrobatic chileno from Taylor Twellman, all the more impressive because he had two defenders pressing him hard, the Revs are in their third straight MLS Cup match.

Raise your hand if you thought "That's it: the only goal we'll see in this match" after Twellman scored. It's difficult to type with one hand in the air, but I'm a trooper.

The Revs were aided by an ineffective Wanchope who appeared able to take any half-chance and turn it into a no chance. I think Osorio was too late in inserting Carr --Wanchope looked like he would never score. I'm not a big fan of Blanco, but he has to be irritated with his quality passes being wasted by Barrett and Wanchope. Rolfe had some good shots from distance, but nothing that panned out. I think his battered body will do well with an off-season of rest.

Credit should go to the Revs ability to defend -- some would say "kill a game" -- and protect their lead. Shalrie Joseph, Michael Parkhurst, and Matt Reis are some of the best at this.

We're halfway to a rematch of last year's MLS Cup -- a match-up that most of the US soccer community is dreading. The only thing worse than a Dynamo-Rev match-up would be a Wizards-Rev match-up. Let's hope that the latter doesn't come to pass.

And given the success of Boston in football (with the Pats winning the Superbowl and undefeated so far this season) and baseball (with the Red Sox -- the new New York Yankees some would say -- sweeping the World Series), the Revs seem destined to win the MLS Cup. That would give them the domestic double, them having already won the US Open Cup.

However, if there is a pantheon of gods that governs soccer, the Revs will not be rewarded with a win, and either KC or the Dynamo will take the silver ball. I think Lark Howorth said it as well as anybody: "...the skillful cynicism Nicol brings to the playoffs, especially with the talent he has, frankly has met its just end in all his three MLS Cup finals. I'm so glad we've got a Dynamo team to support that's more interested in winning playoff games via scoring goals, rather than locking down opponents in tactical stalemates."

Word.

I haven't always been a Revs hater, by the way. In fact, I had been impressed with the quality of their individual talent over the years. But seeing them play in person at Robertson over the past two years made me realize that this is a team that hurts the sport. In both instances (2006 and this year), the Dynamo played open, possession-style soccer against a prosaic, cynical opponent that had prostituted its game. Last year's match ended 1-1 and this year's 0-1. Credit the Revs for earning 4 out of 6 points in 2006 and 2007; but they also earned my spite for squashing the creativity from either team and for confirming the haters' stereotype of soccer being boring and banal.

Since I've turned this piece into a bit of a Revs-bashing, I guess I'll continue.

How about Michael Parkhurst as the MLS Defender of the Year? He is a talented defender to be sure, and did you know that he only garnered 5 yellow cards and no red cards all year? Isn't that amazing? It must be: it's mentioned in nearly every article about the young defender.

Is it right that he beat out a player (E-Rob) on a team that conceded 20 fewer goals than his team and another player (Claudi Suarez) on a team that conceded 15 fewer? And Suarez playes for Chivas USA, which conceded fewer goals while also playing an open, attacking style of play. Parkhurst was at the core of a defense that allowed 9 more than even lowly Colorado -- and that's with a keeper as good as Reis in the nets behind him (and a defensive style of play ingrained by Coach Nichol). Maybe Parkhurst should have fouled more.

Despite the stats, Parkhurst is indeed a good defender, and I can't say that the award is an abomination. It's not like giving Eddie Johnson the Comeback Player of the Year award or anything. (What exactly did Eddie comeback from? Underachievement? And does half a good season constitute a comeback?) But I think it says a lot about the MLS when "feel good stories" win out over performance; and the Dynamo's record-setting defense -- which smashed the previous 29 goal record by conceding only 23 goals -- doesn't win a single award. Onstad in particular was slighted.

As for Parkhurst's only goal (and only shot) of his career -- his 60-yard shot versus Toronto this year -- being up for Goal of the Year: it's interesting how the MLS got this into the running despite the fact that it wasn't selected as the best goal even in the week it occurred. (Granted, that's probably due to the votes of overzealous Toronto fans voting for Dichio the same week.) The goal is certainly impressive due to its rarity (haven't seen one since Dwayne DeRosario's shot versus Chicago and Zach Thornton last year), and Lord knows the fans love goals from really, really, really far away (with bicycle kicks right up there). I can't argue that both types of goals aren't impressive, but Parkhurst's feat has the air of luck and coincidence about it. I think a better GOTY would be one that demonstrates intentional skill.

Joseph Ngwenya's doesn't have the "gee-whiz" factor that surrounds a fortuitous strike; however, it does impress due to its focused application of skill. In fact, it is the type of feat that proves that we have skillful players here in the MLS. I think that is what the MLS should emphasize and laud: skill. It seems that we should want the world to know that we are a league of talented players, rather than knowing us as a league that has some lucky blokes every now and then -- because everyone has blind luck from time to time.

When you get a chance, vote for GOTY.

Goal of the Year

Following up on the previous post on Dynamo goals, the MLS GOTY contest has begun, with several Dynamo in the running:

Davis Week 12 (June)
Holden Week 14 (July)
Ngwenya Week 15 (July)
DeRo Week 16 (July)

I believe the choices include all of the GOTW winners, plus some extras. (Parkhurst's shot from the halfway line in the final week, for instance, lost to Dichio's spinning volley the same week, but both are candidates for GOTY.)

Here's a summary of the rules:

Who scored the best goal of the 2007 MLS season? You, the fans, have been tasked with helping us narrow down 34 great goals down to five finalists and then deciding the winner. Check out the goals below and and make your selection. There are three rounds of voting with this first round concluding on Oct. 31. You may vote up to 10 times a day, but may vote for only one goal at a time. The winner will be announced on Nov. 16. Note: if you are under the age of 18, you must choose to not receive email communication in order to vote.

So vote early and often! (And if you're torn, you can't go wrong with Ngwenya's skillful shot; long range missles aren't the only way to define a quality shot.)

We are on Fire!

In our short history, we've lost to Chicago twice (at home) and tied them at Toyota Park in a game that featured D-Ro's goal from the midfield line. We've never beaten them, until tonight.

For our third Thursday night game in a row, we beat our opponent 4-0. Mullan, Mulrooney, Holden (who played like a veteran), Ngwenya (who played like a maestro at times), and Jaqua (who really wanted to impress his former fans) were in the zone tonight. I didn't see Clark do too much today (I didn't even see his first half blistering shot until the replay because ESPN thought we might want to see a Beckham commercial in the middle of the game), but (1) he was playing out of his usual position, and (2) he didn't need to do too much today. We tended to by-pass the midfield or use the flanks to great effect tonight.

Despite the clean sheet, I think our back line was a little loosey-goosey at times. (That's a technical term, by the way.) Perhaps it was over confidence. We are now firmly in second place to the 2000 KC Wizards for consecutive minutes without conceding a score. I worried that the thorn-in-our-side-that-is-Thiago would make one of his signature moves and sneak a ball in, but nope. Onstad was flawless and our overall team defensive abilities kept us out of trouble for the most part.

Ngwenya's amazing goal has moved me to Haiku:

A touch: "Bye, Curtain;"
Another: rounding Pickens
A knife to the net.

The first touch around Curtain was immaculate. The move around Pickens, well timed. The shot from the impossible angle was amazing precision. Definite GOTW candidate. That was a Ngwenya that I've never seen; I wonder if the Crew had ever seen it?

Kinnear has done an amazing job crafting a team in this, his sophomore year in Houston. The team is the best integrated group of individuals in the MLS. They have talent, but their obvious rapport with each other is what separates them. I loved the relaxed smiles Onstad had during the game, including his relieved grin after Cochrane's own-goal-that-nearly-was whizzed past the post in the first half.

Sliding, dirt flying,
His leg -- akimbo -- strikes out,
"Flee to safety, ball."

Another great game tonight -- and in front of a great crowd too. Impressive showing by the Fahr faithful: more than 20,000 on a Thursday night. Here's hoping for equally impressive attendance this Sunday at the Rob, where we hopefully can avenge our loss to Toronto and shut them out in the process.

Finally, about that Beckham commercial that took up the screen while Rico was teeing up his shot: the "S" in ESPN should stand for "Sports" not "Soap Operas." We're glued to the TV to watch a game, so show a game. Talk about Becks if you must, but don't hide the reason we tuned to your station. By the same token, my main focus is the game, not the news. If you feel your sports fans need to have an in-game update on whether A-Rod will negotiate his new contract now, later, or never, because that's news that just can't wait, then at least make the news video a smaller screen than the game -- the game that made me tune to your station in the first place. Thanks.

A small postage stamp
With Orange mites on green,
Oh, that's the 'Mo Game!