Houston Dynamo » MLS

Dynamo Down Dallas…Again.

Richard — Sun, 10 May 2009 18:58:45 +0000

Houston Dynamo 1-0 FC Dallas

*The Dynamo Girls: Better than FC Dallas?*

Q. What do you get if you cross I-45 with a leaky defence and lack of confidence?
A. That’s right, Dallas fans – Beaten!

On a fabulous night for football at Robertson Stadium, the Dynamo took down in-state rivals FC Dallas 1-0; a powerful second half header from Kei Kamara off a Stuart Holden cross proving the difference, moving them up to third in the West. Relive the glory again here, courtesy of MLSNet.com. 4 games unbeaten; 4 shutouts (surpassing Seattle’s shutout streak of 350 minutes in the process); 3 wins on the bounce. As we’ve said before here on The Offside Orange, Seattle and Chivas – best be looking over your shoulders, ready or not, Here Come The Boys From The South. How You like me now??

In truth, Houston were never in trouble in this game. They’d have had more problems playing the Dynamo Girls. Dallas’ only registered shot on goal came in the 94th minute from central defender Steve Purdy and fell harmlessly in the arms of Pat Onstad. I swear I saw him yawning at one point in the second half, so little did he have to do. Dallas were MIA. Prior to that, Houston had had at least 2 chances that should have been taken. Bobby Boswell (.com) had a decent header cleared off the line early on and Brian Ching had a trademark miss from 10 yards that my grandmother could have put away. And she’s no longer with us!

Houston’s win keeps Dallas bottom of the West (Co-Orange blogger Jeremy: “that’s fine by me!”) and cements them firmly as the third best team in Texas. That hails from Dallas. That has an FC in it’s name. I’m sure Frisco High School would give them a good game if they asked. (Who’s second? Right here, mes amis). Yes, right now, I think the Aztex would beat Dallas.

Quick other thoughts from the game:

Brilliant Crowd. Great Atmosphere. If you were there, thank you. I took my friend, who had never been to a soccer game before and he was multo impressed. So much so, that at one point he turned to me and said “this is like a proper sporting event, isn’t it!”. Yes Rob, it is From the build up, to the half time fireworks to the constant harrassing of the small Dallas contingent that had made it’s way down, to the Mexican wave that went round the stadium on a number of occasions, to the perfect weather – all was top notch. It was also great to see both El Battalion and the Texian Army there in full force, especially in light of the much publicised EB troubles after the last home game. Well done folks – you did us proud on national TV. 17,000 attendance announced but sure looked like more than that.
Seems to be a constant topic, but the pitch looked great. I’m not sure if it was all the recent rain, or the grounds keeper at UofH, but either way, looked like a proper playing surface and did not seem as bobbly, which certainly helped our game.
How hard working is our midfield?? Yes, DeRo is gone. But man, did we ever up the work rate in there with Holden. Dallas had no answer for the harry and hustle that Houston brought in the engine room. In fact, I’d be surprised if any MLS team could match us at the moment. We were all over them, all the time, which severely limited their ability to get service in to Kenny Cooper and Jeff Cunningham, who but for a shot just wide in the opening minutes, went largely anonymous for the most part of the game.
Andy Hainault. Terrific Debut for the Ginger Beast. Solid anchor at left back. Rarely threatened going forwards, but very dependable when called upon to defend. I wonder what that means for Mike Chabala?
I’m intruiged as to why The Dom continues to wait until the 80th minute to give playing time to Ade “The Horse” Akinbiyi and Corey Ashe? Ade needs minutes and will need to fill in for Chinger when he goes on his US duty here fairly shortly. Give the guy some time on the field to get acclimatized and get used to his team mates. I think he had been on the field all of two minutes before he nonchalantly clattered into the Dallas center back. That’s the sort of intimidation we’re all about! Get him in there, for crying out loud! And Ashe looks dangerous every time he comes on. Maybe in part due to tiring opposition legs, but nonetheless….get him on earlier, give him a chance.
Great hold up play and movement from Kamara and Ching up front, if only they could learn to finish chances – particularly Ching. Time and again we get in good situations only to be frustrated by poor finishing. At some point, you get the feeling that it’s going to come back and haunt us.
My personal favourite Dynamo Brian Mullan looks back to his best form. Fast, great defensively, works like only Rico Clark can and finally looking to take people on down the right, complimenting Brad Davis on the left. Looked really sharp last night, coming inside, going outside and generally giving the Dallas left back Blake Wagner a nightmare of a time all game. An often overlooked player that has not been at the top of his game recently, but certainly a guy who looks full of confidence again now. If I may indulge for a moment…ahem…“There’s only one Brian Mullan. One Brian Muuuullan. There’s only one Brian Muuullan.” I thank you.

For a full round up of the game, check out The Chron or if you prefer, the MLSNet.com write up.

What was that Jeremy (co-blogger) has been saying all week?? Ah yes, now I remember…

Dallas Sucks!!

Stay thirsty, my Friends. FOREVER ORANGE.

Your Daily Dynamo

Daryl — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 16:25:48 +0000

Oscar De La Hoya will be purchasing 50 % of the Dynamo from AEG.

If you read the article it states that Oscar will own 25% and his partners managing group will own the other 25%, I can understand AEG selling off this stake somewhat….but if you want to sell a team wouldn’t you want to get rid of your whole stake? I have heard rumors and nothing more on this and now some concrete evidence comes out I can’t decide if this is a good thing or bad thing, what do you the loyal fan think? Here is a good interview that Glenn Davis did with Oscar here.

Interesting little article on Oregon and Dynamo product Nate Jaqua can be found on the front page of socceramerica.com. (Having some trouble linking this article)

In about 2 weeks time our boys in orange will be marching towards the 08′ CONCACAF Champions cup, The winner of this tournament gets a birth into spot in this years FIFA club world cup, I personally would love to see the Dynamo competing in Japan this december hell..I would even like to see DC United there. All the US played games will be shown on Fox Soccer Channel (Some on tape delayed ).

Here is a quick run down of the schedule:

Quarterfinals
Leg 1
QF 1 – CD Motagua (Hon) vs. Pachuca CF (Mex)
11 March Estadio Tiburcio Carias Andino – 8p – FSC 11p
QF 2 – Harbour View (Jam) vs. DC United (USA)
12 March Harbour View Stadium, Kinston – 8p – FSC 8p
QF 4 – CSD Municipal (Gua) vs. Houston Dynamo (USA)
12 March Estadio Mateo Flores – 10p – FSC 10p
QF 3 – Atlante FC (Mex) vs. Deportivo Saprissa (CR)
13 March Estadio Andres Quintana Roo, Cancun – 11p – FSC 11p

Leg 2
QF 2 – DC United (USA) vs. Harbour View (Jam)
18 March RFK Stadium – 7:30p – FSC 7:30p
QF 4 – Houston Dynamo (USA) vs. CSD Municipal (Gua)
19 March Robertson Stadium – 8:30p – FSC 8:30p
QF 1 – Pachuca CF (Mex) vs. CD Motagua (Hon)
19 March Estadio Hidalgo, Pachuca – 11p – FSC 11p
QF 3 – Deportivo Saprissa (CR) vs. Atlante FC (Mex)
20 March Estadio Ricardo Saprissa, San Jose – 10p – FSC 12a

Semifinals
Leg 1
SF 1Winner QF 1 vs. Winner QF 2
01 April
SF 2Winner QF 4 vs. Winner QF 3
02 April

Leg 2
SF 1Winner QF 2 vs. Winner QF 1
08 April
SF 2Winner QF 3 vs. Winner QF 4
09 April

Finals
Leg 1Winner SF 2 vs. Winner SF 1
23 April
Leg 2Winner SF 1 vs. Winner SF 2
30 April
(Thanks to My Soccer Blog for the info.)

It looks like we have somehwat of a tough schedule but I wouldn’t hit the panic button quite yet, CSD Municipal are a storied club I think the Dynamo are just going to be the better team, Although it does look like DC have the easier of the teams.

Nice Ianni Article

Marc — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 07:41:13 +0000

The Lodi News has a nice report on MLS Cup and Patrick Ianni (who is from Lodi).

A quote from Patrick:

“It’s not the championships that make it worthwhile, but the relationships, the community involvement. It’s about sacrificing for each other. When people sacrifice for each other, it’s one of the most beautiful things in life. The joy of watching your teammates succeed.”

Special Dynamo Show on FSC!

Marc — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 00:57:40 +0000

I just heard that Fox Soccer Channel is going to be airing a show chronicling the Houston Dynamo’s championship season!

The 30-minute highlight show is called Dynamo Dynasty and will also cover the Dynamo’s adventures in the Champions Cup, etc. The show premieres Thursday, November 29 at 11:00 p.m. ET, so set your Tivos or tune in!

Cochrane First Selection in Expansion Draft

Marc — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 18:52:44 +0000

Just three days after winning his second MLS Cup with Houston, Ryan Cochrane is now an Earthquake. He was the first selection by Frank Yallop in the expansion draft. There’s a nice article about it in the Mercury News. The interesting thing is that Ryan apparently had asked Houston coach Dominic Kinnear to leave him open in the draft as he was interested in returning to his roots in the Bay Area. Good for him!

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Unprotected Dynamo

Marc — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 19:21:23 +0000

You can find a list of the players Houston have left unprotected in the draft here. Most interesting names are Pat Onstad, Ryan Cochrane, Paul Daglish, and Craig Waibel.

The Expansion Draft takes place on Wednesday, so we’ll soon know if any of these players are snapped up by San Jose. (It’s a max of one player per team, so as soon as one player is picked, the others are safe.)

ESPN’s Carlisle Projects Houston Win

Marc — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 03:56:37 +0000

EPSN’s Jeff Carlisle gives his analysis of the two teams in this year’s MLS Cup final (Houston and New England) and concludes with the Dynamo winning 1-0.

His evaluations are interesting, as he weighs the forwards, midfields, defense, bench, and intangibles. I’m not quite sure I agree with the low score, however. The biggest intangible for me is attitude. He thinks the teams will come out cautiously but I wonder if New England won’t feel the greater pressure to score because of their MLS Cup history. That could open things up for Houston to convert on the counter and could lead to an early goal or two.

At any rate, I’m anticipating an exciting game.

Waibel: Tougher than Chuck Norris

Marc — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 20:19:14 +0000

Check out this hilarious article about the Houston Dynamo’s Craig Waibel legendary toughness.

A highlight:

No, Craig Waibel’s tears don’t cure cancer — a takeoff on one of the most popular Chuck Norris “facts,” which have become an Internet phenomenon. Waibel can’t divide by zero, kill two stones with one bird or count to infinity. No way did he invent pain or sue NBC, claiming Law and Order were trademarked names for his left and right legs.

It’s a great read.

Ching Doubtful for MLS Cup

Marc — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 19:47:29 +0000

According to this report, Houston’s Brian Ching is unlikely to be fit for Sunday’s MLS Cup final against the New England Revolution. They are calling his injury a “calf strain” and while it sounds like there’s chance he might be available, it’s unlikely.

While this is a blow for Houston, it certainly doesn’t rule them out of contention. Jaqua can fill in as the post-up guy and Ngwenya’s speed and dribbling ability make him dangerous in the final third. Houston have been dangerous from the entire team all season and that’s continued in the Playoffs with six goals from five players (Ching, Jagua, Davis, Holden, DeRosario). The Dynamo were without Ching many times during the season and did fine, so I doubt the team is worried.

I think the real loss is Houston no longer have the ability to bring a came-changer off the bench, which is where Ngwenya was valuable with his pace and trickiness. They do have Stuart Holden and maybe even Corey Ashe, but the loss of Ching is significant. However, perhaps Ching would be fit enough to come on late for a spark if the Dynamo need it.

But the bottom line is that the veterans on the team — Mulrooney, Davis, Mullan, and DeRosario — will have to step it up on Sunday to fill the void Ching leaves. How do you think this effects their chances?

Time Warp: MLS Cup 06 Repeat!

Marc — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 03:35:55 +0000

Tonight the Houston Dynamo defeat the Kansas City Wizards 2-0 and will face the New England Revolution Nov. 18 in the MLS Cup. This is a repeat of last year’s MLS Cup (I believe that’s the first time that’s happened back-to-back).

Terrific game, with Nate Jaqua scoring in the first half and De Rosario putting one away in the second.