Houston Dynamo » Results

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.

Houston Dynamo Repeat!

Marc — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 21:01:21 +0000

Today the Houston Dynamo defeated the New England Revolution 2-1 at RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C. to win their second consecutive MLS Cup. It is only the second time in the history of the league that a champion has held on to their crown (DC United did it in 1997).

It was a cracker of a match, with Houston, ironically, having the fewer chances but capitalizing when it counted — the exact opposite of their season where they would have tons of chances in a game but few finishes.

Typical of Houston (and the San Jose incarnation), they do it best through adversity, giving up a headed goal to Taylor Twellman early in the first half. But Houston was calm. After all, just a few weeks ago they were two goals down to Dallas in the playoffs and won that series 4-2. And who can forget last year’s immediate comeback against this same New England team in the final?

Houston’s been a second half team all season and this game was no exception. They kicked things up a notch in the second half, coming out with more aggression and determination and fixed some of the defensive lapses they showed in the first half. New England, it must be said, looked like they thought they’d already won (shades of last year’s Cup), and failed to be as aggressive as they could and scorned a few gorgeous opportunities.

The comeback for Houston started with a fabulous sequence of pressure by the Dynamo, getting the ball deep into New England’s box and creating several dangerous chances. A Houston corner kick was rejected, but aggressive play from Dynamo Captain Wade Barrett kept the ball in play at the near sideline and he managed to toe-poke the ball to teammate Brian Mullan who fed a long ball into the box. It skittered across to Dwayne DeRosario on the far side and he managed to cross it hard into the box. It was too hard for Jaqua who was crashing in but it fell gloriously to Joseph Ngwenya. But he flubbed his left-footed shot as the ball went through his legs. But the Revolution defense didn’t clear the ball and Joseph didn’t quit, taking a second swipe at the ball with his right and sliding it underneath Revs’ keeper Matt Reis to level the score.

No game is complete without controversy and this came in the 64th minute when Cano Smith and Craig Waibel clashed in the box. Smith wanted a penalty kick (it was shoulder contact, not a foul) but the ref waved it off. Smith and Waibel had words, however, and then Cano — a mere yard from the referee — out-and-out head-butted Waibel in the jaw! Shockingly, this outrageous display of temper and unsportsmanship — little different from Ricardo Clark’s kick to Carlos Ruiz that earned him a league-record nine-game suspension — was dealt with merely a yellow card by referee Alex Pruis. I don’t like to see red cards in finals, but that was deliberate and regardless of the amount of contact (Waibel dodged most of the blow), it should have been a red. It was no different from Zidane’s head-butt in the World Cup final. (That said, a red would have tainted the result and I’m perfectly happy with the final score.)

Late in the game New England had a couple opportunities but couldn’t capitalize. One of the best was a cross through the box with Twellman waiting at the back post for a certain tap-in goal, but Dynamo goalkeeper Pat Onstad (my Man of the Match) flew in and got his fingertips to the ball to snare it with a fabulous saving play. Even better, the rebound was easily dealt with by the Dynamo defense and a counter-attack started.

Exactly forty seconds later, the Dynamo scored at the other end. Ngwenya’s good hold-up play on the right wing got the ball to Waibel who’d run up in support and he played it to a wide open Brad Davis just outside the box. Davis’ gifted left foot placed the ball perfectly in the box for De Rosario who snapped his head to the ball knocking it into the far corner past a helpless Reis. The defending champions were now leading with less than twenty minutes to go.

The final few minutes saw some tremendous pressure from New England and an unbelievable save from Onstad. In the 87th minute the Revs took a corner kick which eluded the Dynamo defense and reached Larentowicz who met it with a diving header just three yards out. It was bullet of a shot that should have been a goal — but Onstad was well-positioned and the ball ricocheted off his legs and was successfully cleared by Houston.

Amazing, and plays like that had to hit New England’s confidence where it hurts most. They never looked the same after that save, with Houston defending with authority and the Revs struggling. This was epitomized by play from DeRosario in the 91st minute when Jay Heaps twice tried to play a long cross to the box and both times DeRo leaped in front and blocked it with his back. If you can’t put in a simple cross from the half-field line with just one guy in front of you, what can you do? Disheartening, to say the least. The final play was a long feed from Reis that went right to his counter-part, Onstad, and the game ended without another chance for New England.

While I feel deep sympathy for the Revs — I’ve been a fan of theirs for years, since their underdog days (us long-term San Jose fans related to them), and I can’t imagine what it is like to lose three finals in a row — I have to give the Dynamo the win in this one. While they defended more than I preferred, their defense wobbled but didn’t break, and they pressured aggressively (even when the game was tied) and took two chances and converted. If you look at all the little things in the match — the way the forwards helped out on defense, the work rate, the relentless pressure, their calmness in the face of mistakes — Houston deserved this championship. Nowhere was this more evident than the reactions of each team when they gave up their first goal: the Houston players nodded, clapped each other on the back, and gritted their teeth, while the Revs cursed and moaned and looked at each other in bewilderment and frustration. And remember, Houston did this without two key players in Brian Ching and Ricardo Clark, which is the hallmark of a championship team.

Hat’s off to New England who fought hard, and played aggressive, attractive soccer. They have accomplished a lot: three straight finals and an Open Cup trophy is an amazing achievement. Their day will come.

Congratulations to the Houston Dynamo! You guys were wonderful all season. You battled through adversities, injuries, national team call-ups, trades, and the inevitable human error. In the end you’ve repeated as champions, which people who know sports say is always much harder than winning the first one.

Soccer’s a team sport, and Houston (going back to the San Jose days), is the embodiment of team spirit. I hope they never lose that. It’s what makes this group of rag-tag cast-offs from other teams greater than the sum of its parts.

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.

Hope for Houston as Colorado Win!

Marc — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 21:09:24 +0000

Incredibly, the Colorado Rapids did the impossible today, beating Chivas USA in L.A. 2-1. This is Chivas’ first home defeat of the season as they were trying to match the 2005 San Jose Earthquakes record of going a full season unbeaten.

This win is huge for Houston, as it means that next weekend’s Chivas-Houston game could decide the Western Conference Championship. For that game to matter, the Dynamo must win Monday’s RSL clash. But if they do, a win against Chivas in the final game of the season would secure home field advantage throughout the playoffs for Houston. Go Orange!

The Colorado-Chivas game was terrific with the Rapids frantically defending a slim lead late and after like 20 chances for Chivas, finally giving up a goal. But then in injury time Chivas were going for the win and got caught upfield when Conor Casey managed to win a ball on the left side against a defender and ran into the goal area nearly unopposed. He played a simple cross for a teammate to tap in and with just a couple minutes left in the match, Colorado held on for a monster victory. (Colorado still need to win their final match against RSL to have any hope of playoff soccer; they’ll also need Dallas to beat Kansas City.)

Houston Beat Dallas in Texas Classico!

Marc — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 02:00:10 +0000

The Dynamo are back to their winning ways with a terrific win today over in-state rival FC Dallas. There was only one goal in the game, but it was a terrific team goal. Mulrooney started the play in Houston’s half and got the ball to DeRossario who quickly pushed the ball into space on the right for Mullan. Brian ran onto it and put a blistering cross into the six-yard box where Brian Ching ran onto it, chesting it into the goal. This was in the 44th minute, just before the half. An excellent goal and an excellent time to score.

Dallas fought back in the second half with more aggression and a few chances (their best chance was in stoppage time when Ruiz’s shot was blocked by Onstad), but mostly this was a well-deserved win for Houston as they dominated possession and chances. Houston could have scored a few more, but Ray Burse in goal for Dallas denied several shots with some excellent saves.

With the win, Houston leap to the top of the Western Conference with 37 points. (Unfortunately, New England won their game and retain the overall league lead with 39 points.)

Let’s home this win is the start of another long unbeaten run for the Dynamo!

Houston Takes Pachua to PKs

Marc — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 05:06:39 +0000

Well, it’s over. Houston’s SuperLiga dream is done. Wow. What a match! Red cards, yellow cards, goals, overtime, penalties, drama. Nearly two hours of Houston playing with ten men in 96-degree heat.

Rather than me recap it here, read the Twitter feed I updated live throughout the game. If you start here, you can work your way through the game chronologically (Twitter post are reverse order).

What did you all think of the match?