Are You Dallas In Disguise…?

By: Richard | May 24th, 2009

Houston Dynamo 3-1 San Jose Earthquakes

…because that’s what it looks like from where I’m standing! I’m sorry, Nick Garcia, what was that you were saying? Nothing. Exactly. Perhaps if you concentrated a little more on your defending assignments instead of mouthing off at other players pre-game, you might not leave attackers wide open to head on goal. Just a thought. And so with that out of the way…

The Dynamo put in another solid performance down at Robertson Stadium Saturday night in front of a slightly disappointing crowd of 12,619. In short, the Orange bossed this game from start to finish and jumped all over San Jose early doors, rarely letting their foot off the gas. San Jose never really looked threatening, although Arturo Alvarez was lively throughout and was by far their best player (he’s from Houston, what else would you expect!?) with Ryan Johnson also looking more of a threat when moved up front in the second half and scoring their lone goal.

Brian Ching got Houston off to a great start after 4 minutes with a smart header off a Brad Davis free kick (Jeremy: who was supposed to be marking him?…ah yes, Garcia!) and then 7 minutes later the Orange added another – a great Kei Kamara header from a Davis corner, giving him 5 assists in consecutive games. Loved the salute to the Texian Army goal celebration, too. Alvarez had a couple of shots off target for San Jose after that and Pat Onstad had to be very sharp in the 14th minute when a straight ball over the top caught Geoff Cameron out of position and put Cam Weaver through on goal but Onstad remained alert and came out to clear the danger in the nick of time. For the rest of the half, the Dynamo kept pushing, had some great midfield defense that rendered Bobby Convey almost invisible in the middle of the park (why do they play him in the middle, when the guy is a left winger?) and continued to create chances up front with some very slick passing – clearly they have been watching Man U in training!

The second half started off in much the same vein – 6 minutes in, another Davis corner was batted around in the box, not cleared properly by San Jose, with the ball eventually falling to a certain Mr. Craig Waibel, who turned like a ballerina in Swan Lake and fired the ball into the bottom corner of the net – not bad for your first start of the season! (Note: BigSoccer rumor has it that Tibetan monks wear those orange robes because Buddha didn’t want to piss off Craig Waibel). Clearly Houston’s players have been waiting for the chance to show their goal celebrations after scoring. Perhaps none more so than Mr. Waibel, who immediately sprinted over to Section 112 to sit in front of the Waibel’s Warriors banner. Class all the way, sir.

After that and with Ryan Johnson now patroling up front, the Quakes found a little offense. 2 minutes after Waibel’s third, a hopeful Cam Weaver cross was met by Johnson over the top of Geoff Cameron and San Jose had their lone goal for the evening. Johnson had another great chance in the 60th minute, but he was waved offside just before his header went into the net. This jolted the mighty Orange back into action and out of cruise control and they never let San Jose have another sniff on goal, closing out the game comfortably (thankfully, after last week’s episode at the Red Bulls) and moving them to 4-3-2 (W-D-L) for the season and to 15 points, 1 behind Seattle in the West and 9 back from Chivas USA, who still have to come to Robertson 6/10.

One other thing to mention about the game was the very blatant and outrageous elbow to the face of Kei Kamara by the Quakes’ Eric Denton in the 64th minute – totally off the ball, totally uncalled for and totally missed by the referee. Not so those in attendance, who got a vivid close up on the jumbo tron seconds afterward and booed Denton from then on, every time he got the ball. I certainly hope that MLS reviews this one after the game and deals with it appropriately, as this was a nasty one – perhaps not so much in delivery, but definitely intent.

Next up for El Naranja, the intriguing Toronto FC and the return of former H-town hero and one on MLS’ best playmakers, Dwayne De Rosario. Now that’s a game to get a ticket for, folks!! It will be mighty interesting, to say the least, to see how the crowd react to De Ro’s first trip back to the Rob since leaving during the offseason. Welcome Home, Dwayne. We miss you.