Dynamo Down Dallas…Again.

By: Richard | May 10th, 2009

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.