Debriefing for Match 11.30: At Houston Dynamo
HOUSTON DYNAMO 1 : 0 DC UNITED
Media, Traditional and Otherwise
The Washington Post, Steven Thomson: "One remarkable series late in the game broke a defensive stalemate and gave the Houston Dynamo a 1-0 victory over D.C. United in front of 20,029 fans at Robertson Stadium on Saturday night."
Houston Chronicle, Bernardo Fallas: "Despite the setback, United, which already had clinched a berth in the Eastern playoffs, secured the Supporters' Shield, symbolic of the best record in the league, because Western leader FC Dallas fell 3-1 to the Columbus Crew."
DC Sundevil: "So United lost, in all honesty, I really couldn't care."
Soccer y Futbol: "The Dynamo no doubt were aided by Peter Nowak's decision to pull out Jaime Moreno and Christian Gomez (11 goals each) in the second half.Nowak had hinted he'd do just that ahead of the playoffs, so this could be considered somewhat of a favor as opposed to a bone-headed move by the coach."
BlackDogRed: "I’m going to take my cue about last night’s 1-0 loss to Houston from Peter Nowak. After Ching’s bicycle in the 87th, Nowak grinned wryly. After the game, Nowak was smiling."
The Good
- DC United- 2006 Supporter's Shield Winners: Clearly, this will merit its own discussion later, but we've won it. That counts for something. In my book, it counts for a lot.
- Better posession: United was playing against a good team, and stringing passes together, allowing them to hold the ball. This is a good thing.
- Troy Perkins, Traffic Cop in the Skies: Garth Lagerway made a big deal of it, and he was right. Perkins patrolled the skies well, gathering in otherwise dangerous crosses and punching the ball authoritatively if he couldn't be sure he could grab it in. That DC wasn't victimized on a ball over the top, a weakness they've had often this year, bodes well.
The Bad
- No chances: Remember the immoral Ray Hudson's words on posession without penetration? Yeah. DC needed to put the ball on frame, and it was not a good thing that our best shots came from the midfield.
- Give it away now: Pass-pass-pass-pass-turnover. Ick.
- If it's the goal of the year, it was scored against United: Seriously, while I'm glad that it takes a golazo to beat DC United, why does it seem to happen once a year? All credit to Houston for manufacturing that chance. Garth, if Dave can use "It's in the net" for Houston, Brian Ching's goal certainly merited the mention of various fresh churned dairy products.
Man of the Match
Before the loss, I was seriously considering a MOTM to Namoff or Boswell. Sadly, losses = No Man of the Match (unless there's an extraordinarily amazing effort.) Still, DDR wasn't that much of a factor, was he? And that's something.
Final Thoughts
Internation play, representing MLS. It's nice to know we'll have it next season. As for what happens next? I intend to write my thoughts on that, and I'm sure my fellow DCenters will weigh in as well.
posted by D @ 9:40 AM
6 Comments:
The Supporter's Shield means a lot to me, too. Not just because it gets us a berth in an international tournament, which is huge by itself (and where DCU belongs), but also because in most leagues around the world, finishing first in the standings IS the Championship. I'm no Eurosnob, but it is the indication of a dominant season, whereas a hot playoff run can happen to any sorry team (see last years galaxitives).
btw, do you know something the rest of don't about Ray Hudson, or did you mean immortal, not immoral ? ;)
The Supporter's Shield means a lot to me, too. Not just because it gets us a berth in an international tournament, which is huge by itself (and where DCU belongs), but also because in most leagues around the world, finishing first in the standings IS the Championship. I'm no Eurosnob, but it is the indication of a dominant season, whereas a hot playoff run can happen to any sorry team (see last years galaxitives).
btw, do you know something the rest of don't about Ray Hudson, or did you mean immortal, not immoral ? ;)
ESPNsoccernet.com has United ranked #2, and their quote is spot on -
"If it takes a goal of the caliber scored by Brian Ching to beat them, they'll be ok."
Very well put.
The goal was fantastic, no doubt about it. But we gave them the chance to win by playing keep-away as long as possible while sitting on a precarious 0-0 tie. It's OK to do that when you're up a couple of goals, but when you are tied, you should play like you need a goal -- I don't care if you're on the road or at home.
It would be one thing if they're doing that with only a few minutes left, but they were doing for most of the second half. They were asking for it.
Overall not a very exciting game, but it was insanely hot and muggy out there. It's hard to be upset about a goal like that - although those of us who were there nearly all missed seeing it, because stadium security was in the middle of throwing a bunch of us out for waving flags. Which is, apparently, allowed if you are a Houston fan but not if you are a DC United fan. Anyway, so everyone in our group was either participating in or watching the argument and suddenly there's this giant roar. Oops. Well, it was fun to go down there, and the Houston supporters were very gracious and kind to us, in marked contrast to the stadium security people.
Joe: you are 100% correct on this matter. If you play not to score, you will succeed.
Joanna: Kudos on making the trip. I will also send you a photo that you might want.
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