Monday Morning Centre Back: The Reckoning in the Land of Trees and Chainsaws
by Zach Woosley on Oct 10, 2011 9:48 AM CDT
in Monday Morning Centre Back
Email
Print
Around 11:30pm CT on Friday evening, we'll know a great deal more about the Houston Dynamo's playoff chances for the 2011 season. All those missteps and dropped points throughout the long summer have culminated in a massively important match against the Portland Timbers at Jeld-Wen Field.
As if the game itself wasn't enough, there's the added storyline of Mike Chabala and Lovel Palmer waiting for their former comrades in orange to arrive. I can all but guarantee the pair have one thing on their mind, damaging the playoff hopes of their former club. It's not personal, it's business and it's a natural motivating factor for people. You always want to show up your previous employers and what better way to do just that than to vault the Timbers right in to the playoff mix and send the Dynamo back to Houston needing a lot of help and a victory over the best team in the league in the season finale.
Houston's 2-1 win over Portland back in August means nothing now. The Timbers are a better team at this point in the season and they are a significantly better team at home compared to on the road. Going in a getting a point (which would be ok) or the full three points (which would be ideal) will require a fantastic effort from the Dynamo and the kind of performance on the road we're honestly not used to seeing this season.
It's a test of this team's mettle and one that I really feel they need to pass in order to have the best chance of playing past October 23rd.
Needless to say, it's going to be a long week waiting for Friday's match, but I'm sure myself and the rest of the Dynamo Theory team will have plenty to say. I'll be adding a new playoff chase post this afternoon to update the playoff standings and preview the week's matches.
18 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
Is Timber Joey about to cut through Portland scarves in that pic? Seems kinda dodgy to me. Is he wearing safety glasses? Let’s get OSHA out there on a raid, preferably during the Dynamo/Timbers game. And more important, does Timber Joey have a USTC membership card? Big questions.
Personally, I think this is a seriously winnable game. What’s more, if Dynamo don’t win the game, then I’m not so sure they deserve a playoff berth.
"We don't care who finishes second." -- Celtic's Peter Lowrie
Hear hear
I agree that this is a winnable game, but its a game that’s going to come down to who has the jacobs to win it. Portland needs this as badly as we do, and while they’re riding momentum and good form we have the talent to beat them. We were able to get a road win up north but can we get the 3 pts when they really count?
And yes, that’s in clear violation of OSHA regulations and Portland should file an HSE report immediately. :)
To be fair
We’ve only lost a handful of fans to the chainsaw this year.
But I suppose we should probably just get a green one of these:
volatilelyle.com
by almost awesome on Oct 11, 2011 7:52 PM CDT up reply actions
Yes
Timber Joey is a true lumberjack
Contributing editor to Stumptown Footy the Portland Timbers SBN blog.
And looking forward
Steve Davis thinks that in all likelihood the Gals will field, what’s the precise blogger’s term for this, a craptastic lineup against us in the final regular season game at Robertson Stadium (Link here). To that, I say, more power to them. And if the other teams all scream and yell over that, then I have only one finger to reply to that.
We’ll see what happens after Friday, but if we can bring it to that, and make that game important with a positive result in Oregon (Oregon? Is that even a state?), then these next two weeks might just be fun.
"We don't care who finishes second." -- Celtic's Peter Lowrie
Oregon: Just a little greener than Texass
Contributing editor to Stumptown Footy the Portland Timbers SBN blog.
oops
Sorry I did not mean to have the Extra s, I am serious.
Contributing editor to Stumptown Footy the Portland Timbers SBN blog.
Stock photo?
Mmm, methinks someone visited one of the LOTR forums and grabbed a pre-production pic before Golum was added in
How many convicts do we have to off before Texas recognizes us as a State?
because we’re adding another soon.
It’s also our last home game this year, so there’s that bit of motivation as well.
I just hope we practiced defending the 35-yard bullet.
volatilelyle.com
by almost awesome on Oct 11, 2011 7:22 PM CDT up reply actions
A fools game
our only real competitor in that area is China
/not necessarily proud of that
But yes, no matter the outcome (though I’ll be sorely disappointed if we happen to drop this game), its going to be a great match between two teams who dearly need the points. And full props: you guys are animals up there (and wear that with pride, btw). If we can grab points in that place we deserve a shot at the post-season
Oh, and while I’m very happy to see Palmer & Chabala doing well in Portland, I hope they’re anonymous on Friday. All’s fair and all that…
Can we?
Can we get the full points from this game? Jeld-Wen (Wen-Jeld/Jen-Weld/whatever its called) is a tough place to play under normal circumstances, but in this case its going to be a madhouse. The travelling SGs gave the boys a boost when we played in Robertson North, but we won’t have that advantage in Portland. Instead we have ravenous, troll-baited NW footie fans ready to dine on our man-flesh.
Also, is Dixon available to play? I’m apprehensive about him playing in a hostile environment but at the same time, we could use his change of pace as a sub and let’s face it, he’s a pro now and needs to learn to deal with hostile environments. Using him and Carr as late-game (but not too late) subs I think could help give us an edge. But let’s see how we do…as Martek said, if we don’t get points from this game I think the season is through, regardless of the JV team that LAG might field the following week
This is not a game to miss.
It will be very intense. The atmosphere, the relationship the two teams have, and the playoff implications for both means this will be HOT. I hope to see some very inspired football. Even for a neutral this would be a must watch.
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
Related FanPosts on Dynamo Theory
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
