Dynamo 3, Galaxy 1: The Particulars
by Zach Woosley on Oct 23, 2011 9:31 PM CDT
in Match Reports
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LA Galaxy (19-5-10) vs. Houston Dynamo (12-9-13)
October 23, 2011 -- Robertson Stadium, Houston TX
Attendance: 30,018
Scoring Summary:
HOU -- Adam Moffat 2 (unassisted) 27
HOU -- Bobby Boswell 5 (Adam Moffat 2) 48
HOU -- Carlo Costly 1 (Brad Davis 16) 74
LA -- Jack McBean 1 (Chad Barrett 5, Michael Stephens 1) 88
LA Galaxy -- Donovan Ricketts, Frankie Hejduk (Ryan Thomas 77), Gregg Berhalter (Sean Franklin 46), Dasan Robinson, A.J. DeLaGarza, Hector Jimenez, Chris Birchall, Dan Keat, Michael Stephens, Jovan Kirovski (Chad Barrett 63), Jack McBean.
Substitutes Not Used: Brian Perk, Juninho, Miguel Lopez, Miguel Lopez.
Houston Dynamo -- Tally Hall, Andre Hainault, Bobby Boswell, Geoff Cameron, Corey Ashe, Danny Cruz (Colin Clark 81), Adam Moffat, Luiz Camargo, Brad Davis, Brian Ching (Carlo Costly 63), Calen Carr (Will Bruin 76).
Substitutes Not Used: Tyler Deric, Hunter Freeman, Jermaine Taylor, Je-Vaughn Watson.
Game Notes:
The Houston Dynamo climbed to second place in the Eastern Conference and closed the regular season on a six-game unbeaten streak with a 3-1 win over the Supporters Shield-winning LA Galaxy on Sunday night at Robertson Stadium before a near-capacity crowd of 30,018, sixth in Dynamo history at Robertson Stadium.
The Dynamo will now face the Philadelphia Union in the Eastern Conference semifinals, with the first leg at PPL Park in Chester, Pa., on Sunday, October 30. The decisive second leg will be at Robertson Stadium on Thursday, November 3. Times and broadcast information will be announced later this week.
With the win, the Dynamo finished the season unbeaten in their last six games (4-0-2) and with a 7-2-4 record in their last 13 games, going from two games under .500 to three games over .500 at 12-9-13. Houston finished with a 10-3-4 record at home, the third-best mark in MLS.
Head coach Dominic Kinnear earned his 100th career MLS regular season victory, the fifth coach in league history to reach that mark. Kinnear (100-67-81) has the fourth highest winning percentage (.567) of any coach in MLS history.
Midfielder Brad Davis earned his 16th assist of the season, finishing the season with the most assists in MLS.
The win was the Dynamos first against the Galaxy since October 18, 2008, when Houston won 3-0 to clinch first place in the Western Conference. The Galaxy were 5-0-1 in the last six games of the series, outscoring Houston 10-1. The Dynamo are now 7-1 in their last eight games against Western Conference teams and finished the season 9-5-4 against the West, including wins against the leagues top four teams.
The Dynamo finished the season with 46 goals scored, the highest total in team history, surpassing the 45 goals scored in 2008 (30-game season) and the 44 goals scored in 2006 (32-game season).
Houston opened the scoring in the 27th minute, when midfielder Adam Moffat stole a pass in midfield and rifled a 38-yard bullet that whistled just inside the right-hand post and into the top right corner for a sure-fire Goal of the Year candidate. It was Moffats second goal of the season; his first came from similar distance against Portland on August 14.
The Dynamo doubled their lead after halftime when Brad Davis served a free kick into the penalty area and Adam Moffat redirected it to defender Bobby Boswell, who fired a right-footed shot into the right side of the net. It was Boswells fifth goal of the year, a career high, and puts him in a four-way tie for the Dynamo lead in scoring.
Houston sealed the game in the 74th minute when Brad Davis spotted forward Carlo Costly at the back post and served an accurate cross that Costly headed past Donovan Ricketts for his first goal with the Dynamo. Costly was the 17th different Houston player to score in MLS play this year out of 25 field players to see game action. The assist was the 80th career regular season assist for Davis.
The Galaxy pulled a goal back in the 88th minute when 16-year-old Jack McBean converted a pass from Chad Barrett after a Michael Stephens through ball. McBean became the youngest player to play, start, and score for the Galaxy.
Houston goalkeeper Tally Hall played 90 minutes to complete a regular season in which he played every minute for the Dynamo, one of several players around the league to set a new record with 3,060 minutes played. Midfielder Brad Davis also started each of Houstons 34 games.
Dynamo captain Brian Ching made his 140th career start for the Dynamo in all competitions. Defender Corey Ashe made his 130th career appearance in an MLS game and made his 30th start of the year. Defender Geoff Cameron made his 85th career MLS start.
The Dynamo played without forward Cam Weaver (right hip surgery).
Next Match: Sunday, October 30, at Philadelphia Union, PPL Park, Chester, Pa. (Eastern Conference Semifinals -- Game 1)
Next Home Match: Thursday, November 3, vs. Philadelphia Union, Robertson Stadium (Eastern Conference Semifinals -- Game 2)
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Fired up, ready to go
Nov 3 is in bright Dynaranja on my calendar now. I’m hoping for a 7:30 start. And shame on MLS for not having every contingency, site and time, planned and ready for rollout the second that game was over. #alltootypical
"We don't care who finishes second." -- Celtic's Peter Lowrie
by Martek on Oct 23, 2011 10:22 PM CDT via mobile reply actions
I was at the game
and the environment was play-off worthy. The stadium was rockin’ and reminded me of the crowd of the inaugural game. Great way to end the season and can’t wait to go watch the Dynamo beat Philly! I think we can go far in these playoffs and hopefully we bring back home the cup!
Playoffs!
Hopefully we can end our winless streak against Philly. In case you are wondering, we’ve never beaten Philly ever (only 2 years though). I think it will really be a challenge with two really good home field advantages. I believe in the Dynamo though!
Aggregate, right?
Hey, if we can come away with a draw against Philly then I really like our chances here at home. I realize they seem to have our number but our recent form has been great and we’re riding a wave of momentum. Aside from giving up that goal to McBean, ever since Cameron has moved back to CB I believe we’ve only allowed 2 goals (I’ll have to double-check that), plus he allows us an attacking option out of the back. And who knows? Now that Costly has the monkey off his back of scoring a goal, perhaps we’ll see the floodgates open?
/awaiting bitter response from playtherapy and Martek :)
Naw man
I ain’t angry wid ya; I ain’t got nuthin but luv fer ya! I completely agree with ya. The Dynamo are one of the hotter teams in the past month, and if someone knocks out one of those teams we don’t match up well (hint, hint, SKC), we stack up well against the East.
Also keep in mind that are forward line has been extremely nonprolific during this hot streak. If anyone up top heats up, the sky is the limit. Hope Costly’s taste of blood has created a … a… who is this irresistible creature who has an insatiable lust for scoring?
Need a great run for Davis to be crowned MVP. Though playoff results are ‘supposed’ to be irrelevant to MVP voting, in reality they can sway voters….
by playtherapy on Oct 24, 2011 10:15 AM CDT up reply actions
Read my mind
While we’ve had very good results, we haven’t had someone who’s just been on a tear..we just seem to get goals from different places. This can be a good thing as teams have a hard team defending against amazing one-off goals (Cruz) or what appears to be a threat from 30+ yards (Moffat), and now we have a CB who can do a turn & shoot? Wow. But yes, hopefully this is where Costly turns the corner and starts putting them away? We’ll see…and yeah, if someone wants to do us a favor and knock out SKC, dinner’s on me
No way man. After this past six games, this team looks for all the world like a playoff threat. I am not saying that they are the best team in the league, but funky tournament logic does not always equal regular season logic. (See Rapids, Colorado, 2010 and Lake, Real Salt, 2009.) It’s always nice to go into the playoffs riding a hot hand, and despite a home win in front of a packed house against the Gal C team, this is also the same squad who took apart Portland in as daunting an atmosphere as there is in this league. There is no doubt that the team has a hot hand right now and is gelling at just the right time.
Fun stat: In 2006 and 2007, Dynamo finished second in their conference in the regular season. Result: MLS Cup wins.
In 2008 and 2009, Dynamo finished first in their conference: Result: No MLS Cup wins.
I love math
"We don't care who finishes second." -- Celtic's Peter Lowrie
Tickets
are on sale already, correct? I’ll have to skip a game I usually play every Thursday but it’d be so worth it…I’m fired up about the game!!!
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