Dynamo Fall 1-0 to Union in a Frustrating Season Opener
by Zach Woosley on Mar 19, 2011 10:06 PM CDT
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After last season's disappointment, the Houston Dynamo wanted nothing more than to erase the bad taste in their mouths and get 2011 off to a strong start. Instead, an anemic offense and a defensive mistake on an early set piece set the tone for what was a wholly frustrating night in Houston.
The game couldn't have started any worse for the Dynamo. The Union earned a corner in the 4th minute and after the initial shot ricocheted off the woodwork, defender Danny Califf was in the right spot at the right time to score the game's opening goal.
Houston immediately settled after the goal and took control of possession for basically the entire first half. Despite the advantage however, they were unable to generate many good scoring chances. Their best opportunity came near halftime when the Union failed to clear a loose ball but Jason Garey was unable to connect and get off a shot.
The story of the first half was physical play and referee Abby Okulaja's inability to deal with it...which shouldn't surprise anyone who pays even the smallest amount of attention to MLS. Okulaja and the rest of the USSF officials assigned to MLS matches continue to embarrass the league as US Soccer continues to ignore the problem and provide second rate referees to their top division of club soccer.
Early in the 2nd minute, Will Bruin was sent crashing head first in to the board by Union defender Carlos Valdes. Jason Garey immediately came to his teammate's defense but the incident was ignored by the incompetent whistle blower.
In the 21st minute, Okulaja failed to send off Union forward Carlos Ruiz for a viscous elbow to Andrew Hainault's head. Ruiz was yellow carded and Brad Davis picked up a yellow just two minutes later for a retaliatory tackle.
Valdes was in the middle of things again late in the half and received a yellow card, what should have been his second of the night.
The second half started with more end to end play with the best chance early coming for the Union. In the 60th minute, Danny Mwanga got on the end of a pass in from the right wing and sent the ball in to the side netting. It was a dangerous chance for the young striker just over a minute after entering the match.
The Dynamo had two fantastic chances just minutes apart midway through the half. Brad Davis found Geoff Cameron on a long free kick, who headed the ball just wide of the goal, but the best chance of the came would come two minutes later. Brad Davis broke free down the left and sent a perfect cross to the feet of Dominic Oduro who predictably skied the ball over the net. It's the same horrific finishing we've come to expect from the forward and the key reason many fans lamented his re-signing by the team right before the start of the season.
Honestly, there just aren't enough clean words available in the English language to describe the frustration caused by the Oduro miss. He shouldn't see the field again all season but there's little chance of that happening.
When it comes down to it, the Dynamo's failures tonight were the result of poor passing and an inability to generate meaningful possession in the final third. Holding up the ball in the midfield all night means nothing when you are giving it away in the final third.
It's a dissapointing start for Houston who with the exception of the early goal, looked more organized defensively but were unable to break through against a Union team that was content to absorb pressure and occasionaly probe the Houston defense on the counter.
Not good enough at all and a major let down after a promising pre-season.
The Dynamo will hit the road for the first of two away games, beginning with a trip to Seattle to face the 0-2 Sounders who will also be looking to get their season on track with a victory.
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Really frustrating
Wasn’t confident at all in our attack to equalize after going down. Hopefully we can step it up in coming matches. Good crowd, though; surprised that it was only ~19,500.
A few notes of my own...
1) Cory Ashe was off, very off throughout the entire night.
2) Geoff Cameron, as I’ve stated numerous times already, should not be in the Attacking Mid role. He is horrible at trapping the ball close to his body, and leaves easy pickin’s for the defense.
3) Brad Davis’ delivery in the first half was mostly poor. He picked it up some in the 2nd half. A large portion of it was the inability of anyone else to generate enough pressure to force the Union to pull one defender away from Davis. They were practically double-teaming him anytime he got the ball.
4) I think Taylor looked pretty solid on the back line. Hainault seemed to settle into the game more in the latter stages, though with him pushing so far forward toward the end it did show he can be beat over the top with a well-played ball.
5) While I am still high on Bruin and Garey, neither showed me anything. They both looked timid and lost, I am certain this was a result of the highly physical play of the Union backline going almost completely ignored by the ref.
6) I personally didn’t think the ref missed a lot of calls. If nothing else, he was fair. He never seemed to really give Ruiz the benefit of the doubt, and even on one of the worst flops I’ve ever seen live (the one where Hainault tossed the ball to the guy and suddenly he was hurting so bad he had to take a minute to recover on the sideline for the throw-in), the ref didn’t screw up. Even still, I agree, his swallowed whistle on a lot of calls and inability to issue a red card certainly hurt the Dynamo.
7) I thought Cruz played pretty well as a sub. He looked in decent form, and I think he should get the start over Ashe next game. He won’t, but he should.
8) Hunter Freeman looked decent enough, and he was on my side for the whole first half. I’m interested to see if he can continue his performance in the next match.
9) Palmer looks pretty good out there, too. Not fantastic, and still not a Ricardo Clark by any stretch, but he can at least control the flow left to right. Though he shouldn’t be the one doing this…grr.
And finally…
10) As has been said enough times to consider it almost an internet meme…Oduro just can’t finish.
All in all, I thought the keeper, defense, and defensive midfield played well enough to generate at least a draw. The attackers played about as poorly as I’ve seen a Dynamo attack play.
I agree with your assessment
We lost key battles on the offensive third and the middle of the pitch. I think the score should have read 2-1 Dynamo, but the Union just weren’t giving up any ground. The match was extremely physical, and I agree that maybe Ruiz should have been sent off, but that can’t be the reason why we didn’t win (we’re supposed to win against 11 men on the pitch..can’t hope for that red every time). Oduro should have finished that shot…but I think people are mounting previous criticism on top of a few missed opportunities coming on as a sub which is a unfair.
What was mostly lacking was hold up play at the offensive end. Bruin did not show his preseason form, and Garey needs a stronger partner up top. Here’s hoping Ching gets healthy for Seattle!
Same old story
Attacking players do not support the ball. Ball goes back to the defenders. which Philly wanted. The defenders could not find the target players in the midfield unless they dropped back deep.Out of choices they tried to pass to the forwards. Hall had more touches than some of the midfield. Players did not get into the gaps of the philly defense and did not connect on crosses to the middle. When we went with five in the midfield we could not find the forwards, our use combination play to to get in the attacking third.
Dynamo did not come out strong, players were feeling there way out in the first twenty minutes.
Physical play is one one the problems with this team. Everybody plays us that way. Players got to step up and play. People want to play rough we have to play rough.
Philly had a good game plan. Knew what the dynamo would do and beat us. Hats off to them for getting the job done.
I concur with the physical play comment.
Time to bring out E-Rob and let him light a proverbial fire under the team’s collective asses. Davis tried to show Philly the Dynamo wouldn’t back down, but the rest of the team wasn’t physical enough in retaliation to Hainault being knocked so hard in the air.
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