Monday Morning Centre Back: A Flawless Debut

You have to think that before Saturday night's start, Dynamo goalkeeper Tyler Deric wouldn't of dared expect getting a clean sheet in his debut. By the time the final whistle blew, Deric had not only become the first home grown Dynamo player to start an MLS match, he became the first home grown goalkeeper in MLS to earn a shutout in his debut.

Not to shabby.

"Naturally I was nervous, but the players and everybody on the team did a great job of easing me in and telling me that the coaches wouldn't put me in this situation if I wasn't ready," Deric said. "I felt confident, I thought the coaches were confident in me, and they did a great job of talking to me and making me relax. Once I got my first touch on the ball, it was smooth sailing from there."

Deric was quick to compliment the rest of the team and the defenders in front of him.

"I thought the team did excellent today, especially the back four," Deric said "I think Mike, Eddie, Bobby and Andrew played extremely well, and the result was excellent."

Smart kid. Always praise your defenders.

It was a complete defensive effort by the Dynamo and getting the victory along with their first shutout since July left the the team and the game's goalscorer Andrew Hainault feeling good.

"It was Tyler Deric's first game tonight, so to get a shutout and to get a win was great. It was nice to get a shutout because it's been a while."

Dominic Oduro continued his late season renessaince causing issues for the San Jose defense with his speed while the midfield controlled the flow of play for much of the match. More importantly, the Dynamo put two solid halves of soccer together, not sucumbing to the mistakes that have plagued them much of the year.

There is no question the team has been playing better the past few weeks and while it was too little, too late to make the playoffs, it should leave fans feeling better about next season.

The Dynamo close the 2010 season next Saturday at home against the playoff bound Seattle Sounders. Seattle will be without MVP candidate Fredy Montero who will miss the match due to yellow card accumulation.

Oh how time flies.

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There has been some discussion on the collision between Earthquakes goalkeeper Jon Busch and Cam Weaver that left Busch bleeding from the head. At full speed, the tackle looked bad but after looking at some replays, it was clearly one of the soccer accidents that happens when two players are going for the ball and arrive at the same time.

Jon Busch was asked about the incident after the match and didn't appear to be angry with Weaver over the play. In fact, he had one of the best quotes of the MLS season (it's marked in bold below).

"Its just part of sports, physicality is part of the game, and we all know that. Cam (Weaver) caught me and he came over after and apologized, he isn't a vicious player, and I know that. It's part of the game, I'm trying to pick off a cross and he's trying to get on the end of it. It's my job to get into those spots, and I paid for it tonight. I'm already married and already ugly, so it doesn't really matter what happens to my head."

San Jose head coach Frank Yallop praised his keeper's performance.

"He's a good pro, he took a pretty good gash on his ear, pretty much split his earlobe, and still played very well tonight. He made some really big saves for us tonight, and being able to come back from that type of injury and make big plays says a lot about his character."

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The 2010 MLS Cup Playoff field is set and here are the eight teams who qualified:

LA Galaxy, Real Salt Lake, New York Red Bulls, Columbus Crew, FC Dallas, Seattle Sounders FC, San Jose Earthquakes, Colorado Rapids.

The actual match-ups and the 2010 Supporter's Shield winner are still up in the air awaiting the results of the final week of regular season play.