Monday Morning Centre Back: Snatching a Draw from the Jaws of Victory

It was a weird night at Robertson Stadium on Saturday. On one hand you have Koke scoring his first career MLS goal and the Dynamo taking a point off what might be the Eastern Conference's best team, the New York Red Bulls. On the other hand you have the Dynamo allowing a stoppage time goal that cost them the full three points thanks to yet another momentary lapse of reason (hopefully Pink Floyd doesn't sue me for that).

Let's review exactly what happened, call it, the anatomy of a goal...

As the corner kick was taken, Rafa Marquez made a decoy run through the box and out towards the direction of the incoming kick. Bobby Boswell picked up Marquez and tracked him on the entire run, which was fine. Things fell apart when Hunter Freeman, seeing Marquez's fun pushed foward to meet him, possibly not seeing that Boswell had him marked. In doing so, Freeman created a gap at the near post that Mehdi Ballouchy moved right in to. It's not really Freeman's fault though.

If you watch the video, Je-Vaughan Watson was marking Ballouchy and instead of denying him the space, Watson was caught flat footed and behind him. Rather than being in the air with him to challenge or prevent the free header on goal, Waston could only watch as the midfielder powered home a goal. If Watson is right there with Ballouchy and he still gets the shot off and scores, you can say that's how it goes. However, it was a missed marking assignment by the new midfielder, plain and simple.

I'm not trying to pile on Watson, but the facts are the facts and even though the Dynamo remain in third place in the East, there's a certain level of frustration begin to bubble up amongst the fan base, or at least it feels that way. I really don't blame anyone for having those feelings considering this is hardly the first time this season that the Dynamo have let a win slip away.

Dominic Kinnear was fairly positive after the match and didn't spend much time on the late goal.

"There were good chances on both ends and good play from both ends." Kinnear said. "We are a little sour with losing the lead so late after working so hard to get the lead after going down an early goal. Overall though, I thought it was one of the better games we played this year, especially on the ball."

Despite Kinnear's fairly upbeat review of the match, the mood in the locker room was subdued and nobody really wanted to talk. Can't really blame the players honestly, they had three points almost in the bag and allowed the win to get away.

I think Tally Hall said it best after the match.

"It's unfortunate we came out of here with a draw, but as bad as it feels, we have to move on to Wednesday."

Wednesday is a date in Los Angeles against the Galaxy, who will be a formidable opponent even with David Beckham away participating in a testimonial match for Gary Neville. The Galaxy are coming off 1-0 victory against Chivas USA.