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MMCB: What I Started Writing on Saturday

MONTREAL, CANADA - JUNE 23:  Head coach Dominic Kinnear of the Houston Dynamo calls up players during the MLS match against the Montreal Impact at Saputo Stadium on June 23 2012 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. (Photo by Francois Laplante/Getty Images)
MONTREAL, CANADA - JUNE 23: Head coach Dominic Kinnear of the Houston Dynamo calls up players during the MLS match against the Montreal Impact at Saputo Stadium on June 23 2012 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. (Photo by Francois Laplante/Getty Images)
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Before I decided to go with a more emotional match reaction post, I actually started writing some thoughts about the Dynamo's 4-2 loss to the Montreal Impact. Maybe loss isn't the right word, how about, debacle. Maybe the word doesn't matter.

Anyway, it sucked and it stings because it was so damn ugly. Losing is one thing, getting run out of the building is another. Having a bad defensive game is one thing too, having two straight abysmal defensive games is another too. I suppose the fact that we're scoring some goals helps a little.

Is this is a fixable issue, just a bad stretch, or something deeper. Some might even suggest that the gambit of going in to a season with no match ready fullbacks is starting to go haywire. Whatever the reason, there's no reason to panic, but there's plenty of reasons to be concerned. The Dynamo recovered from a bad stretch like this last season, expecting it to happen again is borderline wishful thinking.

Fortunately, the transfer window looms and the Dynamo already have a long needed true right side midfielder on the way. That probably won't be the only change, especially if Cameron ends up heading to Europe.

Here's my thoughts from the match as written during the match on Saturday.

Interesting first half, both in positive and negative sense. The Dynamo have up two goals but thanks to a clinical Brad Davis free kick and a great through ball by Brian Ching, finished by Will Bruin, they entered the halftime break tied at 2. The defense continued to make me shake my head and while I'm trying not to over react, it's hard to not continue to be concerned by the mistakes that seem to regularly lead to goals.

I guess one thing you can say about the half is that at this point last season, we'd probably be 2-0 down at halftime as opposed to fighting back to equalize twice. Take out the goals and it's a second straight atrocious first half for the Dynamo.

As for the second half, things didn't start any better. Montreal piled on the pressure and piled up corner kick opportunities before finally taking back the lead in the 62nd minute. I'll spare you the gory details but you can stop me if you've heard this before. Dynamo fail to mark a man in the box on a set piece, ball ends up on the foot of that player and they score. Sound familiar? Yeah, I figured it would.

Montreal added another goal in the 66th minute after an incredibly soft penalty call against Geoff Cameron allowed Patrick Nyassi to extend the Impact's lead to 4-2.

But wait, there's more.

Adam Moffat was sent off shortly after for an tackle that probably should have been a yellow, but Moffat gave an inexperienced referee a chance to make a decision and he chose the red card.

For whatever reason, the defense and the midfield are just not communicating. Unlike 2010 where things started bad and improved over the summer, the Dynamo are regressing horribly as June wears on. Kinnear has said sever times over the past few weeks that his team just needs to play better and that the truth of it. Lack of concentration, lack of communication, whatever the problem this team just looks a mess defensively.

Long way left to go this season but right now, this team sucks.

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So there you have it. Two days later I'm not feeling significantly better honestly. Cameron looked really bad, along with everyone else on the back line. Just how much Jermaine Taylor's presence would have changed the situation is debatable as well. He's clearly been on the best defenders this season, but it may not have mattered. Right now we're left to wonder what is going on.

Dominic Kinnear took the blame for the loss, saying it was his fault for not managing the roster properly after the tough mid-week draw against Toronto FC. I have no reason to doubt Kinnear and this is probably the case. The test will come this weekend when Union come to town for a key conference match. If the Dynamo rebound and look more like their old self, we can right this off to a busy week. If not, well, let's just wait and see first.