this girls singing the national anthem tonight. (and w/ her band is also playing a free instore at Cactus music (with free st arnolds!) at 3pm. houston uber alles.
I remember looking briefly and did not notice much of a difference; but I did not compare every section.
Tonight's @DirectEnergy starting XI: Hall; Sarkodie, Taylor, Boswell, Ashe; Garcia, Moffat, Clark, Davis (C); Barnes, Bruin Wow...Barnes starting in place of Weaver...very interesting.
Rico's goal was great. Creavale did well with sticking on the ball to get it to Rico. Barnes was a hustler tonight. Davis didn't look good.
Really glad Dom went with Barnes over Weaver. I'm sorry but Weaver just does not have the talent to be in our XI. Wise choice and I think it paid off when all was said and done. Barnes was a beast tonight despite fluffing his chance. Pretty nice turn-out, though not a sellout, but the atmosphere was great.
No matter how many pictures y'all post today. Nothing will beat this picture: Orange nWo shirts! Hell yeah! nWo 4 Life!!!
Barnes was picked over Weaver because Weaver picked up a slight injury this week that wasn't really much talked about....not everything is made public to Big Soccer posters and the opposing team. But Barnes played very well, it would be hard to keep him out of the lineup I think. The first half we looked a little rough, like not quite ready for prime time. The second half I thought we played a whole lot better. We had a lot of good quick touch passes, a lot of back heel things that looked like we were in tune with one another. The big question on my mind is are we ready for Santos? My answer is, we always step it up for the big games... edit: I qualify the above comments about the play in the first and second halves with this quote from the Dynamo site: "The second half lacked the energy of the first, with both teams struggling to put passes together and find that killer ball in the final third." Maybe I saw it wrong or am remembering it wrong. I thought our touch looked bad in the first half, certainly not for everyone and not all the time, but it really seemed to improve by the second.
This seems right to me too. I was thinking that the effort was there in the first half. Rico and Barnes especially were working hard. But the team seemed out of sync a little bit. That improved in the second half I thought. Two things that may have made a difference. On TV Dom said they asked Rico to hold himself back a little bit because he was running all over the place in the first half. He needed to measure his runs a little bit more to be effective, not just hyperactive. Second, I think Toledo allowed a LOT of grabbing and pushing in the beginning, and then started throwing the yellow cards around. The game was still physical in the second half. But it was less chaotic.
A dominant performance by the Houston Dynamo. The squad will improve as well as it gets fit, improves form, and tweaks the roster. It just needs to watch the lazy passing in its own half.
As always, great photos Nigel. And I think we all have to give props to the Dynamo girls last night. They must have been freezing their cute little behinds off out there!
Since I'm the only one awake, I'll continue the conversation. 3 more points... My friend sitting with me was telling me that DC was just beating up on the Dynamo, especially on Clark. I told him how other boards on BS always call the Dynamo thugs but it really seems like we are the least thuggish team. Then I saw this on the DC board (though it was the only one like it): "Boswell, Moffat, and Clark are the three biggest thugs in MLS." Oh, really? Second point... Most agree the PK wasn't legit but a red was deserved. But what I liked from the play was when we were fouled there we kept playing and took a shot while the ref was calling the foul. Other teams would stop and start demanding a PK and arguing. I like that. And finally.... I thought it was ironic that in last year's opener a big part of the crowd was hiding out in the concourse trying to stay cool. This year's opener the concourse stayed packed again, but they were trying to stay warm. And a bonus point....The crowd wasn't a sellout, which is somewhat dissappointing, but really I'll take a smaller enthusiastic crowd like last night over a sold out one where a third of the people aren't fans but spectators like last year.
This has been bothering me too. The team has changed, and plays a different style, but people who obviously don't watch the games perpetuate the old labels. Houston still plays tough and physical defense, but does not foul the way KC, or DC does. The style has also changed a bit into a high possession, on the ground passing game. The one constant is that the Dynamo will punish teams who give up corners and FK's.