Houston Dynamo v. Columbus Crew, Saturday, March 11

Weather should die down and next weekend should be ideal.
Go for the 3 at home boys and replicate that first half into both halves.
DALE DYNAMO!!!

 

any one have a good feel on this Cbus team?

 

This is a must win game. No, really:

- This Dynamo team has been down in the dirt for so long that consecutive home wins will go a long way to building confidence.

- Cubo is like every other striker in the world. 1 goal may open the floodgates; a 1-month drought may bury him further. Needs to have another solid game. I'll take an assist, drawn PK, but another goal would be wonderful.

- another exciting game can bring back the crowds. going back to old habits may have this team drawing 8,000 come the summer months.

 

Dynamo have first 7 of 10 at home and Seattle/RBNY are the two toughest games so this is the time to accumulate some points.

 

we have to get wins against weaker eastern conf foes because the west will be a dogfight from hell

 

Cbus always plays us tough since forever

 

I expect cheap fouls drawn from us like usual, especially with Cabezas back. I like the aggression but all preseason they threw him bait and he bit in the most crappy of spots most of the time. I still think we win it just wont be pretty. I would be in favor of doing the opposite of what we did last week and start Boniek Wenger and Sanchez in the first half and then sub in the speed in the second when the weather has gotten the best of Columbus.

 

Ola Kamara is their striker. He's really good.

Finley, Meram, and Higuain behind them. Finley is a budding USMNT type. Higuain is a solid #10 when he's on. Trapp is a very good d-mid. Right back Afful is pretty strong also.

Mensah is their best CB (from Ghana). Other CB is green. Like Mensah, LB is new to MLS as well so no read right now. Mensah has international experience but never was a star at the club level in Europe.

Young inexperienced GK.

 

When the game threatens to open up you need stoppers who will do what needs to be done or win balls. Part of the out of control nature of the second Seattle half was the lack of stuck-in and ball-winning for the first 30 of that half, as the old man midfield tired out. They couldn't win balls, they were jogging, Seattle was getting in behind them and then knocking it to their left wing. I've brought up coaching because I felt like the coach didn't sub right/timely, but Cabezas would have fixed a lot of that, he's younger and fitter, and rather than let games open up we need someone who ends counters.

The question on Cabezas will be if he can stay on the field cardwise. But even the Sainted Rico Clark wasn't perfect on that score. I recall him once kicking a Guatemalan Fighting Fish on the field and getting to watch 9 games for it. I respect that Alexander hit his passes but for 90 minutes as opposed to spurts we need someone who can ball win in the midfield. And Alexander and the rest of the mids seemed to crap out at about 55 or 60' and the game flipped on a dime. I know a certain reporter advocated a lineup competition but I wasn't sure if he watched both halves before writing his piece.

 

To be expected, nobody is match fit yet, and the CMs put in some work. I'd worry if they aren't fit by week 3 or 4.

 

Yes, we expect players to not be 100% fit yet, however, the coach should then be on the stick about that. Also, if your system is unusually energetic and exhausting, same story. And there is also the notion that the coach pulls the right people when he subs and replaces them with the right ones. He doesn't pull Elis til 74' -- who was killing us -- and he doesn't sub Wenger for him. Wenger may have some limits but he's energetic, gets stuck in, and was one of the more productive players off the last team. He goes in as a central mid. It wasn't just a tired team. It was odd subbing.

To be blunt, Coyle had some leads last season playing free wheeling soccer, and blew them. Part of the test is the ability to manage a lead to a conclusion as the game changes or your team tires.

My gold standard of coaching is that year SAF won EPL with a garbage ManU defense winning a bunch of games 3-2, 2-1, 4-3. You can be out there with some excuse or you can pull the right strings to get results every week in spite of your team's issues. The team collapsed as of his retirement because it was a magic trick and the more workmanlike Moyes lacked the same bag of tricks.

Look, we won the game, and this roster is going to accomplish that more often this year on its own. But in a tight game the manager has to do his job to get results, and Cabrera didn't run that tight a ship Saturday. We won in spite of him, not because of him. That's gotta change.

Brad Davis used to be a 60-70' player. That reflected fitness reality. Either adapt to reality or try fighting it. In this case I think our style is going to run some people ragged even when fit, and we're going to need to be able to make earlier subs to bridge to the whistle with the same result. If we try some standard issue sub pattern you're going to see this ebb period.

 

This is not must-win in any serious sense of the term, but stringing positive results would be a positive sign a corner has been turned and the team is again competitive. The most stunning thing of the past few years to me was the reduced expectations, of going into some games genuinely thinking we were overmatched and didn't have much chance. That was never true before, even of the bad 2010 team.

 

This game is "Honor Corey Ashe Day". Probably next game will be "Honor Luiz Camargo Day". It's amazing what happens when one of your former players blasts you during the off-season for having no connection to past players.

 

I'm buying a suite for "Honor Abe Thompson Day" and "Honor Ake Akinbiyi Day"

 

Hunter Freeman forever!

 

Freeman - Last Dynamo to score with his hand after Tony Caig!!

 

One of my fav moments was in the Brian Ching testimonial when hunter freeman raised his hands like basketball defense on a throw in

 

Have to fast forward a couple minutes for them to talk about Houston

 

Rey. Rey. Rey. Its freakin March. Its MLS. Please see Seattle Sounders form in March-June of 2016. Please see the Star on their jersey for 2016.

 

I'd honor Luiz Camargo. At the end he struggled after an unfortuneate auto accident and fitness issues, confidence issues. Before that he was a fantastic player that contributed heavily to two greats season and runs to the MLS Cup. I remember two assists like they happened yesterday because they were of such incredibly high quality -- passes featuring nuanced technique: spinning the ball around and in front of that Honduran striker we had onto his preferred left foot away from the defender for the crucial WCF securing 2nd goal against SKC when they were down our throat. Waiting a tempo then clipping a short back spun pass into Sarkodie against NYRB so the ball would sit up for a volley finish. With those high quality nuanced plays he brought great tackling and passing and solid play. He lost that form -- but I honor what he brought at his best.

 

Please see the Sounders willingness to acquire and pay for talent at mid-season to make a second half run. The Dynamo aren't spending at midseason anywhere near that level, have to get wins now

 

OK. So Wilmer Cabrera says we are not a possession team.

Let me go on record as saying I don't understand how this is going to work in MLS -- but it is not important that I understand. WC seems to understand. The greatest glory in football management goes not to those who tread the well worn path of previous success -- but blaze a new path. Those who have their own singular vision of how they are going to succeed and do so.

You go Wilmer Cabrera. I'm going to love watching you and root for your success.

I love his reasoning too. We don't have the players for possession based team so this is the way to success with this team -- these players.

Just to note: Mr. Jordan has been saying for a while now that the team would be about "possession with a purpose." Now the coach is pointing out the players can't handle that. More evidence that Jordan is a clueless fraud.