Houston Dynamo v. FC Dallas, Saturday, May 4

I’m curious. How has this team tried to be Seattle? Not disagreeing, but I don’t know what you mean. From what I can see the Houston Dynamo are trying to be Chivas Latin America — emulating the failed project in LA.

I think your point about pricing many fans out has merit.

 

Regarding the actual game: Dynamo are playing pretty well to my eyes. I very much like how the ball is moving and the team shape/movement on offense. Credit to WC for that.

Defensive organization is improving but I worry about the cracks I see in that part of the foundation. 1 shutout through 8 games is nothing to be all that proud about. GA total is low because of heavy home schedule (home teams have historically scored 2/3rds of all goals) perhaps masking defensive problems.

Team was lucky FCD fouled on the free kick — though Figouroa may have handled that cross but I’ve not been able to find enough replays to really tell. Typical crappy Univision production.

I still worry about depth - but Jordan seems content with what they have. Summer schedule after Gold Cup is brutal.

 

i meant 2010 - 2015ish.

Canetti was enamored with the Seattle experience (before ATL came to MLS they were the benchmark in attendance) and tried to replicate it here. right down to the opening pomp before each game. it's ripped off straight out of the Seattle playbook.

 

you read my mind. i was thinking this had to be one of the fastest starts. for years, we were so used to slow starts and then that Dom Kinnear Sept/Oct surge.

i prefer this method because it gives more room for error (and injuries/callups).

 

is it me or does Alberth Elis looks bored?

i am not saying he's dogging it (he's not). it just looks like he knows that this league isn't challenging enough for him. we need to sell him this summer before he does start dogging it for real.

is it me or does Rommell Quioto look like he's too good for this league?

he's not too good, he just has a higher opinion of his skills than the reality. we need to ship his ass to Honduras or worse, the Columbus Crew, before he starts causing locker room issues. he reminded me off Kai Kamara pouting at the end of the bench when Dom would sub him out.

 

Agree on Alberth his body language is terrible we doesn't get the service he needs but he is beast the second goal was all on him. Quitio look focused when he came in as far as I could tell.

 

I thought Elis looked disinterested in the early part of the season, but not recently. The Dynamo are about to sign a new international - acquired an international slot from Portland today and Jordan has been on the road. One would assume that it is a replacement for Elis with the expectation that he goes in the secondary transfer window.

 

This is what I've been saying all season. the first 2 games it seemed like he was mad he didn't get his European Vacation to a new team. Now he is wide awake and trying to make sure he gets it in the summer.

Quioto has been a poutie bitch since last year. He can really turn the skill and ability on, but only when he wants to. he could be a serious threat if he just focused on the objective.

 

"Excuses" is the perspectival product of the fanboy definition of "supporters," which is that them doing their job follows us doing ours. IMO a distortion of what European soccer fandom means, which it claims to mimic, but really misrepresents. Yes, many fans there are diehards. But if it's a cup game or the team is sucking, they show up as empty seats and even protest. They are like us, or Texans fans. A small crazed percentage are diehards like the MLS "supporters" sell who would back the team when it went off a cliff. And some teams like ManU have so many people waiting in line for tickets that a few bad years or relegation would merely stir the pot of which names were buying sellout tickets. But most teams are elastic in fan support and if the team moved to Milton Keynes maybe 5 people would stay with them. Fandom can be inherited but I really don't see that as much different than what we're rooting for. We're not going to go be Dallas fans. We just deserve better and act/express like it. It's a pro game where tickets are for sale and they earn my custom. So, the other way around, they do a job and that causes me to want to do mine. Though I watch them every night on TV even in the bad years. But that sunk cost is the limit of unearned custom.

Until we started missing the playoffs it was a popular viewpoint on the team, that they inherently had their sh*t together and your job was to show up and support it. I think that ignored that we came in loaded and coddled them in the period beginning 2008 when we began to need a more active and efficient front office and GM and coach. We have never figured out how to get back where we were, and are still grappling with how to try and be even playoff regulars like the second phase.

Now that they are obviously more ordinary, those people have generally disappeared off here -- perhaps because some unstated standards other than mere support aren't being regularly met (they pretended to be reflex supporters but are really more strict than us), perhaps because this is their second team and they have defaulted back (say, Everton), and perhaps because reality doesn't set them up well to defend themselves.

 

I thought Quioto, like Cabezas, was hurt. I am not sure he truly belongs behind Memo but I think a head wind both players are running into is the perception of messing with a winning team. At minimum, there is no hurry while we win, and you could even make an argument that depending if he makes his GC roster we don't have a big incentive to re-integrate him now as a starter. At least until after the tournament. Prior to then it's like an easy bet Memo and Manotas will be here this summer so it's the offense that needs to work. If/when they come back I anticipate 2-3 summer moves and they will need to regel this team with whatever cushion we amass.

I do think the secret this season is the defense and specifically the mix of 442, competent CBs, and different shape that holds the wings. Cabezas would only help that if healthy. Quioto, will he defend? Is he going to turn in a transfer request with Elis?

Elis looked disinterested in preseason, heavy legged to start the season, and is now rounding into shape. I can understand both sides of that debate, what he owes us, what he might want to do to protect his career. However I agree that short term with a potential transfer out there, your best interest and ours align. You want to appear fit and be knocking goals in to make the deal happen. Going into a snit serves no one. Your job right now is to look like the $8 million or whatever "auction reserve" that moves you. On that I agree.

 

I think it's slightly more subtle than that. I think we are tapping into the cheap value countries on the continent. We won't get the USMNT. So we're kicking the tires on Honduras and other cheap regional sources. It's not a strict racial thing like Chivas. They will sign the Swede, the Eastern European. And I think we are a little more interested in the quality of the players signing the bottom line, than just in "hispanic." I think what makes it look similar is when Jordan trips over his own shoelaces.

 

The reality is if Elis gets sold the core of the team -- or the engine to mix metaphors -- is getting rebooted. Enjoy it while it lasts, and hopefully it does help stay above the line. But we just got another international slot, and maybe sell 2-3 people, and it will matter what the next people look like. If they go from young and fast to slow and old this would pivot on a dime. If they bring in Elis II and another solid mid or wingback then we're golden.

 

Did VAR miss the part where he got ball? I realize from a certain 2 red Dortmund game this season that all things studs up can pivot on getting ball, but we did, and I don't think you had to look real hard to see that.

 

First goal was the wingbacks and the "second" was just a complete breakdown in dead ball marking where we got bailed out because they pulled down the back.

 

Let's be real, Saturday you had a melt your brains time slot up against Watt's softball game and the Rockets, both of whom were air conditioned live and the latter of which was on TV. I do think 16.5 for Dallas is slippage -- I'd be curious what it usually is -- but for this season it's not bad.

I think BBVA was originally located well for the corporate fan but is actually a slight hassle and distant from your normal suburban attendee. The Rob had a big lot and air flow and was more located where a portion of us are.

 

Quioto has always been pouty. Still think he's a good MLS player most days and I like having him either as a sub or starter. Him and Memo are nice pieces to have because they're different players that have both been effective out on the wing which gives you some tactical options based on who you are playing.

I'm curious as to where or if they see Pena fitting into the line-up. He's been out injured for a while, but not sure where.

Wingback play continues to be an issue. Lundkvist looks like he is moving in the right direction from an eyeball test, but guy still manages to get eviscerated every once in a while.

They need to start grooming a DeLaGarza replacement because I don't think there's one on the roster. Duvall isn't even making the bench anymore and no one wants to see Kevin Garcia at fullback.

Doyle floated signing Samuels and I'm not sure that's the worst idea.

 

Those season ticket holders and other fans that the organization has lost over the past few years are not coming back. They've found other things to do with their money.

The organization needs to try and attract people who actually like the sport, not kids, not families, and forget about targeting supporters of those teams in Concacaf - they're snobs.

My son and daughter in law play in an adult co-ed league, the Dynamo should be trying to attract those kind of folks to buy season tickets. They have the disposable income and love the sport. There are lots of 20 and 30 somethings who play in those leagues.

 

Having been to Seattle four times (with you twice) I don’t really see that. BTW — I’d take the Seattle experience over what is going on now. Problem is our pregame seems minor league to me. Seattle’s I viewed as a little more major league.

 

You guys read way too much into “body language” and other things that you attribute to attitude. One thing I know is that none of us know what is going on inside these players heads.

 

So, I was looking at the called back extra-time goal and it was Cabezas’ mark that scored. Cabezas just let him go.

The foul Cabezas gave away was horribly stupid — amateurish even. Then he just takes the set-piece off. I’m seriously worried about him. Except for a lucky referee decision for us Cabezas has cost us 3 points in last few games playing on a few minutes.

 

That's the best part of the Canetti years. Enamoured with something no one should care about and in an attempt to implement - fails horribly.

 

One thing that may help Quioto is if Elis leaves - then Cabrera can move him to the right side where he is naturally more comfortable with his right foot. This way Memo can stay out on the left.

Haven't seen Hairston in a while, I would have rather a Hairston sub in for a Manotas than a Cabezas sub. Cabezas has not been good - he isn't combining well with anyone else in midfield. His pairing with anyone is not nearly as good as Boniek and Vera together.

Pena needs to be in RGV playing because he needs to improve. Waste of international slot if you ask me. You could have kept Steeves as a #9 for a lot cheaper and gambled on his improving health. He looks recovered now and scored a nice goal for Hartford USL last weekend BTW.

 

What I would give to see the Canetti inter-office memo talking about the great "March to the Match" program he was going to implement after a Downtown stadium was built!

In fairness to Canetti, Oliver Luck wanted a downtown stadium as well. I don't think anyone in MLS was going to challenge that business plan. It just turned out not to be necessarily the best plan for the Houston market and fanbase. Great location, but limited other upside Downtown compared to other cities.

 

Cabezas isn’t gelling because he doesn’t have the minutes. Not a surprise that Vera/Boniek looks good in comparison since they’ve had a long stretch of games together.

Pena, I don’t know. I haven’t seen enough of him to tell much. I’d expect he will probably pop up in USL once he recovers for the typical rehab stretch. I think he was always a future buy in any case under the thought that Manotas/Elis aren’t long for the team. The big question with him is whether or not he’s better than the USL competition in Carlos Small or Maalique Foster.