Photo by ISIphotos.com
The Houston Dynamo were fine. A 1-0 loss at Giants Stadium wouldn’t have been the end of the world because the Dynamo lost the opening leg of the Western Conference Semifinal Series in each of the last two years only to go on and lift the MLS Cup trophy.
“We’ve all been in this situation before and we came out of out it,” Dwayne De Rosario said. “Being 1-0 down, we were willing to take that and go back to our place. All we needed to do was score one goal and our record at home speaks for itself.”
Instead, the Dynamo are thrilled to head back to Robertson Stadium with a 1-1 draw thanks to a Kei Kamara toe-poke five minutes from full time.
“The last two years we’ve been down a goal going home,” Stuart Holden said. “For us to get a draw on a surface that historically we haven’t done so well on is a positive result for us. We’ve done well at home this season and we have to feel confident going back with a draw and hopefully we can take care of business Sunday.”
Indeed, the Dynamo have never beaten the Red Bulls at Giants Stadium and are 0-6-6 in MLS games on the artificial surface. Conversely, they are 10-1-4 at home this season so it’s understandable that the Dynamo are confident going into the second leg.
“Look at the experience in this locker room and the number of championships between us,” Holden said. “That’s the thing with this team, we never give up and never panic so even if it was down 1-0 we wouldn’t have thought it was the end of the season.”
Wade Barrett served a ball into the box from the left side that was tapped by Holden to Kamara, who put the ball through the legs of Red Bulls defender Diego Jimenez and past rookie goalkeeper Danny Cepero.
“We’ve been doing this drill at training where the coach plays us the ball from the end line, we’re standing down by the six and it’s quick touch and hit, quick touch and hit,” Kamara said. “When that ball came, that was all I was thinking about – touch and hit.”
De Rosario sat in the visitor’s locker room at Giants Stadium resting his iced right leg on a chair. Geoff Cameron replaced the Canadian international seven minutes from full time in a physical match that saw three first-half bookings and 32 combined fouls.
“That’s playoffs, it’s got to be like that,” De Rosario said. “This is what you play for, everyone wants to be at the grand finale and everyone is giving 100 percent. I don’t think anything was malicious or dirty.”
Now the Dynamo heads to Robertson Stadium where they lost just once this season, while the Red Bulls have one road win on the season.
“You look at the draw, does it favor us?” Dynamo coach Dominick Kinnear asked. “In a way, but only on paper because you still have to play the game.”
Wow, after reading this write up I am kinda scared of the Dynamo! They are booming with confidence, and it doesn’t seem like over confidence which makes them very scary!
If the Red Bulls play with gusto and desire it won’t be that easy for Houston to win…. The BUlls can still steal the series…
Houston is actually 1-6-6 in regular season MLS play on artificial surface – they beat RSL 1-0 on 10/15/07.
Really kpugs? That was *the* most lopsided referee performance you’ve ever seen? I had assumed from your frequent posts that you actually watched a fair amount of games.
Hey FC Dallas, a little bit of jealousy showing?
Wouldn’t you like to have a team in Dallas that is actually a team instead of a collection of self absorbed indivduals like you have had ever since you moved into your beautiful yet soulless stadium.
Where is Arturo Alvarez when you need him to deliver a timely elbow to get ejected?
Show a little respect and recognize that the Dynamo have won two championships and have managed to keep their feet on the ground and not let their egos run wild. Yes they don’t give up, don’t panic and win with class. They are champions and I hope they win a third as a testement to what championship teams should represent.
Apparently the game was called so lopsidedly that houston had more fouls than nyrb.
I’m surprised none of them thanked the referee. Without even saying if he was good or bad, it was the most lopsidedly (if that’s a word) called game I’ve ever witnessed. But hey, it’s MLS.
ooops wrong blog
Ronaldinho great shot and great save
Houston is going to crush NY next Sunday. The only chance Red Bull had was to win on the turf. Houston is actually going to fans at the game and once they score their first goal it will be 2-3-4.
I think the ref sucked but that doesn’t mean his calls gave the game away.
As for Jimenez, I don’t necessarily blame him. He was marking two guys in the box by himself, and held them off for a second or two, but two against one in the box is never going to go well for a defender.
If you assume MLS referees are going to suck, and recognize that you have to play very, very well and not make mistakes to overcome bad calls, it’s a lot easier to watch the game.
I don’t think Stott did a good job yesterday, but NY lost because they’re not a good enough defensive team to bunker. Let’s not be DC fans, who watch their team play poorly then try to blame the referees. It’s embarrassing to read Kevin Payne whine about decisions he didn’t like. Let’s be classier than that. We can beat Houston if we score goals and be aggressive. If we let them possess the ball uncontested and attack, eventually one of our defenders will make a mistake that will lead to a goal.
I’m going to the game to support the team. I’ll feel good regardless of the result if the team goes out to win. If they play like they’re trying to prevent Houston from scoring first and foremost, we’ll lose, and those tactics would reflect poorly on the coach.
NY, please knock these guys out. So tired of reading about how Houston “never gives up, wants it more, backs against the wall, heart of a champion….etc etc”. Make a statement and shock the world.
Pot. Kettle. Black: “The ref had an orange jersey on.He should go to referee traioning because he has no idea about the rules of the game.I have seen better officiating by high school referees.” — Posted by: Louis Zecca
Football, Louis, does not have “rules”: It has Laws.
Glad they could get the tie. Didn’t want them going in too confident that they could come back. Better to have as many goals as possible.
Well………. that 1-1 is like Houston 2 and RB 1………..for Sunday 9 at 3pm.
Lucky Angel is there or…..RB are KAPUT!!!!
Hope the JC don’t change the team again,or bye.. bye.No chance to win.
The ref had an orange jersey on.He should go to referee traioning because he has no idea about the rules of the game.I have seen better officiating by high school referees.