It’s clear as a bell what Chicago and many teams on the road in MLS do. Play conservative, stay organized with tight lines, don’t concede space and put the onus on the home team to break you down. Challenge them to break you down and beat a deep defending squad. A point it fine and you put the hope in that Chris Rolfe on the counter and produce a single moment of brilliance to earn you three points. Earn one it is a good point against the defending champions earn three and it is a bonus. Chicago issued the road tactics challenge and the Dynamo could not solve it.
Now to be fair if Brian Ching’s header goes it then it is tactical advantage Dynamo , if Brad Davis and his blast goes in it’s tactical advantage Dynamo because it would force Chicago to open up and attack. Scoring the first goal against a team employing these tactics is vital. It is also another reason that MLS has to continue to find players with that individual ability to beat compact defenses. Tactical sophistication maybe but deep defending teams are going to be attractive yet the reality is the Dynamo will like many teams will face this challenge repeatedly. To compound matters they are not producing the best of soccer right now.
The emails are rolling in to me and what I can say is that remember it is a long season, don’t forget what this team did last year and the key is finding your game at the right time. The Dynamo did it last year, LA did it the year before after a poor regular season. Landon Donovan proved you could take much of the year off and produce at the right time. It made a mockery of the league’s playoff system format.
Ok back to the Dynamo and Chicago. Brian Mullan is a needed man right now on the right side and the start seemed promising in that Dwayne DeRosario was involved in the first half and is seemingly finding his desirous attacking capability. The most concerning point to me is that the Dynamo in the first half relied on creating their best chances off set pieces. More is needed from the run of play.
After the Chicago goal attacking substitutions and pushing Wade Barrett into midfield added to the pressure.
No kidding the Dynamo were going to have more of the ball and the territorial advantage in this one with the tactics Chicago employed. Breaking down compact, deep lying defenses is not easy but you must get penetration out wide, circulate the ball quickly, shoot from long range and get strikers holding the ball around the penalty area.
Ball movement is slow and it has been starting from the backs who are not finding midfield players quick enough.
The Dynamo got some breaks in New York but didn’t get them against Chicago including what could have been a penalty on Jim Curtain for a hand-ball in the area.
I look at the criticism coming from fans in a number of ways…..you care! And that is a positive sign. I temper your desire for the Dynamo to play better with the mere fact it is a long season and all teams will have ups and downs. Who would have thought DC would not be getting the desired results. Lets hope the Dynamo fans that are soccer fans don’t become fair weather like other professional franchises in our city, we have waited a long time for soccer to arrive professionally and you were rewarded with a championship from this team. It was a remarkable year and it has set the bar high. True fans are there in both the good and the hard times. Which leads me to a moment in the game when I was doing commentary on Channel 55? Where did El Batallon and the Texian Army go?
Let me know your thoughts on the Chicago game and the answer to my question.
A reminder the Dynamo Power Hour will air Tuesday night at 7pm.
Glenn
April 30, 2007
Chicago road tactics prevail over Dynamo
12 Comments »
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Glenn,
You\’re right on the money. In this league the athletes are too good, too smart, too fast, and too physical to be beat playing simple soccer (except Toronto, of course). It takes playmkers to break down these defenses. Dribblers, backheelers, dummy runners, free-kick takers are crucial when the defense becomes so good. De-Ro\’s gotta start beating guys on the dribble and force the defense to lose its shape. Outside mids need to dig deeper and continue to make those extra runs on the outside. Speed up top is another way to hurt these compact defenses–perhaps Houston might want to bring in a burner this summer to partner with Ching and help break spread out these good defenses. For me, Houston is just not fast enough right now, and that is making the defense\’s job that much easier…
Comment by Nick — April 30, 2007 @ 4:44 pm
Glenn–
The question you are asking regarding TA and El Batallon might end up as the hot topic of discussion tomorrow. For what it\’s worth, those groups are the main reason I go to the games. Many others throughout the stadium have told me the same thing.
I had a conversation with Oliver Luck today, and while I was mad he was exasperated. Simply put, the rent a cops have never seen fans actually cheer, so they didn\’t know how to react. From what I have been able to gather the cloth part of a flag hit a lady in the face. She wasn\’t too upset about it, but HPD
decided to make a big deal out of it. They targetted El Batallon because of their race. Part of this targetting included threats of arrests. Instead of risking arrest, El Batallon chose to leave peacefully. In a show of support Texian Army went with them. In a further show of support I left my seat in section 218 and joined them outside.
The phone lines should be hopping tomorrow.
Comment by Doug — April 30, 2007 @ 8:30 pm
Beyond the Chicago/Dynamo game, I saw Pachuca took care of Chivas in the CCC. It only makes you wonder…what if?
Comment by Simon — April 30, 2007 @ 11:18 pm
In sports as in life there are no “what ifs”, there is only the cold facts.
Fact: Pachuca is the winner of the CONCACAF champions cup and will attend the champions world cup.
Fact: Dynamo lost against Pachuca on the semifinals.
Fact: We have scored only one goal in 4 games.
Fact: We are the current champions but we are doing poorly this year.
My grandfather has a saying, “What if?, if my mother had wheels she would be a car, but sheīs not.
Comment by jarrambide — April 30, 2007 @ 11:59 pm
Glenn:
Doug has the gist of it down. There are some details, but that\’s more or less what happened. The only big difference I\’d like to stress is that it wasn\’t HPD, but the other cops who are new to this: HISD PD, Alvin ISD PD, BPD, and maybe one or two others. I wouldn\’t be surprised if you get a call or two from one of the hanchos from the TA/EB to discuss this.
It\’s not something we did lightly, and certainly not something we wanted to do. But given the alternative and the already tense atmosphere, no one wanted to see anyone handcuffed and carted away…that might have gone…..badly, shall we say?
Anywho, I\’m sure someone will fill you in on the details soon, if not already. All else fails, I\’ll be glad to try to call in, or send you an e-mail with all the details. Keep up the good work. We appreciate everything you\’ve done for the city, the team, fans, and soccer in general.
Comment by el naranja — May 1, 2007 @ 12:50 am
Glen, It all started on Sunday when I was attempting to enter the gates when I was asked to surrender my streamers. I protested and told the head security man that according to their own rules for the supporters, they were allowed. I demanded that he contact someone to verify this. He called a rent a cop over to me and was somewhat abusive and condescending. I was nearly arrested but was finally able to enter the grounds with my streamers after the guard confirmed streamers were allowed.
The guards andrent a cops were really harrassing the EB section by asking them to put their shirts on and move the flags back. One woman\’s child was accidently hit with a waving flag but lodged no complaint. The officers nearby overreacted and confiscated the big flag and that\’s where it all escalated. Someone in EB through a couple of bottles and the trouble ensued. Some racist dim witted cop that cannot distinguish the difference between a supporter and Hooligans, made a racist comment and threatened to take some to jail. Rather than this happenning, EB decided to vacate the section214. The Texian Army, decided instinctively to stand with our brothers in Orange,the EB, and we left with them, voluntarily. This kind of atrocious bigottry will not be tolerated by us in the northend. We would rather leave peacefully than be subjected to that harrassment. It hurt us very much to have to leave, the guys on the pitch needed us to be strong in voice and support. I hope they understand why we had to do it.
To me, U H has egg on their faces for aloowing and not controlling who they hire for these events.
After all the e-mails and protest made about this, It is our hope that security at Robertson can respond in a more professional way. I hope that these guys in charge of security know what their own rules are before harrassing innocents again. Unntil we get our own stadium, we may have to be at the mercy of uncaring,ignorant ill-informed,testerone ridden biggotted rent-a -cops. Thanks for your ear. Dynamo Dave…
Comment by David Talbert — May 1, 2007 @ 9:05 am
Hi, off topic but I enjoyed your interview on the oleole.com podcast and I’ll listen to yours now. Thanks.
Comment by Lurcher — May 1, 2007 @ 11:41 am
It is unfortunate that Toronto is in the eastern table which means the Dynamo will only play them twice this year in reference to Nick\’s opening remark. Take comfort in the fact that the western table has a side that is even worse than Toronto and that is obviously Salt Lake. Three guaranteed wins there and very possibly four with a season sweep of the series.
This a an Orange site however did anyone watch the monday night match? Salt Lake looked totally apathetic, dysfunctional, lost and stupid all at the same time. Made Colorado look like Manchester United. In line with this post however on a different sort of level - it is too bad for the fans. Robertson has jacked rent a cops strutting around and Rice Eccles consistently gets a good turnout (had 15,000 last night on a weeknight) to support a group of starting eleven clowns.
One must wonder what dirty super secret does Ellinger have on Dave Checketts? He has now gone 15 wins 35 losses and 16 draws all time. Why is he still employed?
Comment by will — May 1, 2007 @ 12:09 pm
In sports, as in life, it is perfectly fine to wonder ‘what if” once in awhile. I’m not asking anybody to live in a fantasy land, as you have taken the comment to be. It’s healthy to look at the past and learn from your mistakes. So yes, don’t live in regret, but do see what can be corrected so the next go around, the thought of regret would even have an oppotunity to exist.
Comment by Simon — May 1, 2007 @ 2:23 pm
Simon, chill my football brother, I didnīt mean to imply that, if I did Iīm sorry, I just wanted to say that a “what if” is useless, I believe you get what you deserve, we came close, but we didnīt win, Pachuca did, and then they won the championship, they are the current “Copa Sudamericana” champions, the current “CONCACAF champions cup winners”, they won their local league 2 seasons ago (they have 2 seasons per year), and they are the current points leaders of their local league, they donīt ask “what ifs”, they win, the Dynamo will one day get there, not today, not tomorrow, but they will, until then “what if” has no use.
Comment by jarrambide — May 1, 2007 @ 11:02 pm
For a team that’s only 1 year old, giving Pachuca a great battle during Champions Cup should make us proud.
I expect to see this type of intensity in Superliga as well.
Paul is fast, but we haven’t been able to use his speed very effectively. DeRosario and Clark played a bit better, so that may be signs of better soccer to come.
Comment by David — May 2, 2007 @ 12:38 pm
Just like to thank you for doing your part to promote the beautiful sport in our city.
I believe we are playing well, but the goals are not going in. I see a problem with Dalglish and Moreno fighting for the other spot on top, and that\’s messing with their minds and affecting their game in the pitch.
I\’ve been saying that the Orange Machine has not hit second and third gear yet. I can\’t wait to see it happen, then all the Chicken Little\’s will have to eat crow.
Thanks again Glen for everything you have given us in Houston.
Comment by Bandido — May 3, 2007 @ 8:57 am