With their starting midfield lining up for the first time the Dynamo earned a 0-0 draw at the Kansas City Wizards.
Brian Mullan and Brad Davis joined Ricardo Clark and Dwayne DeRosario on a cold, chilly night in Kansas City.
For me this one was real even and the draw fair.
The good:
Improved play from Tony Caig in goal.
A stronger night of defending.
A point earned.
Watching Claudio Lopez…
The bad:
Eddie Robinson throwing a forearm at Tyson Wahl which is sure to get him suspended unless that is no one watched the game on HDNET in the MLS office.
Despite being told by many that the field is larger than Arrowhead Stadium’s surface it was hard to believe that with the eye.
The field seemed tight, their was little wide play from either team and players did not have time on the ball.
Tough to really make a lot of judgements from this game tonite.
TREND: One thing is clear is that MLS teams are learning to defend the home turf, winning at home has become more prevalent and will make it more difficult this season to get wins on the road.
Who was your player of the game?
Well, winning at home is the first objective of every club around the world, winning at home is the foundation of a good season, you need to win your home games first and then you can try to win a few and a tie a few away games to get those crucial points.
Look at leagues around the world (and I know you follow a lot of leagues closely, you can tell when you talk about international soccer in your radio program), teams that have troubles winning at home usually have mediocre seasons if not fighting for relegation, teams that consistently win at home have at least good seasons, consistently being in the upper half of the ladder, teams that consistently win at home and are able to win and tie lots of away games are usually the teams fighting for the championship and those UEFA/Copa Sudamericana, Champions League/Libertadores spots.
Besides, doesn´t every other sport claims that the fan factor and the knowledge of your home field is a huge advantage?, then that advantage has to be bigger in Association Football, since moving to this great country and great city I have attended many baseball, basketball and American football games (and even a few hockey games of the AFL, it is the AFL right?), win or lose I always have a great time, yesterday for example I took my wife to Minute Maid Park, we had a lovely time, and fans do their part, they support their local teams, but their support (in my biased personal opinion) which is typical of fans around the country doesn´t get even near the support of soccer fans, Dynamo fans get it, many other team´s fans are getting it, last weekend I had a great time in the Dynamo game, fans never stopped chanting and supporting, we had a great (great, not lovely) on the south endline just behind some young men and women with drums and bongoes,even tough they had to play those drums under the sun, they never stopped, it was energizing (and brought great memories from my childhood in Bilbao and my teen and adult years in Monterrey), I´m still sure that 90th minute goal came because the fans didn´t let them give up.
And don´t forget that soccer is about pride, teams should not let other teams disrespect our fields by losing or drawing, teams have to at least win in their own turf and then concentrate on the away games.
Comment by Jarrambide — April 13, 2008 @ 12:23 pm
Glenn,
Tony Caig was much improved in goal - didn’t have to make any great stops but was more agressive getting out to balls and more decisive as well. I thought the Dynamo had a bit more of the play and were unfortunate on Davis’ shot off the post and a Boswell header that was wide.
Eddie Robinson is the best defender in MLS to me but his forearm/elbow was, unfortunately, a cheap shot. And as a Dynamo fan I love the guy but I actually rewatched the plays leading up to his elbow and it did not look like he was provoked. Usually there is some jostling and pushing/shoving, etc. in the box but he just blasted Wahl. It would not surprise me if he gets 3-6 games only because it really wasn’t in the run of play.
Did anyone walk off the yardage from the box to the sidelines? The field did not seem 70 yards wide.
KC has a lot of good talent on the field and they could push to win the Eastern Conference, although the 2 month road trip is going to hamper them.
Lastly, it is clear that home points are starting to become more mandatory in MLS - that’s why last week’s game with Dallas hurts because we gave up 2 home points with a draw.
Comment by JJ — April 13, 2008 @ 2:08 pm