OLIVER LUCK ON RADIO
The team president will join me tonite on DYNAMO ALL ACCESS with GLENN DAVIS from 7-9pm on 790 The Sports Animal. DYNAMO striker KEI KAMARA plus others will join the show and fans are encouraged to call in at 713-212-5790…express your opinion! Gold Cup and Dynamo ticket giveaways, FA CUP, Champions League, Mexican Football League and everything Dynamo and MLS!
The show streams live at MLSNET.com, 790thesportsanimal.com and can be accessed at HoustonDynamo.com
FIESTA UNSUNG HERO ALSO TO BE announced tonite!
The Dynamo put their foot on Toronto and never let them up at Robertson Stadium Saturday night.
The return of Dwayne DeRosario in the end never materialized for the former Dynamo who had little influence and could Toronto FC have not paid respect to the Dynamo by playing their best 11?
Three goals in a five minute span in the first half proved to the be the difference as the “orange” finished off a professional performance picking up another three points at home.
Two free kicks from Brad Davis and Stuart Holden highlighted the three goal flurry that also saw Kei Kamara score off a Brian Ching pass.
Ching now is off to U.S. National team duty while the Dynamo will have a short week heading to Chicago to take on the Fire Friday.
STRANGE TACTICS
You be the judge but it seemed like Toronto coach Chris Cummins got the tactics wrong. Cummins may have been trying to save Danny Dichio for Tuesday’s match against Vancouver due to it’s importance. With a win or a draw Toronto FC will get in the Concacaf Champions League but the abscence of Dichio set in motion a number of changes that did not pan out.
Marvelle Wynne was moved forward as a third striker, Marco Velez came in at center back moving Attakora out wide. The move did not work and Toronto FC suffered without Dichio who was a part of all three goals against NE the weekend before.
Velez struggled in the first half and was then subbed out and Wynne returned to right back.
The Dynamo had been preparing to face Dichio whose large frame would have been a challenge at Robertson Stadium.
FREE KICK SUPERIORITY
Out of the last six Dynamo goals, five have come off dead ball situations. Brad Davis and Stuart Holden produced stunning free kicks that somehow got through the Toronto FC wall. Ricardo Clark has been standing in front of the ball in order to limit reaction time of the wall and the goalkeeper. Davis now has 1 goal and three assists in the last two matches.
PUMAS win Mexican League title
Pumas and manager Tuca Ferretti dramatically won the Mexican league title last night at Pachuca.
Kind of interesting that both teams that the Dynamo have had epic battles with reached the finals.
Did you see it?
SOFT PENALTIES
Did I see these and were these really penalties? Not in my opinion……
1. Chicago’s Brian Mcbride gets pushed slightly and goes down for a late penalty against Chivas USA.
This one is PROBABLY the most LEGIT of the one’s called this weekend.
2. DC United’s Bryan Namoff called for a penalty on Taylor Twellman of NE.
3. Colorado’s Omar Cummings goes down at the edge of the box against Albert Celades….
CASEY ON A ROLL
Conor Casey is throwing himself at everything up front and now has 8 goals after a two goal performance vs. New York.
Could a Gold Cup call up be in his future?
PERKINS GRIZZLY ADAMS LOOK
Matt Perkins has got the beard thing going. Good fit for the Colorado Rapids, probably wouldn’t work in LA….
DID YOU SEE THIS GOAL….
Check out the monster finish from Arturo Alvarez of San Jose against Real Salt Lake at MLSNET.com…The former Mayde Creek star shooting to thrill from long range.
HOOPS CRUSH FIRE
FC Dallas defeated the Chicago Fire in Bridgeview, Illionois 3-0 on goals from Jeff Cunningham, OG from CJ Brown and free kick from Ken Cooper Jr. in a deserved win!
The loss is the first of the year for Chicago who were playing in a their third game in eight days
FC Dallas coach Schellas Hyndmann was sent off and raised three fingers indicating three goals to the Chicago fans as he exited into the tunnel.
Chicago lost defender Bakary Soumare who will now not be available for Friday’s home game against the Houston Dynamo.
BRAZILIAN GREAT TO TAKE OVER AC MILAN WHILE ANCELOTTI TAKES CHELSEA JOB!
According to AC Milan management former Brazilian great LEONARDO will take over and manage the club next season.
Leonardo is expected to be announced formally today. The interesting thing is that this will be Leonardo’s first coaching job.
WOW!
Carlo Ancelotti a MILAN legend as both player and coach takes over at CHELSEA…ok Blues fans, what do you think ?
OSASUNA STAY IN LA LIGA
What a dramatic finish for Osasuna who got a 2-1 win over Real Madrid to stave off relegation. You must see the highlight of JuanFran’s side volley that was absolutely stunning.
Former Manchester United player Diego Forlan led the league in scoring with 32 goals.
DYNAMO ALL ACCESS WITH GLENN DAVIS TOMORROW NIGHT on 790 The Sports Animal!
Tune in from 7-9pm as I welcome Dynamo players in studio, break down the FA Cup Final, Champions League and the Dynamo win over Toronto plus examine World Cup qualifying for both the U.S. and Mexico.
We look ahead to Chicago plus Gold Cup and Dynamo ticket giveaways.
Call in and shape the show at 713-212-5790…………
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HEADLINE: Houston 3-0 Toronto: Davis penalty sparks rout
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/report?id=262181&cc=5901
Penalty kick? What game were the folks at ESPN watching?
LOL!
AWESOME game!
We gave Chris Cummings an earful about his lineup change the entire game (section 103 row A, directly behind the bench). Big ooops by Chris! Ouch!
Just watched the highlight video of the game. Wish they would’ve included Brad’s free kick that just shaved the goal post… from our angle it looked like it was going in! Great dip! Wow.
Also, good to add the “knock out” when the ball laid out the FC Toronto defender and took him out of the game.
Stuart stepped up big time. He was solid in and a constant pest to FC. Awesome!
Kei, Brad and Stuart are the “men of the match.”
Andrew Hainault once again proved he deserves to be in the starting lineup. When Richard Mulrooney and Wade Barret are fit to return, as much as I love Waibel, Mulrooney should replace him… and as important as Wade has been to our franchise history, Andrew should keep his spot — at this point he’s simply playing better.
I subbed Dominic Oduro about 5-10 minutes sooner, Kei’s tank was obviously at zero. I think Oduro, Ade, Wondo as subs could’ve caused problems for FC late in the game had they had some extra time to gel.
Great job as usual Glen! Love seeing you in Autograph Alley after the game ( — you may remember me holding up the Nick Garcia sign last week LOL).
Glenn, I have yet to see the game, but it sounds like the TFC coach did indeed get the tactics wrong, I mean yeah 2 goals came from free kicks but at least one came from the right side, so I’m wondering how much trouble the right back had with Davis, I was hoping to see Wynne do really good against Brad, but from what I can tell he had very little to do with all 3 goals and with Onstad’s great saves it spelled a great win for the Dynamo, so it looks like Kai and Ade will have some time to gel now, and Oduro can come in to give Ade a breather if he isn’t fit for 90 minutes! It will be interesting to see how those 3 hold up while Ching is in Costa Rica and South Africa.
Same old tie in LA Glenn, granted that the Galaxy did a much better job of attacking in this game, and missed 2 clear opportunities in the 1st half including a shot to the crossbar, and another one in the 2nd, this team made us frustrated again, there was a good turnout at HDC, but we still didn’t get that so coveted 2nd win, should have been 4-1, hopefully Edson Buddle will go back to his form or last year just in time for the June 28th game vs the Dynamo!
Glenn,
Deeply worried here about the stadium situation.
I’ve asked you this before, but what’s the good word?
They can’t take my ORANGE away, can they? : … (
Glen,
I was at the game against Toronto and we played very well and really controlled the whole game. Maybe it is me, and please tell me if I am wrong, but Ricardo Clark was almost invisible. I do think he contributed anything to the game. Now I know he has talent as evidence from his callups to the national team, but I think that he is overrated, in as much as his level of play has been of late.
Silogrames,
“Rico” Clark aka All-Terrain Clark, plays holding midfield…meaning he is mostly a defender; thanks to him and the defense (actually the whole collective defensive effort) Toronto left with a big goose egg.
Clark is not going to dribble people, make fancy passes, or score off diving headers, but what he will do is what he has always done–chase and block the opponents progress into the Dynamo’s defensive third.
As long as he continues to do that, all will be well in Orange Land.
what game were you watch? He shut down the whole midfield of TFC. Dro couldnt get any service and when he got the ball couldnt make any space. He did his job…and like Carlos said he isnt an attacker and only comes in really really late if needed.
Great game by the Dynamo, our offense is getting better and our defense keeps doing a good job. Hey Glenn whats going on with the stadium?
Best passing and combination play I’ve seen all year. Keep it up, boys!
Speaking of “soft fouls” what was Bakai Sumari thinking when he shouldered down and drew his second yellow of the match the Hoops attacker when already down 2-0 late? Not that the Fire won’t need him on Defense with a fast improving Dynamo squad coming in Friday night. It looked like Busch gave up on Cooper’s direct kick anyway. Why was Hyndman removed? I noticed you never addressed Carlos’s question about the ongoing “joke” of so called Stadim Negotiations by this mayor and the Houston City Council. Is anyone going to ever hold him accountable for his three year old promise? Is this still being held up by Garcia and Lee?
Great game for us. It looks almost easy for the Dynamo against some of these teams.
I don’t know why Wynne was up top for TFC. Seemed an odd choice to me. I like Wynne a lot at RB. I think he does great for the Nats.
Speaking of the Nats, why havn’t any other Dynamo players been called up recently? Especially Rico. But also Mullan and Davis. It’s been what 2+ years? I know we have a pretty deep and fairly set pool but it seems like BB could have at least tested some more of the domestic players in some of the friendlies or non-qualifiers. Bradley I’m sure is more qualified than I to make these decisions but given the Dynamos back to back titles I would have liked to see more call-ups.
Glenn- Dynamo made it look easy vs. a disinterested TFC.Oduro may prove to be excellent pick up over next couple of months, just can’t figure out NYRB.
They let Dave Van den Bergh go to FC Dallas, the only guy who provided JPA service in the box. Oduro comes to NYRB in the deal and plays a grand total of 128 mins. and is shipped to the Dynamo.
What is going on in New York?? Last few seasons its one step forward and two steps back. Silly signing of washed up and chronically injured Claudio Reyna, Bruce Arena takes over and shows zero zeal or heart for the job,Alidore’s record transfer fee is spent on what exactley? Juan Pietravallo and Khano Smith??
Are Agoos and Osorio this clueless?
With Red Bull having just finished 4 game homestand with one win, two losses,and a tie and heading on a long road trip, if they stay true to form they will be basically out of playoff race in next month.With team opening Red Bull Arena next season, is it start over from scratch again?
Also wonder about RSL’s Jason Kreis thinking behind keeping his top scorer and best offensive threat in Findley on the bench till 55th minute vs. San Jose.
Kreis has consistently denied Findley going the full 90. Why? Has speed, touch,can finish, and at his age, can run all day. Findley’s ratio of goals scored to minutes played has got to at or near the top of MLS.
Coop, Bob did call up Geoff Cameron, Stuart Holden, Ricardo Clark and Brian Ching at the beginning of the January camp in LA, I saw all of them actually when I went to buy my tickets, but Cameron AND Holden got hurt, I think Holden was a late injury.
As far as guys like Mullan and Davis, well they have to fight the likes of Robbie Rogers, Freddy Adu and maybe Rodney Wallace as soon as he becomes a US citizen of that type of spot, the US midfield pool is just too deep now a days.
You have Maurice Edu at Rangers, Michael Bradley at Borussia Mochengladbach in the Bundesliga, Pablo Mastroeni from Colorado, Sacha Kljestan Chivas USA and Jose Fransisco Torres of the great Pachuca in Mexico. Then you have wingers like Clint Dempsey, Freddy Adu, Landon Donovan, Damarcus Beasley, Danny Szetela and center mids like Benny Feilhaber and Jeremiah White all playing in Europe.
Plus Landon Donovan who plays an attacking mid or withdrawn forward spot and may need stay at LM to be at his best for the Nats.
I think the Dynamo can push for Supporters Shield and earn an automatic Concacaf Spot, Chivas will suffer without Bornstein AND Sacha!
Great game. Hainault has been truly impressive. He is strong enough to hold position and quick enough to recover and track back. There is no way you can take him off the field in my opinion. Cameron was once again strong. Kei looked like a stud forward. The back line in general, is really stepping up. The thing I have seen over the last couple of games is that we are much better when in possesion of the ball. Very few errant passes. The ball is hitting the marks crisply and with vision. Everyone is in sync and knows where each other is, or so it seems. Earlier in the year we were giving it up right and left, not so currently.
The Mezz on Wednesday night, GD? VERY fearful about playing at Saprissa stadium. Thank you.
YES YES YES!!! Pumas champions!!! I waited 5 long years for another star to be added to (on of) my beloved jersey. (My other is orange) anyway, great games. The goalies errors cost goals for both teams but in the end Pumas came out the champ. With the championship win by pumas that qualifies them in same group as, guess who?, yes…the dynamo in concacaf champions league 09/10.
. Pumas and dynamo will face off again in same tourney. Do I smell another rivalry brewing here…? Kinda changing the subject, great game by the dynamo on saturday. Brad davis was dead on, ashe played great as a starter, cam did an awesome job defending, and what can I say about onstad that you already haven’t heard? Marvell wynne was a sore loser, dero and serioux were cool post-game. What a great weekend. Let’s hope for another this weekend as natl teams are in action and hope for another win by the orange in chi-town…
GOYA, GOYA, UNIVERSIDAD!!!
I think the Dynamo are slowly becoming the best team in the West, I am rooting for the Sounders in US Open Cup so they qualify for Concacaf Champions League, but after the Dynamo have passed them, they will probably pass Chivas USA soon since they will be short handed without Kljestan and Bornstein this week!
I really hope Wynne gets a start at RB, with Spector backs him up unless he starts at LB, then put Torres or Adu in an Attacking midfield position if we go with a 4-2-3-1 having Ching as the lonely striker, I hope we don’t go with that formation but if we do Landon on the left, Dempsey on the right and Torres or Adu in the CAM spot would give us a great midfield!
Glenn, can you give us a sample of the line up you think the US SHOULD use, and the one that you think Bob will use?
Don’t know Glenn.
McBride’s PK last week was a totally ridiculous call.
Celades on Cummings was the right call, and just one more example of New York’s defensive woes, as was Conor Casey’s second goal. Wow, what a defensive letdown on the side leading to that goal.
On the Twellman thing, if that’s a penalty, then that’s a sad comment on the state of soccer in MLS today. Look at the beating that both Kamara and Chingy get on a daily basis, and Twellman basically falls down and gets a PK call? Disgusting.
Ancelloti to Chelski is a nice pick up for them, but then, Scolari looked like a nice pick up too. Stability would work wonders over there I think. What do you think Coach H?
Martek, I was at the Home Depot Center and I couldn’t agree more, the McBride call was wrong, I felt he was slightly pushed, but I summed it up to nothing more than physical play and physical play doesn’t buy you a win in a highly contested game during the last seconds of injury time in a clash between conference leaders.
I think Twellman had been pretty beat up himself in the Revs vs DC Unied game and that had a lot to do with it but honeslty I see the defender pulling him away from the pass, maybe the ball wasn’t as playable as the referee interpreted it, but I think there was enough for a foul there!
Edwin,
On the Twellman call, I just don’t think that that is egregious enough for a penalty call. Namoff is a punk and you’re right that Twellman was getting knocked around pretty good, but I don’t think a PK call should be used as a makeup call. It just didn’t seem that serious on video.
I have no problem with more calls being made and reds being issued because MLS at times is overly physical, which gives thugs like Kevin Harmse jobs. So stopping that is certainly laudable. What do you think?
I’m with you all the way, but the refs are so horrible we are making the caribean and Central America refs look great!
I think the call wasn’t so much of a make up call as much as it was made since Twellman kept getting knocked out, it was just how the game was being called based on the pace and physical force used to mark by the defense on DC’s side.
I think it was questionable but I think the pull was legit, maybe it wasn’t enough but you shouldn’t pull in that part of the field and at that time!
What did you think of the slide tackle Dema Kovalenko gave the Rapids guy back in April 4th? It was called a red, but I feel Dema got a lot of ball and the guy exageratted greatly how much he was hurt evidence of him getting up and running in a full sprint as soon as the game was restarted and he went back in, I just hate it because it’s a thin line between good refereeing and horrible calls that should but ultimately decide games!
Didn’t see the Dema call, but the description sounds oh-so-familiar for so many calls. It is a thin line, to be sure, which is why ultimately, the only solution will continue to be the one that has been in effect for 150 years, the eyes and spot judgment of a human referee. It’s just too bad MLS refs are so woeful at times.
coop…
Clark just got called up tonight by BB. He is on a plane tomorrow at 9 a.m. to Costa Rica.