Happy Memorial Day!
Ok, so I am having a little bit of fun with the title of this entry. Soccer was definetly fun for Dynamo fans yesterday.
Never was a big fan of players giving motivation to opponents through the press and that is exactly what Nick Garcia of the San Jose Earthquakes did against the Houston Dynamo when he alluded to Kei Kamara being a mental midget in the San Jose Mercury news.
One goal and game MVP later, Kamara got the last laugh and rewarded his coach Dominic Kinnear with the trust that he would be under control emotionally.
I can’t image SJ coach Frank Yallop was pleased with Garcia’s use of the press.
Irregardless so much pointed to the Dynamo dismantling the Quakes and that is exactly what they did.
A great start (2 goals in 12 minutes) and then a capper from Craig “peaceful warrior” Waibel gave the Dynamo a three goal cushion that would only be dented by a Ryan Johnson goal for San Jose.
*KAMARA influence- his movement was unsettling for the San Jose back four and he found a lot of succes in that pocket near Nick Garcia and Eric Denton who had to confront Brian Mullan. Emotional control rewarded the confidence of his coach who showed trust by starting him. Masterstroke from Kinnear when he brought Kamara off to a standing ovation in the final minutes. With Brian Ching heading off to U.S. National team duty Kamara will be the focal point of the attack.
Kamara and Ching had some moments of playing off each other that showed a little more understanding.
*ONSTAD SAVE…..An early play where Pat Onstad came outside his box to provide cover for his back four was huge and alert. Cam Weaver had spinned off of Geoff Cameron and seemed to be in but the alert Onstad made a critical save at an important time period.
*ALVAREZ contained…It was a collective effort how the Dynamo defending the main attacking weapon of San Jose. Rarely did he pick up a ball without two Dynamo defenders confronting him. Alvarez can’t wait for Darren Huckerby to get healthy. The Dynamo new he was the main threat and took the edge off his game.
* DAVIS DELIVERY…..not many if any better at hitting a dead ball in this league. Plain and simple.
*DAVIS tackle…inside the first two minutes Brad Davis made and important tackle on Arturo Alvarez who was near the Dynamo penalty area. That and the early goal reminded us that the Dynamo were “up” for this one.
*CLARK….blanketed Convey who we didn’t even know was there.
*HOLDEN / KAMARA one two’s…I loved some of the little flicks that these two pulled off leading to dangerous moments. BRIAN CHING also pulled off a beautiful back heel that put in Holden. Entertaining to say the least…..
*WAIBEL start….the manager knew it was a game that Craig Waibel could excel with his experience. Calm, never unnerved Waibel then adds a goal to boot.
The “Peaceful Warrior” gets it done behind Mullan.
*Thanks to all the fans that headed over to the post game radio show and autograph alley!
DARIO VERON scored a monster goal in the 89th minute for Pumas at the Olympic Stadium in Mexico City yesterday that advanced his squad to the finals. The goal tied the aggregate with Puebla 3-3 in Mexican League semi-finals.
Pumas advance because of having a higher place in the standings during the regular season. Pumas now await the winner of Pachuca and Indios who complete their semi-finals tonite with Pachuca holding a 2-0 edge. What do you think of the rule in the Mexican Football league that advances the team with the better record in the regular season?
AC MILAN and final match at San Siro for Paolo Maldini……it is on right now at 8AM. The legend Maldini has been with Milan since he was a teen-ager. MANCHESTER UNITED and HULL will follow on FSC with big implications in the relegation zone. Hull is fighting for survival and will take on Man U whom will play in the Champions League final on Wednesday against Barcelona…..Also a 10:00 AM Wolfsburg and Werder Bremen square off with Wolfsburg needing a point to take the ever close Bundesliga title, Goltv will also break into the Bayern Munich/ Stuttgart match to keep viewers up to date on the amazing finish in Germany.
LATE ADDITION: Wolfsburg under Felix Magath are the GERMAN BUNDESLIGA CHAMPIONS!
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Zukowski, Bresenhan & Sinex, L.L.P.
He definitely is the peaceful warrior but I have seen him on edge, in colorado about two years ago. I destinctly remember it because he flicked off the crowd, hey we are all human! Great job last night orange crush! Waibel i hope gets more playing time for that.
Glenn,
Greatest goal celebration ever. Right in front of the Bald is Beautiful sign we made! That my friend, is KARMA!
glenn- caught your broadcast of Dynamo vs. Quakes game. You were spot on in calling out Bobby Convey.
With a third of the MLS season gone, he has been a total non factor.
Yes he had some success in England,yes he’s still young, but with the MLS salary structure, when you pay a player Convey’s money- $ 300,000 a year, they need to produce and Convey isn’t.
Don’t know the lenght of contract Yallop has but Quakes need to show more heart and sense or he may be gone.
To be fair, San Jose without Huckerby and Cochrane are a completely different side but we were robbed in San Jose earlier so perhaps a little karma came our way with their absences. This was another comprehensive win and solid effort from front to back. It looks like we’re starting to gel a little but the test will be how well we can we score w/o Ching. So far there is a significant drop in offense when he’s away or out of the lineup. Let’s hope Kei can use this game to boost his confidence and carry us through NT call ups.
Would like your take on something Glenn. The Dynamo played nothing less than kickball at Red Bull, but Saturday was a complete turnaround. We made a concerted effort to keep the ball on the floor which created movement, and much better support. There were some instances of quick passing in tight space that looked like a 5 v 2 drill. I’m of the opinion that THIS IS DYNAMO FOOTBALL. When we resort to launching the ball down field or up the sidelines, we play to the level of our competition and are far less effective. Your thoughts, anyone?
On another note Glenn, the picture you selected for this thread emphasizes something that you guys missed (or perhaps lightly touched on) and that was that Chingy scored while getting his clock cleaned by Johnson. It was unintentional but the knee by Chris Leitch later was not. I hope the league takes a look at the Leitch tackle that cut Brian open, as well as his following cheap elbow he threw at Davis after the ball was clearly away.