Poor playing surface, climate, short preparation and a stadium and fans that head coach Dominic Kinnear called a “lions den” in the Houston Chronicle today.
So how do the Dynamo deal with their first game of real meaning since winning the MLS Cup.
Will they be able to play in their normal all out aggressive style for 90 minutes, I don’t think so.
This afternoon’s game against Puntarenas we may see a different Houston Dynamo. A win or a draw is golden in this first leg in Costa Rica.
So how do you manage a game against opposition that is fitter and into their season while you have only three weeks to prepare?
Clearly they will have to be the more intelligent team today.
The Dynamo will have to take account of their fitness, their running will have to be economical and wise.
Above all as a team they will need to stay close to one another, team shape, moving as a group will be vital.
“It’s hard to tell our guys to play easy,” Dominic Kinnear told me from Florida during pre-season. We can’t go in with fear.”
The Dynamo will also have the opportunity to use throw ins, free kicks, corners, goal kicks all as an opportunity to control the pace of the game and relieve pressure. Patience on set pieces could prove to be vital times for collecting themselves. Periods of good ball possession also will be confidence building and help them dictate the game.
Will they have to defend for longer periods of the game? My guess is yes.
I am interested to see how direct Puntarenas play with two very physical forwards with Jorge Barbosa and Mario Camacho. Both the type of forwards that Dynamo defender Eddie Robinson will relish playing against.
Looking back to last year and the LA Galaxy in the Concacaf Champions Cup I remember that down in Costa Rica against Saprissa they had a two goal lead only to falter mentally and physically in the second half and lose 3-2. Saprissa then went on to the World Club Championships to play Liverpool.
A critical time will come during the second half when the challenge becomes more physical and the Dynamo begin to fatigue. Dominic Kinnear will have to rely on substitutes in this one to help aid the cause.
The bench could be a critical factor.
The challenges great the rewards even greater for getting a result over foreign competition. The Dynamo 2007 season is off a running today.
A team that showed this city huge character last year in winning the MLS Cup will start it off today with a great challenge in Costa Rica. This will be good.
Dynamo vs. Puntarenas today at 1:30 pm central on the Fox Soccer Channel.
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1-0 in compensation time, it doesn´t matter when you receive the goal, loosing is loosing.
Having said that, a one goal advantage after playing in your home turf is not a very big advantage at all, it is an advantage but not a big one.
Look at games in Champions league and Copa Libertadores, not many teams with a one goal advantage afte playing in their field (of course tying or winning by one goal in an away game is great, a big difference) go to the next stage.
Dynamo has no excuses, with only a one goal disadvantage they should advance to the next stage.
I forgot, this should teach many of us to be a little more humble, a few posters talked about the press in Costa Rica and how they were not talking a lot about Dynamo and how easy it would be to win in costa Rica, and talked about Chivas loosing their away game as something almost humiliating.
Well, we lost the game, by the same difference as chivas, one goal, is this also humiliating for the \
Jarrambide,
No one should ever lose a sense of humility.
Puntarenas wins, advancing is certainly within reason.
This game is a snapshot of the Dynamo season, developmental players and rarely used players from last year must perform.
Zach Wells shined with his opportunity.
The real question is when will MLS and the players Union support these teams and give the more time to prepare?
Still this is not excuse yet anyone who believes the Dynamo weren’t going to lose their legs at halftime and have to summon the warrior spirit in the second half is just plain not getting it.
This was purely about a result.
The MLS teams need more time and support to prepare but after watching the game on Tivo when is CONCACAF going to take the refereeing in the confederation seriously? The Dynamo looked dead today and Puntarenas was the better team but it looked like the ref had decided on the plane down that the Dynamo weren\’t going to win today – phantom penalty and criminal red card. When I saw that he was Mexican in one of the previews yesterday I knew it was trouble for the Dynamo.
I wonder why MLS and US Soccer bothers with this tournament – send an A-League squad instead. I know that there is the World Club championships and other invites that can come out of it but after watching the 1st half you are just hoping not to get anyone hurt and I don\’t see the value of playing in a stacked deck tournament at this time of the year.
My real fear with the refereeing is that in one of the World Cup qualifying cycles the US is going to get jobbed out in one of the early rounds where there is less margin for error from a bad game or two and CONCACAF is going to take a huge hit if that happens. Luckily we are now good enough to be able to overcome most unfair officiating with talent but if one recalls the 2002 qualifying cycle, we got jobbed in both El Salvador and Costa Rica and ended up with 1 point instead of 4 and put the pressure on us to get results in the last half of the round.