Match Report: Houston Dynamo 3, FC Dallas 0
October 1st, 2007 . 9:00 pm . By: Jamie Fougerousse
After a fairly even first half that saw Dallas slightly outplay their intrastate rivals, Dwayne De Rosario scored a pretty goal in stoppage time to give Houston the lead. Some ball watching by the Hoops defense on a corner in the 62nd allowed Eddie Robinson to double the score. The Dallas letdown in the second half killed any chance of a comeback, the home team conceding most of the possession and eventually a third goal by Stuart Holden. Houston came into the match after a bye last weekend, having defeated LA 3-1 two weeks ago. Coach Dominic Kinnear only made one change to that lineup, replacing winger Brian Mullan with forward Brian Ching due to an abdominal injury. Ching slotted in up front, and Nate Jaqua pushed out to Mullan’s right wing position. Captain Wade Barrett’s start marked his 200th MLS appearance. Dallas shifted their team shape a bit after the 2-1 loss at LA last weekend. The 4-2-2-2 of the last few games gave way to more of a straight 4-3-3, with Ruiz playing the high forward role. Defender Chris Gbandi’s red card suspension brought on the somewhat surprising MLS debut of Blake Wagner at left back. Clarence Goodson’s return from suspension meant he replaced Alex Yi in the central defense. Pablo Ricchetti returned from his hamstring injury, replacing Dominic Oduro in the lineup, at a single defensive midfield spot. The removal of Oduro left Ruiz isolated as the high point striker, with Denilson and Alvarez playing wide off him. Dax McCarty and Juan Toja filled in the midfield in front of Ricchetti. Dallas entered the game 0-2-1 against the Dynamo this season, looking to end a three-game winless streak in the league and clinch a playoff birth in the process. Houston had already secured a place in the post-season, but was chasing Chivas USA for first place in the Western Conference. The early afternoon match on Telefutura took place in the heat of a “fall” day in North Texas. Houston set the tone for the game early as Corey Ashe earned a yellow card fouling Drew Moor well after Moor released the ball in his own half of the field in the 5th minute. The pace of the game was brutal in the early stages; both teams made quick one-touch exchanges with lots of movement off the ball. Both lost possession repeatedly as the battle raged in the midfield. Juan Toja, in particular, made some of his signature dispossessing tackles, playing his role as a true two-way midfielder. Carlos Ruiz received a yellow for a collision with Eddie Robinson near midfield as the two fought for a header. The card suspends Ruiz for the next match, but the referee’s early willingness to show yellow faded quickly. By the 22nd minute, Dallas started finding holes in the Houston defense. Adrian Serioux did well to keep the ball near midfield on the right sideline under pressure. He managed to poke the ball to Ruiz as the forward checked back. Ruiz dropped the ball to McCarty, who fed it inside to Toja. Toja pushed the ball forward to Denilson, who created some space for himself with a quick step, then flicked the ball over the Houston defense as Ruiz ran through. As Ruiz and Onstad raced to meet the ball, Eddie Robinson crashed into Ruiz and extended his arm, shoving the Dallas striker to the ground inside the box. There was no call from referee Jorge Gonzalez. This happened two more times to the Dallas captain in the next ten minutes. Onstad clattered into Ruiz as he tried to settle a ball in the 26th, and Robinson put his shoulder into Ruiz’s chest as Ruiz again ran on to a ball into the box in the 32nd. The buildup work in the midfield for both of these sequences was good, but the no-calls kept the score sheet clean. The Dallas back line looked very organized throughout the half and did a nice job snuffing out the few chances the Dynamo created. The midfield was dominating possession, and the only problem for Dallas seemed to be that the high positioning of Ruiz left him alone and heavily marked. Denilson was having his best performance to date for Dallas in the first half. As the first half wound down, Dallas began to falter a bit. Joseph Ngwenya beat the offsides trap in the 43rd minute. Dario Sala came out as Goodson closed, and the two together managed to take the ball of the Dynamo forward’s feet before he could get a shot off. Ruiz had another collision with Eddie Robinson on the counter after that play. In stoppage time, Ricardo Clark stripped the ball from Denilson near midfield. Clark fed the ball wide to Mulrooney, who spotted De Rosario making a penetrating run upfield. Mulrooney found De Rosario with a long through ball on the ground. Ricchetti arrived at the same time and went in for the tackle, but the ball took an unlucky bounce off Ricchetti that fell right at De Rosario’s feet near the right corner of the Dallas penalty box. De Rosario took a touch forward and ripped a shot that beat Sala near post to give the Dynamo the lead going into halftime. Carlos Ruiz started the second half with a shot on goal that Onstad saved well, but from that point on the Dynamo began to pressure the Dallas defense. In the 54th minute, Joseph Ngwenya got a shot off after a corner kick scrum that Dax McCarty blocked off the line. Just after that, De Rosario got off a long shot from the left side that Sala barely tipped into the crossbar. Sala then made a good save at the near post on a Nate Jaqua shot in the 58th minute. Four minutes later, Houston won a corner off a ball that touched Ngwenya just as it went over the line. Mulrooney’s corner came down at the center of the six-yard box’s edge where Sala and Ching were ready to meet it in the air. The ball looked to have skipped off Sala’s fist and may have touched Ching’s head, too, but it fell on the ground to Eddie Robinson at the back post. As the closest defender, Adrian Serioux, turned to look, Robinson calmly finished the goal to make the score 2-0 Houston. Dallas brought on Ricardinho and Dominic Oduro to throw some speed at the Houston defense in the 64th minute, and the added energy bolstered the Dallas attack. Toja had a shot go just wide, and Richard Mulrooney was lucky to escape a penalty call as his arm blocked a cross from Arturo Alvarez in the box. Houston’s sub of Stuart Holden for Corey Ashe quickly evened out the pace, however. In the 71st minute, Brian Ching headed down a Houston free kick near the edge of the Dallas penalty box right to an unmarked De Rosario. The midfielder charged into the box and unloaded, missing wide right. It was a great chance, and the Dallas defense looked gassed. Houston played possession, knocking the ball around for several minutes as Dallas chased in circles to the sounds of “ole” from the visiting fans. Ricardo Clark received a yellow in the 81st for grabbing Ruiz around the waist after Ruiz beat him. Just three minutes later, however, Houston won a throw-in on the right side even with the edge of the Dallas penalty area. As the ball came in, McCarty tried to head it away, but it fell right to the feet of Brian Ching. Ching cut across the inside of the penalty area, knocked Goodson to the ground with a stiff arm, and fed the ball to Stuart Holden, who finished easily wide open at the left edge of the six-yard box. Goodson getting knocked to the ground forced Drew Moor to step inside to prevent a shot from Ching, but that left Holden open at the far post. As Carlos Ruiz cut inside on the attack just past midfield, Eddie Robinson clipped his heel and finally got a yellow card in the 87th minute. On the ensuing free kick, which Dax McCarty took from about 40 yards out, Ricardo Clark marked Ruiz at the far post. As the two closed on the ball and the goal, Clark went down in front of Ruiz. Ruiz missed the header, and then fell over Clark as he came down. With Ruiz on the ground, Clark jumped up and kicked Ruiz in the shoulder, starting a melee on the field. When the dust settled, Clark was ejected, but so was Ruiz. Being as objective as possible, and caveating this with saying I only had the TV angles from which to judge, I did not see Ruiz do anything. It is possible he caused Clark to go down in the first place, but I didn’t see anything to that effect. It could be that he stepped on Clark as he came down, but it looked more like the Dallas captain tried hard not to step on him and fell over Clark instead. Either way, the yellow followed by the red means a two-game suspension for Ruiz and one for Clark, pending any further games tacked on for either player by the Disciplinary Board. The referee did not even add a full minute of stoppage time as he blew the game dead just after the sendings off, in spite of 6 subs, two goals, and two ejections during the half. Dallas didn’t need any help losing this game, but Dallas fans will feel they got plenty in the form of the referee today. The win keeps Houston within two points of Chivas USA, second in the West, while Dallas holds on to third, five points behind. The Dynamo hosts LA Sunday on Telefutura. Dallas heads into another busy week as they host New England Wednesday night in the US Open Cup Final and then head to Columbus Saturday night on FSC.
Houston Dynamo (14-7-6) vs. FC Dallas (12-11-4) Scoring Summary: Houston Dynamo Lineup:
Substitutes Not Used: Paul Dalglish, Brad Davis, Patrick Ianni, Zach Wells FC Dallas Lineup:
Substitutes Not Used: Ray Burse, Bobby Rhine, David Wagenfuhr, Alex Yi
Misconduct Summary: Referee: Jorge Gonzalez 11 Comments Comments RSS TrackBack Identifier URI Leave a comment | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
i wonder if Ruiz could appeal the red card so it could only be one game, that ref seem to have it in for him.
buzz, what about a report on the reserves game. you haven’t given on of those in about a month!
Thanks for the report Jaime, but I don’t think you were fully watching the same game I saw. I saw a team that couldn’t complete a pass to save their life. I saw a team constantly getting dispossed. I saw players holding the ball and refusing to pass. I saw a defense ball watching. What happened to the play of this team from earlier this season? I am preparing for more embarrasment before this season is over.
God I hope I’m wrong.
Thanks for he report. Your report confirms what I have been feeling since the game — that Dallas had an extra opponent in that game . . . the ref. It’s easy to say that, yeah, we lost because we didn’t score. But — what might have happened had those fouls against Carlos been called? I would imagine that the team might not have lost its fight in the second half had at least a couple of the correct calls been made. These guys are human, afterall . . . I really feel bad for Carlos, because the ending was just absurd.
Oh, well . . . I’m hoping that Carlos takes his “revenge” by playing his best against NE.
GO HOOPS!!!!!
Reserve fan, sorry about that. For various reasons I didn’t have anyone to cover the last two reserve games. For which I apologize. We’ll try to do better on that next year.
Jamie, excellent article and analysis.
That ref did seem dreadful, but as you say, we certainly did not need any help losing that game.
Hey B4Burn-
I try to be as objective as possible with these reports, understanding that I am a Dallas fan first. I fully said Houston deserved the win, and I was very critical of the second-half play of FCD.
I stand by my analysis that Dallas was the better team in the first half. I also stand by saying the referee was not good. Cai is right…think about how the dynamic changes if even one of those penalties got called.
That being said, and regular readers already know this, I am as worried about the team’s form as anyone. The good thing is Morrow is quite aware, too; he called the second-half performance “pathetic” on Sunday. All we can do is get behind the team for the run, and winning the Open Cup would be nice too.
I hear ya Jaime. its just been so painfull to watch the last month. This team was playing some of the most beautiful soccer earlier this season. I DO believe that Carlos was jobbed against houston. He has played his butt off in the last few weeks. But he has had to do it alone up top. I don’t think this is a good time for Morrow to be tinkering with formation because its not working. But that why he’s coach and not me!
I hope they give NE hell tomorrow.
JAMIE FOUGEROUSSE IS THENILSON GONNA MAKE $8OO,OOOONLY FOR 9 GAMES THIS SEASON? IF IT IS LIKE THIS MORROW DID WORS THAN COLLIN CALARCK WHIT SHACKA THE NILSON IS JUST LOKING FOR MONEY HI I NOT INTERESTED BEENG HERE NEXT SEASON HE DOASENT CARE LIKE HE SAID IS NOT THE AND OF THE WORLD HI IS ARROGANT.
Hey real-
Better $800k for 9 games than 4 years…my understanding of the contract means at least the team has an ejection handle to pull if they want to.
Looks like they learned something from Clarke’s mistake.
A Reserve game report? Ok. We won 1-nil off a really great Ibrahim goal.