Match Report: FC Dallas 1, Houston Dynamo 4
November 4th, 2007 . By: Jamie FougerousseAfter bringing a 1-0 aggregate lead into game two at Robertson Stadium, Dallas added one more through a beautiful Carlos Ruiz strike early in the game. In spite of losing Pablo Ricchetti to injury, Clarence Goodson just before game time to a stomach virus, and Dario Sala to a knee injury in the first half, the Hoops went into halftime with a two-goal lead. Just after halftime, Arturo Alvarez was sent off with a straight red for what may or may not have been a knee to the groin of Brad Davis. Houston shifted formations and threw everything forward, scoring two goals in the second half through Stuart Holden and Brian Ching to send the game to overtime. With nothing left in the legs after playing down a man the entire second half, Dallas conceded two goals in the first overtime period, the series-winner to Joseph Ngwenya and one more to Brad Davis as their season ended yet again with a first-round playoff exit. Houston coach Dominic Kinnear made two changes to the team that lost the first leg 1-0 in Dallas last weekend. Up front he replaced Joseph Ngwenya with Nate Jaqua, and Brad Davis got the start at left midfield over Stuart Holden. Dallas had several personnel problems that forced changes to Coach Morrow’s leg 1 lineup. In the central defense, Dallas defender of the year Clarence Goodson developed a stomach virus just hours before kickoff and was replaced by Alex Yi. Midfielder Pablo Ricchetti aggravated his groin/hamstring problem and struggled with it all week. He was available, but on the bench, and Denilson took his place. That substitution made the formation a 4-4-2 with a diamond midfield. A large contingent of Dallas fans made the trip down I-45 to Houston, hoping to see their team build on the 1-0 aggregate lead and get out of the first round of the playoffs for the first time since 1999. Houston put Dallas on the defensive from the first minute. Defender Ryan Cochrane collected a throw-in on the right side just inside Dallas’ half of the field. His cross for the far post sailed long and surprised Dario Sala, who got to the high ball heading into the far corner of the goal, but only managed to deflect it into the crossbar. Bobby Rhine reacted well and pounced on the rebounded ball, keeping Brian Ching from shooting inside the six. Nate Jaqua got off a follow-up from that rebound, but Ching deflected it to Dwayne De Rosario, who was in an offsides position. De Rosario finished the shot, but the flag was up. Dario Sala was down for a while after this play, which appears to be when the injury occurred that saw him subbed out minutes later. Throughout the early parts of the first half, Brian Mullan looked very dangerous for Houston up the right side, and Dallas left back Chris Gbandi had trouble dealing with him. In general the defense had difficulty keeping the ball at their feet in the first half, creating several dangerous giveaways. Some of Gbandi’s trouble seemed to be coming from Denilson not tracking back to defend Houston’s predictable overlapping wide attack with Craig Waibel and Mullan. After weathering the early storm, it was the Hoops who struck first. Quite against the run of play, Bobby Rhine played a long ball from the right near midfield to Kenny Cooper at the far post. Cooper got underneath the ball and fought off his defender to head the ball down for Carlos Ruiz. Ruiz received the ball at an awkward angle, but managed to get off a side volley that beat Pat Onstad high and put the aggregate score at 2-0 Dallas. By the 22nd minute, Ray Burse was up and ready to sub in for Sala. They made the change and Sala got a yellow for taking too long to get off the field. They completed the sub in the 24th minute. Dallas began to take control of the game a bit, and Houston turned the game chippy very quickly. Richard Mulrooney leveled Ruiz with a studs-up tackle at midfield in the 29th minute, earning a yellow for his trouble. Then Waibel got one for trying to pull Ruiz off the ground before absolutely crashing into Denilson as the Brazilian jumped for a header. The Dynamo had a little offensive resurgence towards the end of the half. Ray Burse made a nice save on a Mullan chip attempt in the 34th minute. Three minutes later Mullan fed Waibel as he cut inside on his overlap at the edge of the box. Waibel had a lot of time, but he pulled his shot well wide of the left post. In the 38th minute, Jaqua headed a long ball down to Ching, who beat Bobby Rhine by spinning off him. Burse came out and stoned Ching’s one-v-one attempt, and the defenders recovered to clean up the mess. In the 40th minute Arturo Alvarez took the ball up the right side and ripped a low shot to the near post as he cut inside. The shot beat Onstad but pulled just wide. The chippiness went up a level as Eddie Robinson received a yellow for an elbow to Ruiz’s head, but Chris Gbandi got one four minutes later for pulling Mullan down on a breakaway. The five minutes of first-half stoppage time ended with Ray Burse taking a collision making a nice save on a crossed free kick. Dallas was up 2-0 on aggregate and weathering the Houston onslaught for the most part. At the beginning of the second half, Arturo Alvarez and former Burn player Brad Davis were both out of bounds down in the Dallas right corner. As they moved back toward the field, Davis shoved Alvarez, who moved several feet away from Davis. Alvarez lifted his knee up, Brad Davis took a step forward, then Davis screamed and fell down. Alvarez was shown a straight red, presumably for lifting his leg and kneeing Davis. The third replay angle on TV showed pretty clearly that Alvarez was too far away to make any contact with Davis, and that Davis did his best Dida impersonation with the amount of time between the leg lift and Davis reacting. Alvarez should not have put himself in that position, but I have to call Davis out for the dive. Just after Dallas went down to ten men, Kinnear subbed Stuart Holden in for Waibel and went 3-5-2 to put the screws to the Hoops. Morrow responded by replacing Denilson with Pablo Ricchetti. The boys did a good job of fending off Houston’s attack until Joseph Ngwenya replaced Nate Jaqua up front for the Dynamo in the 61st minute. Just five minutes after the sub, Houston scored on a play that looked much like Dallas’ from the first half. Ryan Cochrane sent a long ball from the right side near midfield, Brian Ching headed it down and back for Stuart Holden, whose side volley finally beat Ray Burse to make the aggregate score 2-1 Dallas. The goal sparked the previously quiet crowd, and the Houston team, in turn, seemed to come to life. It was only ten minutes later, in the 71st minute, that Houston tied the game on aggregate. De Rosario fed Ching making a run through the Dallas defense. Ching ran onto the ball and finished it past Burse. Chris Gbandi was marking Ching and let him run as Gbandi pulled the offsides trap. Gbandi didn’t see that Toja was behind him marking Mullan and keeping Ching on, although Ching was level with Gbandi also at the moment the ball was played. In the 74th minute, Stuart Holden clattered into Adrian Serioux, injuring the Dallas midfielder. Morrow had to sub Serioux in the 80th minute, bringing on Dominic Oduro to try and break the tie. The Dynamo had two good chances toward the end of the half, with Stuart Holden firing well over the bar and De Rosario just missing on a corner kick header over the bar. The referee added 6 minutes of second-half stoppage time, meaning the teams had already played almost a full overtime period at the end of regulation. Four minutes into stoppage time, De Rosario got a good cross in from the left that Ching tapped toward the goal, but Ray Burse was able to scoop it off the line at the last second. Dallas got some attacking in as well as the time wound down. Five minutes into the first overtime period, Houston had a great chance to go ahead. Brad Davis swung a ball in from the right that beat Burse but hit the crossbar. The rebound fell to Ching but Burse saved his poke at goal and Toja cleared. Houston immediately attacked again late in the 95th minute as Brad Davis’ switch from left to right found Brian Mullan all alone about twelve yards from goal on the right. Mullan crossed the ball into the center on the ground right to Alex Yi, but Yi’s tired legs could only manage to flick the ball on. The Dallas defenders all put their hands up asking for offsides, but the flag stayed down as Ngwenya settled for Ching and Ching put the ball past Burse to give Houston the lead for the first time in the series. Since I always weigh in on controversial decisions, and just to prove I am objective, no one was offsides when Mullan hit the cross. Ching was close to being offsides when Ngwenya knocked the ball down for him, but he just made it behind the ball before Ngwenya made contact. In the 99th minute, as Ngwenya ran onto a long ball, he hit Bobby Rhine from behind and knocked him off the ball. Drew Moor came in to clean up and was yellow-carded for a foul on Ngwenya about twenty yards out from goal on the left side. There was a lot of shoving from Houston players as the free kick was set up. The kick was taken by Brad Davis in the 100th minute. Davis’ free kick went over the wall and in the upper 90 at the near post, beating Ray Burse. Houston led 4-2 on aggregate. Dallas managed a few more attacking chances, one of the best of which was Bobby Rhine’s long-distance blast in the 107th minute. The veteran defender got forward and fired on a loose ball from about 22 yards out. The shot was on frame and Pat Onstad made a nice diving parry with one hand to push it wide. The game got chippy again as the time wound down, with De Rosario getting a yellow in the 109th minute. Houston kept attacking, and Ngwenya missed wide on a one-v-one with Burse in the 112th minute. Houston played keep away the rest of the time, the only drama being Drew Moor earning a second yellow and being sent off for a tackle on Richard Mulrooney that the TV broadcast did not show. The loss ends the 2007 season for FC Dallas, while Houston advances to host Kansas City for the Western Conference Championship next weekend.
FC Dallas (1-1-0) vs. Houston Dynamo (1-1-0) Scoring Summary: FC Dallas Lineup:
Substitutes Not Used: Ricardinho, Dax McCarty, Aaron Pitchkolan, Abe Thompson Houston Dynamo Lineup:
Substitutes Not Used: Corey Ashe, Paul Dalglish, Patrick Ianni, Zach Wells, Chris Wondolowski
Misconduct Summary: Referee: Baldomero Toledo 13 Comments Comments RSS TrackBack Identifier URI Leave a comment | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
24 shots to 5 and 12 cards with 2 red, crazy night…the season was thrown away in one play…the better team didn’t win this one.
As a new fan this year . . . can someone answer this for me: is Houston really so much more agressive/”chippy”/ugly in their play than a team such as, say . . . DC United? I know that FCD dishes it back — they have to. But it just seemed to me that whenever FCD played Houston, it got so ugly and “not family friendly.” Whereas, I could watch a team like DCU play and appreciate that they seemed to have /good/ soccer. They may have beat us, but it seemed fair.
As for Friday’s game . . . I did get sick of EVERONE (including Ruiz)who flopped, and Houston seemed to be experts at at. But for Houston to NOT be willing to stop play when someone like Bobby Rhine is down and obviously hurt . . .? That just seemed . . . unacceptable and unprofessional. I have started to enjoy watching other teams play, too, this season. I like DCU and it’s players, for example. But . . . maybe it’s just the rivalry thing, but I could NEVER respect Houston or say that they are a better team, not if they have to play that ugly.
Totally agree Hutch. IHMO Houston played the scrappiest game in the MLS. There are a few players on their team who play good football, but for the most part the strategy is “in with the boot”. It’s just ugly. I’m always surprised at how they manage to avoid red cards, but they do get plenty of cautions.
I still don’t know how Robinson managed to avoid getting sent off. He pulled at least 3 professional fouls and consistenly howled at the ref each time he was called.. yet somehow we got all the “dissent” calls.
I’d just love to a some kind of microphone implant so I could hear what the players were saying to the ref, because the way cards were getting handed out you would have thought that Houston were laying on compliments -telling the ref how lovely his hair looked and that his socks matches his outfit perfectly.
The one thing our guys have to learn though is to walk away from confrontations. We’ve gotten too many cards through retaliation to what our players certainly perceived as violent or scrappy play.. this just happens and if the ref doesn’t spot it there’s just not much you can do about it. Chasing down the ref and screaming at him if he hasn’t seen it won’t get you anywhere either.. Yes, let the ref know.. but don’t piss him off. We have many refs in this league that will not tolerate what they perceive as being “shown up”.
If you must retaliate, at least do it in the course of play and make it look like you went for the ball. Perfect example Serioux who already knew he was injured and was going to be subbed out.. but he made damn sure that Holden knew that he wasn’t happy with his earlier challenge. He did a pretty good job of making it look like an honest attempt to play the ball and got a yellow for his trouble.. but better than retailiating off the ball which would have been a straight red.
“f you must retaliate, at least do it in the course of play and make it look like you went for the ball. Perfect example Serioux who already knew he was injured and was going to be subbed out.. but he made damn sure that Holden knew that he wasn’t happy with his earlier challenge. He did a pretty good job of making it look like an honest attempt to play the ball and got a yellow for his trouble.. but better than retailiating off the ball which would have been a straight red.”
Oh, how true! I remembered Serioux’s injury after I’d typed the above comment . . . and I remember the foul, now that you mentioned it. And yes — our guys lost their heads on several occaisions (Clarence, Drew, Chris, Artie). I know that FCD can foul as equally as the rest, but I’ve learned that there are “professional” fouls (ricchetti got a lot of those, I know), fouls to stop plays . . . and then downright dirty/ugly play. People comment about how Toja had the league record in fouls committed (83), but he received only 4 yellow cards. Then there’s Robinson with: 70 fouls, 11 yellow cards, and 1 ejection (and he always seemed to argue with the ref . . . don’t think I ever saw Toja argue about a card or foul). That, to me, highlights the difference between FCD’s “chippy” play and Houston’s.
fcd choked again…..all i keep hearing are excuses….excuses, excuses, excuses…i do think the better team one..
morrow and fcd choked…
“all i keep hearing are excuses….excuses, excuses, excuses…i do think the better team one..”
Good for you. Now, try being a more mature HD fan, stop pestering us and go cheer for your own team, and stop undercutting any credibility you might have by not being able to spell or capitalize worth a flip (won vs. one, geesh!). Might “trolling other teams boards/forums” fall under the category of “you need to get a life”?
Perhaps some math for you and your “better team.” My point here was that Houston seems to play ugly, nasty soccer with it’s fouling and theatrics (and don’t bother complaining about Ruiz — I don’t care for him either, in that respect). Let’s compare Toja and Robinson. Toja = 83 fouls with 4 cautions. ER = 70 with 11 cautions & 1 ejection. Hence the ratio of fouls to cautions (nevermind the red card) would be:
JCT = 83:4 or 20.75:1
ER = 70:11 or 6.4:1
That’s a card every 6 fouls or so for Mr. Robinson. Which, to me illustrates the difference in the equality (or lack thereof) of the two teams.
Ta ta!
wow apparently hutchtx is a renowned statistics professor at smu due to his due dilligence in creating the above statistical analysis…good job…no take your TI-83 and see if you can figure out how much money it will take fcd to make it past the first round of the playoffs
LOL! One hardly needs a calculator, even, to do a simple ratio. As for the second part. . . . I am supporter enough of this club to A) not go and belittle of other teams on their own discussion areas, and B) having only experienced the FCD ups-and-downs-, really, for one season, I’d say they don’t need more money, just A) no one take a “stupid pill” before the second playoff game (ie learn a little control and be “smart” about fouls), B) more work and practice next season on their team coordination, C) everyone stay healthy (which, btw, really affected their team coordination), and D) no more “brilliant” mid-season signings of international superstars. Either do it right at the beginning of the season, or don’t bother. We’ve got the talent. Just get them to function better as a unit/team.
So, ej . . . are you a Houston fan or a KC fan? And is it possible to just allow the FCD fans to discuss their team and its good points/bad points without outside pointless comments?
oh hutch…how little you know…actually an FCD fan, but so sick of people making excuses…front office this, morrow that…ultimately it comes down to the players winning…if they get their 400k then they need to earn it. if they are making 20k, then they need to prove to everyone that they should be making more…someone should be taking a smart pill….nope..someone shoud be smart enough to know the situation “up 2-0 on aggregate…50-60 minutes to play…playing away” it does not take a rocket scientist to know what “NOT” to do. you would think the team or at least some players learned that fact after last year’s playoff game at home (ghbandi) and you can talk about other teams players and such…but when talking about the fouling of one team over another all you have to do is go to this link
http://web.mlsnet.com/stats/discipline.jsp
(very bottom of the page)
FCD…bottom of the table on the fair play scale…so i don’t get the whole calling out a team that because of the fouling issue.
ultimately i think all these things are just excuses for the players to fall back on.
i think they need to be held accountable. held accountable for the red card (i think AA should get the same suspension and fine as clark…granted not as hideous looking, but flagarant none the less whether a dive was taken or not…he apparently at least tried to injure/hurt the guy) Will AA get the same suspension/fine..probably not becasue he did not go after one of the league’s poster child (the fish) like clark did.
you get subbed for a player…ultimately you need to make sure you do whatever it takes for your team to win…i saw that drive in houston’s team, but not soo much in all of FCD’s players.
just my opinion and sure you can factor in tactics, the swapping of formations and players. but really all players in the league are on their teams becasue the coaches/gm’s beleive that they can help their chances to winning a title.
anyways, just my opinion, maybe i dont look to others teams for blame, rather internally, especially at the players who’s job it is to contribute to their common effort, winning a championship.
but like i said….just my opinion
Valid points. My original point was why does the game seem so “nasty” when FCD plays Houston and not a team like DCU?
I am well aware the FCD is at the bottom of the fair play table, but there are “professional fouls” and then there is ugly play (going for the player not the ball, flopping and theatrics) — hence the comparison of each team’s top foulers.
I can appreciate that Houston has an outstanding defense, and I can appreciate players like De Rosario. The team ruins any respect I might have for them by the way they played on Friday and in the last game I witnessed in PHP.
Anyway, that’s all. I happen to agree with you on your points about earning one’s salary, etc. That just wasn’t what I originally asked about.
Just for some perspective (oh, btw, I do like the blog 3rd, even if it is FCD centric. I like to know the viewpoints of other fans and your blog is well done), Houston fans say the same thing about when we play FCD. We have no issues playing flowing soccer against other teams, but put us against you guys and it all goes chippy. We blame you, of course, because that’s what the data tells us. What other conclusion are we supposed to reach? That OUR team is the problem, when we have no issues independent from you?
Naturally, you make the same judgment in return. Just wanted to give a little bit of perspective. Of course, I’m a Houston fan… I MUST be wrong
yeah i know hutch, but i think t goes to my point about making excuses rather than taking responsibility
[...] be a particular specialty, having twice targeted Carlos Ruiz; ejected for one incident in 2006 and cautioned for another last year. He also received a red last year for a last-man tackle on Salt Lake’s Kyle Beckerman, and [...]