Houston v. Pachuca: What Stuck

Houston Dynamo 2 - 0 CF Pachuca (Report)

Overview
Um, holy poop. Never did I expect this score-line, not least after that frantic first half. But the more remarkable thing was that after scoring that first, somewhat fluky goal, Houston settled into an impressive rhythm; I think it’s fair to say they had Pachuca on the back-foot by the game’s end. Not to take anything away from Houston - and I can’t believe I’m writing this about a game between Mexicans and Americans - but the officiating helped Houston; the question is to what extent.

One big picture point to pass on: this game was a hell of a lot more fun to watch than the DC United v. CD Chivas de Guadalajara affair.

Pachuca
These cats looked so slick for the first twenty minutes that I feared a rout going opposite the final tally. They looked able to carve openings with short, tight passing in the Houston defense at will. With Kelly Gray struggling, they had their best luck down their left side, though Pachuca’s #10 player’s storming runs up the middle caused some problems as well. Their massive center-back was certainly imposing; didn’t look like Houston would ever get around that guy.

Then, something happened; I’m still working out what. Part of it was Houston settling down - Gray’s left side in particular - and, gradually, the gaping opportunities, of which there were a few stopped appearing; Zach Wells saved their best chance, over-enthusiastic finishing launched shots over the bar, and other pulled their shots wide. Then the officiating - which wasn’t awful, but, shockingly, was generous to Houston - seemed to get inside their heads. Players got angry, then they get chippy, and, finally, they got flustered.

In the end, Pachuca’s worst enemy was Pachuca. They got unsettled, they gave up one soft goal (Brian Ching’s near-range, wide-open headed goal) and utterly fell apart on the second. Finishing just one of their several first-half chances would have meant a lot to this series.

Houston
I count myself a fan of Kelly Gray; his versatility is a valuable commodity if nothing else. But I can’t think of a player on either team who had a worse day. So many lowlights: more desperate lunges than I can count (though he nailed a crucial one smack in the middle of the second half), a ten-to-fifteen minute period in the first half when Gray could, literally, not complete a pass to a teammate, and a lackadaisical moment where a lurking Pachuca forward caught him napping en route to a retrieving a ball rolling toward his goal.

But Gray’s individual performance embodied that of his team. That crunching, 70th-ish minute tackle, which that stopped a Pachuca counter dead in its tracks, came around the time Houston started to assert itself in the game. By that time, Gray, along with the rest of Houston, sharpened their game: they intercepted pass after pass by stepping assuredly into the passing lanes; they knocked the ball around quickly and efficiently, keeping possession for decent chunks of time for the first time in 2007. By the end of the game, Houston was on something close to cruise control. If you told me I would type that last sentence anytime before 4:15 p.m. PST yesterday, I would have laughed in your face.

But it happened.

Houston Player Notes
Craig Waibel - Your man of the match. No question for me. Just dominating in the back. He paired well enough with Robinson that I’d consider making the switch permanent.

Wade Barrett - deserves honorable mention at the very least. He and Waibel combined to keep Houston afloat when things looked dark early.

Brian Ching - was absent for so much of the game, but I’m mainly preoccupied with trying to figure out how he got open as he did on his goal. Like the rest of the team, he picked it up and made a couple of nice runs with the ball at his feet, which led to fouls, etc. Good enough day.

Brad Davis - finally looked like himself. The free-kicks/corners/crosses looked good and, toward the end, he did very well with managing possession. And sharp cross on the second goal.

Brian Mullan - can’t lay much claim to having an effective day, at least on offense; little of what he attempted came off. But he was active and disruptive on Houston’s right defense. He seems to be having trouble getting started this year.

Kelly Gray - enjoyed a late tale of redemption; I could hear the stirring music in the background.

Alejandro Moreno - I finally caught how this guy draws so many fouls. His sense of how to establish position at the very last possible second recalls the knack some basketball players have for drawing charges. He had a basically useful day. And I love the sly grin this guy wears as he plays; put another way, Moreno looks how he plays: cunning.

Zach Wells - Clutch, half-lucky first-half save aside, his other notable contribution was less clear-cut. When he came way off his line to try to head the ball away from a Pachuca player, he did leave his net terribly exposed (Waibel covered); but would that have been any worse than letting the player settle and charge in on goal? Even if it almost fell apart, it was a defensible decision.

Dwayne DeRosario - I don’t recall DeRosario being the focus of a tussle like that before; doesn’t mean it hasn’t happened, but it was noteworthy to me. No less noteworthy: that simple pass that sprung Davis to set up the second goal.

Chris Wondolowski - way to go, kid! Hell of a finish. Come to Portland and I’ll buy you a beer.

Conclusion
While Houston is by no means on to the final, they certainly did what they had to ahead of the return leg to Mexico. Resisting the temptation to play “bunker-ball” might be the wiser course; killing of games is one technique with which MLS clubs still need practice, even if the future is now. Still, that second half performance has me believing they could actually get a result in Pachuca. And they should expect something very different by way of officiating.

Houston v. Puntarenas: Celebration Edition

"In the end, it wasn't dominance or a flashy play that gave the Dynamo their first — and so far most important — victory at the international level. Instead it was teamwork, grit and simply being at the right place at the right time that propelled the Dynamo to the semifinals of CONCACAF's Champions' Cup."
- Bernardo Fallas, Houston Chronicle, 03.02.07 (LINK)

With that lead, Fallas described the Houston Dynamo's hard-scrabble win over Costa Rica's Puntarenas FC as well as can be done. But the same point can be said more directly: Houston won ugly. That's not to say the didn't deserve to win; they did and clearly so as I see it. But even after reading several articles and reviews, I feel no need to alter what I wrote about this match last night. The profound unease of witnessing Houston's inability to either possess the ball or successfully clear it, knowing that minute by minute, I was getting later and later at picking up my daughter from Girl Scouts, that's what really drove home the ugliness and uncertainy of this win for me. I found myself unable to leave because I simply couldn't trust them to keep the necessary clean sheet.

Though it made for more painful viewing, Houston's win remains the bigger accomplishment of the two Major League Soccer (MLS) clubs. It's not just that this is, as Jeff Carlisle pointed out over on ESPN's site, the first time a Major League Soccer side beat a Costa Rican team in a home-and-away series in CONCACAF Champions Cup play. No disrespect to DC United intended, but it's clear that Puntarenas was a stronger match for Houston than Olimpia proved to be for DC.

In any case, I know what I saw and here's the big picture: the talk about the better field working to both teams' advantage definitely held last night. Assuming the field was bigger in dimension, Puntarenas did plenty to make it look small - damned small at times; the Costa Ricans pressure on the ball was incredible, if uneven, and it hit a peak during the game's frantic finish. But there was something weird in this as well: for all their pressure, and for as much time as Houston just couldn't get the ball clear, Puntarenas really struggled to get clear shots on goal. And when they did, Zach Wells was always there, something an article in the Bryan-College Station Eagle reminded me of today. For me, Wells stands as man of the match and the series.

On the opposite side, Houston had some great moments to complement their scrappy ones. The one that stands out, particulary in the context of Puntarenas' pressure, was the Dynamo's first goal; Brian Mullan had days to tee-up his cross to the far post and I can't, for the life of me, figure how he found that much space on the wing. Here, as well as with the second goal, it's fair to acknowledge something from Marc Connolly's contribution to this Love-In:

"Both of Houston's goals came from rebounds, which should please head coach Dominic Kinnear. It's one thing to create chances and get shots on frame. But to have players swarming around the goal and getting to loose balls in traffic is the mark of a great team."

Change the word "great" to "effective" and I'm on board with that quote; and, no, those concepts aren't synonymous in my world.

The point is, Houston simply wasn't going to win this game, or score those goals, any other way than the way they did - e.g. scrappy goals in a scrappy game. Shockingly loose as the marking was on the first goal, Kelly Gray's winner - i.e. the goal that counted - came from inside a scrum; had the ball not bounced directly his way, things might have ended a lot differently. With the amount of flopping Puntarenas' Mario Camacho was doing, there was the ever-present threat of a free-kick in a dangerous place - one of which gave the Costa Ricans their best chance - or a penalty call that would have had all of us saying something different today. Over both legs, Puntarenas severely limited Houston's ability to play, or possess the ball. A realization about coping with an effective pressure game comes out of this: it makes better sense to play t he ball into one of your guys upfield, even if he's standing in the teeth of the defense, than it is to play the ball laterally or back; that way, at least your side still has players behind the ball if and when it gets coughed up. It certainly doesn't make for an easy night and it's certainly not pretty, but it serves the purpose - especially on a night when your side just isn't clicking well enough to knock it around.

The big picture take-away is that this was one hell of a tricky series and Houston did very well to survive it.

And, whoops, it seems a smart idea to add a link to video highlights of the game for those who didn't catch it. Enjoy.