Dynamo 2:1 San Jose - Reaction

Anyway, on to the game. The atmosphere before the game was pretty live, considering the limited capacity that was allowed.  The lines were full, the mood was good.  People were walking with a little bounce in their step on the way to their seats.  IT'S OPENING DAY.  New season, new players, new hopes...right?  Despite the dreary night and the rain coming down, the game started off with a bang and ended with three points.  We were clearly the better team for the majority of the game and it was a convincing 2-1 win.  

While Memo Rodriguez was named man of the match, Boniek Garcia's work as an impromptu center-back can't be overlooked.  Boniek was everywhere and shut down San Jose's attack from minute 1-90.  The pairing of he and Tim Parker was really intriguing, and they seemed to communicate and play off each other much better than what we saw from Sam Junqua in the preseason.  I don't think there's any question we're still looking for that second central defender, it'll probably be by committee. But Boniek definitely made a case to make the job his on Friday night and without question earned that captain's band on his arm.  His tackle at midfield at the 43:00 mark on Cade Cowell stopped a sure breakaway right before the half.  He sacrificed a yellow to stop a break after a terrible turnover by Adam Lundkvist.  It was a head's up, tuff, veteran play that stopped a chance before it was ever created.  I don't know how many balls he won or chased down at midfield, but he shot down a ton of long balls all game long.  Hist tackle inside the box at the 53:00 mark was beautiful. It was a leader's effort, and I loved seeing it from him.

The first half showed a combination of really nice combination play and defending.  We'll get to that,

but it also showed some warning flags for down the road.  Adam Lundqvist was shaky.  He was out of position often, he gave the ball away easily at times, and was just not as sharp as he normally is. Even though it's hard to complain about a guy that led us in tackles, his passing, ball handling, and decision-making were off.  Especially for someone as steady as Lundkvist normally is.  Maybe he had too much of our bad coffee (shout out to Soccer City Podcast) before the game. Marco Meric was solid in goal, but his distribution in the first half was terrible at times.  He has to make better/faster decisions and be more accurate downfield with the ball.  The defense in front of him kept him mostly clean, but the few times he needed to start the attack there wasn't an orange shirt in the area of his pass.  A couple of times the ball found nothing but the video board on the sideline. There's not a lot of large complaints here, there was more good than bad, but once again we failed to capitalize off far too many chances and our finishing has to get better.  We defended aggressively from the front, we built attacks, and our combo play was nice.  The weather wasn't all that helpful, and you could tell that the ball was playing quick on the grass.  Footing was tricky, and you saw several players on both sides slipping as they were trying to cut back. 

Houston was the more aggressive team from the start.  We came out pressing with purpose, and Pasher, Urruti, and Picault were creating problems in the attacking third from the getgo.  Corona, Memo, and Vera were really creating havoc in the midfield, and to put it plainly, simply outworked San Jose. At the 2:20 mark, Corona intercepted a pass and fired downfield to a racing Picault.  The ball just skipped out of Picaults reach to the goalkeeper J.T. Marcinkowski, but the warning shot began to show the tone of this game:  We were here to win. Only a minute later (after a nice combo by Mattias Vera off a throw-in) Fafa Picault raced paced two defenders and nearly found Tyler Pasher for a header on the back post.  It was only inches off, but the Dynamo were hyper-aggressive offensively and defensively in the opening minutes.  Even after a long pause due to Tommy Thompson's shoulder injury, the Dynamo were right back at it. La Naranja looked like a swarm of angry bees, and the second we went back to play, a Joe Corona steal led to a quick break, excellent hold-up play by Maxi Urruti, who found Memo on the run between two defenders with an excellent bender.  Memo's pass to a streaking Tyler Pasher just nipped a defender's heel and was picked up by Marcinkowski, but we were on the front foot and coming strong.

-8:30, another turnover and great movement finds Memo wide open just outside the box.  His shot just finds a defender's foot.

-9:40 - a streaking Picault has the ball just skip off his head to the keeper.

-10:00 - the Dynamo threaten again off good hold-up play from Urruti, a nice run from Pasher, and Memo is just turned away.

-10:30 - Boniek wins a header at midfield, that finds Corona, Corona hits Memo who punches a nice through ball to Tyler Pasher.  Pasher's cross hits a sliding Picault who puts the ball in the back of the net.  Pasher was offsides by a forearm, and the goal is taken away.

How San Jose survived this flurry of punches without conceding a goal was more luck than skill.  But they came away clean and began to fight back.  The Dynamo flurry was brought on by the aggression of Vera and Corona in the midfield, and the steady play of Parker and Garcia in the back.  They were winning every ball and turning them into quick offense.

At the 12:00 mark, San Jose threatened for the first time, as Javier Lopez's shot front 20 yards out was no problem for Marco Maric.  It was a soft jab after a flurry of counterpunches and stinging jabs that just missed the mark, but San Jose began to calm the game down.  The game started to turn a little sloppy, and a lot more physical. With heavy rainfall pouring down on BBVA, fouls became prevalent.  San Jose was having trouble dealing with the pressure and were seeking to split #ForeverOrange open with a deep ball down the middle. Their possession play was based mainly in the backline, as Vera and Corona were dominating the midfield. For the next 10 minutes of play, San Jose dominated possession, but created almost nothing.  At the 22 minute mark, a great run started by Fafa found quick-hitting action between Picault, Memo, and Vera.  Vera's left-footed chance was tipped just wide, but the Dynamo started to break through again.  The ensuing corner found Picault wide open at the back post.  After a good effort to control it, he rushed the shot and lasted it into The Surge.  On the ensuing goal kick, Boniek headed the ball to a waiting Urruti who then found Tyler Pasher cutting back to his heavy left foot.  Pasher blasted one but Florian Jungwirth was there to turn it away (and amazingly enough, Boniek won this ball back too.)

Finally, at the 38-minute mark, Memo Rodriguez cracked the game open. After some back and forth play, Boni stole a clearance at mid-field. He found Joe Corona with tons of space in between defenders who lobbed a perfect pass into Memo. Memo fought off Jungwirt for position, spun and outraced both the keeper and Oswaldo Alanís to the ball.  With Marcinkowski completely off his line, and hung out to dry like a pair of old work jeans, Memo sliced the ball past him beautifully for the game's first goal.  The build-up was nice and Corona's pass was perfectly laid, but Memo simply outworked everyone for that goal.  The Dynamo had finally notched ahead in a game they were clearly winning.  After a suspect Yellow on Mattias Vera, and another on the aforementioned Garcia, the Dynamo broke for half with a 1:0 lead.  Memo nearly made it 2:0 in added time, but after a tremendous run and a great pull back, his shot hit the woodwork and bounced back.

 

The second half had a different tone.  Houston was a little more content to sit back and allow San Jose to control possession.  Max Urruti finally widened the gap when Tyler Pasher found him right in the middle of the 18-yard box all by himself.  He slotted it nicely to the left side lower corner, and the Dynamo were now up 2:0 with just a little more than 30 minutes remaining on the clock. Tab's side dug in a little deeper, sat back a little more, and allowed San Jose to sit in their own half.  Minutes later Fafa sprung loose again on the counter and Marcinkowski just got a mit on it.  The ball ended up about 6" wide, but the Dynamo were knocking again.  Memo got another good chance right before the hour mark with a left-footed blast that missed by about a foot to the right.

With Chris Wondolowski now on, and Matias Almeyda bringing on fresh legs and throwing bodies forward, San Jose began to crack the Houston defense.  They weren't creating great chances, but they were testing and prodding.  Paul Marie scored an unbelievable goal from about 25 yards with a fantastic curler that found the right side.  It was a perfectly placed shot from deep and brought the game to one with 15 minutes remaining. 

It took until the 83-minute mark for San Jose to finally crack us open, and when they did they split us wide open.  Cristian Espinoza shot loose to track down a tremendous through-ball after a bad bounce on a Houston corner.  San Jose had numbers and position, as Darwin Ceren raced back to recover.  It was a 2v1 with Wondolowski racing down the left side. Espinoza's shot found Marco Meric's armpit, but the ball bounced right to Wondolowski about a foot from a wide-open net.  Wondolowski did that other thing he's famous for (Luckily for the Dynamo) and just completely blew the chance. 

It was the last bit of real excitement in the game.  Derrick Jones and Christian Ramirez came on shortly after, and the Dynamo held on to win a 2:1 nail bitter.  I feel like this is a game we wouldn't have won last year, but I'm also trying to be realistic about it.  We were clearly the best team on the pitch, but the goal-scoring chances translating to goals is still a problem.  The late-game defensive collapse once again almost bit us (and should have.  I still have no idea how Wondo missed that goal).  It feels good to win, but there's still serious concern to take away from this game.  Here's a look at a few individual players and some bright spots.  I'm not a "player rater" guy, so I'll just tell you what I saw.

Ariel Lassiter:  I was really critical of him last week, but he found Maxi right in front of the goal at the for a terrific chance right after coming on.  I'm not saying he was good.  He lost the ball twice in the box late in the game and gave the ball up too easily.  But he was better.  He helped create a couple of chances, but his defending and decision making still need to improve.

Tyler Pasher: It was a nice debut from Pasher.  I can see why Tab seems to like him soo much.  His work rate is really good, and he spearheads the defense.  He made some really nice passes in both the quick passing game and crossing as well, and he has good timing on his runs.  He's athletic enough to play at this level and should be a solid addition.  

Maxi Urruti: If he can play like this week in/week out we'll be alright.  His hold-up play was on point, he had several good chances, and he capitalized on his best one right in front of the goal.  He was putting a lot of pressure on the Quakes backline until he got a little banged up near the end of the first half.  He stayed down a couple of times grabbing his ankle, but lets hope he can stay healthy for the duration of the season.  He's a major upgrade over Christian Ramirez.

Vera and Corona: Simply put, dominated the midfield for the first 80 minutes of play.  They outworked, outfought, out everything'd San Jose for 88 of the 90 minutes, and they are a huge reason the Dynamo won.  They connected play really well, and just put in workman-like efforts.

Fafa Picault: Easily the most threatening player on the pitch.  He's lightning quick and caused a ton of problems.  San Jose couldn't match his speed or quickness and he's a major upgrade.

Tim Parker:  Tim Parker was just extremely solid.  He was always there, right were he needed to be.  He built from the back, he won every ball, and was soo good you almost didn't notice how good he was.

Marco Maric: While his distribution was really bad in the first half, his goalkeeping was outstanding. He was never out of position and it took a golazo to beat him.

Finally, of all the things I love about the game, the thing I loved the most was this:

It was great seeing you all out there last night.  Good night for a win.  Bang those drums, blow those horns, set off those flairs, and bounce like House of Pain.  We've earned it, and after last year, we definitely deserve it.

#HoldItDown and #StayForeverOrange.

Thanks for reading

Brian