Houston, WE have a problem....

 

Houston 3:2 FC Frisco

It started like most other games.  Get to the parking lot, check out the vibe of the band playing outside the stadium, get a feel for how big the crowd would be, and talk about our thoughts on the game.  Wade Dowden is one of the biggest Dynamo fans I've ever met and has been kind enough to share his season tickets with me this year.  We sit in section 203, and Wade has never missed one minute of game action since he started buying season tickets a few years back.  Seriously, the guy won't even get up to go to the bathroom.  We got there a little early yesterday, as we were scared that parking would be hard to come by with the Astros playing across the street.  As we were walking up to the stadium Wade said "Uh.....dude, do you see this or am I going crazy?"  So, for those of you that didn't know, we now have a new Stadium sponsor and name.  It's soo new, they haven't changed any of the signs inside the stadium yet.  This has been reported for a while, PNC has been working on acquiring BBVA for some time.  I had forgotten about it, and hadn't seen anything about this at all, and it kind of took both of us by surprise.

We walked over to Pitch 25 to grab a bite to eat and share a bucket before the game.  The atmosphere there was good (as always), and I just had a good feeling going into the game.  There were a lot of Orange Kitsat the greatest striker in Dynamo History's establishment, lots of beers were flowing, and lots of happy people were mingling.  The last time we played Frisco on August 22nd, we played to a 2:2 draw in which we dominated almost the entire first half and Frisco couldn't get the ball across midfield.  It was a frustrating game, the Dynamo had a ton of chances in the first half, and only a Fafa Picault penalty in the 25th minute found the back of the game.  We wore ourselves out trying to get the second goal, and pushed too high to start the second half.  The game ended in a 2:2 draw, and after two draws with FC Frisco this year I was ready for a win.

This game started in a much different way.  The press with the front three of Urruti, Dorsey, and Fafa was much less persistent, and Tab set his back 4 much deeper. Despite the fact that Dallas kept finding Jáder Obrian behind the defense, he kept finding either the side net or the back of Tim Parker's legs for the first half of play.  You could tell Tab had setting our backline and looking to strike on the counter, and it took just under 5 minutes to hit.  With the backline sitting deep and the front 3 putting pressure on Dallas' midfield, the Dynamo were taking away the short passing game and forcing Frisco to play the ball deep.  It saw quick results, as in the third minute a deep diagonal pass from Brandon Servenia to Paxton Pomykal was picked off by Zarek Valentine.  Without an option for a quick counter, the ball eventually was played back to Michael Nelson.  Nelson found Teenage Hadebe, who darted one 30 yards to Fafa in the middle of the pitch.  Fafa chipped a beautiful one-touch pass over a defender's head to Lundkvist on the left sideline, then turned and hit the afterburners. Lundkvist corralled it before going down hard on a tackle by Obrian, but the ball squirted forward and found Fafa on a dead sprint.  Fafa took two nice touches and crossed a bouncing cross through the box.  How the ball didn't find a powder blue uniform, I still don't know.  What's even more amazing is Phelipe was standing like he was frozen in time.  The ball had taken a slight deflection off a Dallas defender and took 4 hops through the box, Griffen Dorsey made a great play chasing it down from the backside, and blasted home his second goal of the season.

There was real excitement when this happened in BBVA (I refuse to call it PNC yet).  The official attendance was 12,353, but I'd say there were more like 6,000-7,000 sitting in the seats.  There was a great group of teenagers sitting behind us that seemed to be a Griffen Dorsey fan club (btw, props to the dude wearing a hat that looked like Homer Simpson's Nacho Hat.)  Those kids were awesome.  Props also to the little kids jumping and screaming "LET'S GO DYNAMO!" while waving their shirts over their heads.  Those kids were up and screaming from the top of the stadium the entire night.  You can see on the replay the jumping and cheering on the goal, like we'd just scored in a derby. It hit home when Dorsey found Fafa right in front of the net for a sliding right-footer at the 20th-minute mark to put us up 2:0, and despite an extremely physical game, there was some great back and forth action.  When Parker got taken down inside the box for a penalty, it was all but over. Darwin Quintero put the penalty shot home for his first goal of the year, and we were up 3:0.  FC Dallas wasn't done though and tried to make a comeback.  You can say we switched off, you could say it was the effect of playing 3 games in 7 days, you can also say we just hung on to a win despite 7 minutes of stoppage time (which actually ended up being about  10 according to my stopwatch). In the end, three points is three points, and while don't like Obrian constantly getting in behind our defense, we got the job done.

Tab has found a lineup.

Over the last three games, Tab has switched from his 4-3-3 (using essentially a #6, and two #8's), to a 4-2-3-1 using Darwin at the #10.  While an increased uptick in attacking efficiency and shot creation shouldn't surprise anyone, winning 7 points out of 9 should surprise everyone with the way this season has been going.  Darwin garners a ton of attention, and defenses are funneling to him in the middle of the field, which opens up our wings.  Griffin Dorsey and Fafa Picault have taken full advantage of this over the last two weeks, combining for 5 goals and 2 assists in the last three games alone. And while I am aware of how terrible Darwin has been at times, you could see him starting to gain traction after the All-Star break.  Both Tab and Glenn Davis have said recently that the problem with Quintero all year long has been fitness, and being that MLS basically gives you nothing in terms of injury or illness reports, and no one has just come out and said what the issue has been all year long, it seems like there's more to the story than Tab simply deciding not to play him. That lineup will have to change a bit with Adam Lundkvist apparently going down for the season with a dislocated knee, which is a shame because Lundi has been playing really, really well for the last month.

Nelson should keep the job for the rest of this year.

He's earned it.  He's been every bit as good as Marco Maric at tending the net, and his distribution is infinitely better.  He's beginning to lead out there as well, you can see him barking orders to Parker and Hadebe in runs of play.  Other than the fact we've looked better in his 5 starts, and finally started winning some games, it should be his job to keep for the rest of the year.  If he performs, we can maybe pick up some help at RB or an international slot back in the offseason for Maric.  I'd love to see a Katy native and former draft pick grab hold of this job and run with it. I'd love even more to see us succeed with him there.  So far, he's been really solid.

The Dynamo won a penalty in every FC Dallas match this year.

Corona's header finding a pinky inside the box in the first game.  Fafa won a penalty in the box in the second, and Tim Parker won one last night.  The Dynamo managed to pull points in each of these matchups and the penalties were the difference.

Why I chose this title and final thoughts.

I don't know if it was the shared bucket before the game, or going up 3:0 and knowing we were going to win, but last night felt good.  When I got home (after celebratory Waffle House.....don't judge.  You know YOU love Waffle House), I jumped on Dynamo Reddit to see if there was any news on Lundi's leg injury. What I saw there was expected, but it's also fairly disheartening.  I didn't find anything about Lundi's leg, but I did find a large number of posts of people angry that we're actually winning.  Like.....seriously?  What are we going for, the #1 pick in the MLS Super Draft?  This team is starting to show something we've been looking for two years now....progression.  That's a good thing.  There are people out there still cheering for us to lose so we can tear down a roster we literally just built and fire a coach who spent his first year dealing with losing his best player without a backup plan and having 15 new players in the squad this year.  This was never going to be an immediate results team.  I said it last year, I said it at the beginning of this year, and I'm saying it again now.  This is a squad you can build off of though, and Tab is a coach you can build with.   It's pretty amazing, that anything posted with any positivity about the Dynamo gets met with immediate push-back.  If we win, I get maybe 100 hits on my post.  If we lose or I post something critical of the team, I get almost 1,000.  Negativity has infiltrated us, and it's time for us to let it go.

We have a new owner.  You guys demanding that won.  We got rid of Matt Jordan.  We turned over basically 1/2 the roster in the last 8 months.  We added new pieces at the Transfer Window.  This team has done almost everything the fan base has demanded, and yet......barely anyone shows up and fans still can't let it go.  

We threaten to beat up our own supporter's groups, and fans.  We actually beat up other team's supporters and steal part of their livelihood.  We showed up wearing bags over our heads, and the #FireMattJordan call (and now #FireTabRamos) was louder than the support we give our guys.  We hijack any positive post online with nothing but vitriol and negativity.  It's time to let it go.  At some point, we have to decide to jump back on board and back into the stadium.  There are good things happening there.  I wanted to also take the time to say how proud and appreciative I am of those who stepped up to help the young man from Austin.  That's what this city is about.  This city is about resilience.  We've been through countless floods, hurricanes, disasters, and infighting and have ALWAYS come out on top.  We've always shown up in droves to help each other out, and have each other's backs.  It's time for us to start doing that for our #ForeverOrange crew.  Very few people in this city actually care about the Dynamo, and it's time for the few of us that do to start to have their back.  That includes Ted Segal, that includes Tab, and that includes every person who is currently wearing that uniform.  It's been a long season, it's been a frustrating and disappointing one, but lets soak in this good and go out and cheer our hearts out.  Let's start packing this stadium and letting OUR voice be heard.  After the last two years, this team deserves it.

I know it's been a long time since the glory days of Robertson Stadium and posting 2 stars above our crest, I know the road's been frustrating.  Honestly, I've never really known the Dynamo to be good.  Outside of our run in 2017, they've been bad pretty much the entire time I've followed them.  I think we've found a track, and we need to see this one out.  To all the ones who disagree with me:  You be you, but also let us be us.  To all the ones out there excited about this team:  Keep being excited.  This team doesn't have enough of you, and it deserves more.  When this team finally turns it around, you'll be the firsts in line. Oh, and let's all agree to remember to say a prayer up for Lundi.

#HoldItDown and remember to stay #ForeverOrange,

Brian