FC Dallas at Houston Dynamo: Your Running Commentary

The Texas Derby resumes today with the Houston Dynamo playing host to FC Dallas at Robertson Stadium. FC Dallas might have some ugly flashbacks to the last visit to Robertson, which was the 4-1 overtime loss in game two of their Western Conference playoff series last November.

In fact, FC Dallas was 0-3 in Houston last season. The Dynamo has won all five meetings between the teams at Robertson Stadium since the Dynamo was formed in 2006.

If FC Dallas has an advantage, it is that the Dynamo will surely be looking ahead to its mid-week CONCACAF Champions Cup semifinal against Deportivo Saprissa. The Hoops will be looking to erase the memories of last week's disappointing 1-1 tie with Chivas USA, a match FC Dallas was winning late before a Duilio Davino miscue helped Chivas USA find an equalizer.

Today's match will be shown nationally on Telefutura at 3 p.m. If you plan on watching the match, and will be online, please feel free to share your thoughts, opinions and some play-by-play in the comments section below.

Enjoy the match.

Comments

[blog]

My prediction: Hou 2 - Dal 1 ...but it's been a crazy start to the MLS season already, so who really knows. ;)

[FC Uptown]

No Telefutura in Ohio! Stream??

[clint dempsey]

been searching for an hour +...can't find it

[clint dempsey]

i called comcast in pittsburgh, and they laughed about telefutura.not too much latin flavour in western pa.(since chi-chi's went through the colon)

[Patrick]

I live just north of NYC, in the hudson valley, and i cant get telefutura!!! Whats up with that?

[clint dempsey]

ricky clark still has 1 game togo? or is today the day?

[frank]

WOW clint and fc where the f***k do you guys live? not trying to be a prick, but maybe it's time to spread the wings and get the hell out.

[FC Uptown]

No Telefura in Northern Ohio. Purchased DK and MlsTV.com but that doesnt help me now. Might have to pay again to listen to the radio broadcast. Local Houston coverage will surely shut off soon http://kprcradio.com/main.html

[FC Uptown]

No Telefutura in Northern Ohio. Purchased DK and MlsTV.com but that doesnt help me now. Might have to pay again to listen to the radio broadcast. Local Houston coverage will surely shut off soon http://kprcradio.com/main.html

[Patrick]

I believe today is the day but i am not sure.

[clint dempsey]

plans in the works, no offense taken, i even went the step of attempting to purchase the spanish speeking package on directv,but don't have a dual lnb... guess this one will have to go on without me. as they say when late for the bbq..."keep me abreast" hahaha

[clint dempsey]

speak...the local has not taken over my brain

[AlexS]

Rico is still suspended for this game, it's the last of his 9 game suspension.

Don't know of any streams, but I'll try to give updates on the game anyways.

So far it looks like the Dynamo have the run of play, but the Dynamo lineup has a lot of untested players in it.

------------Onstad-------------
Waibel-Boswell-Robinson-Barrett
----------Mulrooney------------
--Cameron---------------Ashe--
-------------DeRo--------------
-------Caraccio-Ching----------

Can't remember the Dallas lineup, I'll see if I can look it up

[EricJ]

FC Dallas
Starting Lineup

* 44 - Dario Sala (GK)
* 4 - Duilio Davino
* 6 - Pablo Ricchetti
* 8 - Juan Toja
* 11 - Andre Rocha
* 12 - Arturo Alvarez
* 13 - Dax McCarty
* 14 - Drew Moor
* 15 - Adrian Serioux
* 23 - Blake Wagner
* 33 - Kenny Cooper

[AlexS]

FCD lineup:

Sala
Moor-Davino-Serioux-Wagner
Rocha-Richetti-Toja-McCarty
Cooper-Alvarez

13' Boswell gets beat (again) and FCD gets a corner out of it. Almost a goal after Onstad guards the header low and the ball bounces up, thankfully hitting off the top crossbar and come down to Dynamo heads who knock it out.

Second corner leads to a boot up the field and a FCD freekick, which takes a bounce off a Dynamo player for a corner. Corner is knocked out for a throw in, which Serioux long throws, which Onstad collects.

This is the first real offensive ball control for FCD today, as the rest of the game had been the Dynamo knocking the ball through the FD midfield and getting no looks on goal, then starting over again.

[AlexS]

18' Houston with some good passing in the FCD side near the touchline, gett a good cross over which is hit back to DeRo (after Ching is flattened in the box - but it looked like the FCD player was playing ball so it was a good no call) who shoots it, save by Sala.

[brentmcd]

GOOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!

[AlexS]

21' Boot from Sala on a phanton offsides gets to Toja in the Dynamo 18 yard box, who knocks it to Alvarez. Shot saved by Onstad.

Resulting play results in a Dynamo cross going high, being recovered on the other side, and crossed again. This one fins a mass involving Ching, Caraccio, and Sala with no foul and the ball going in.

Goal Caraccio.

[Xiphosis]

Houston looks great on the offensive 18 minutes in but they're getting few chances to actually go forward.

FCD is pretty calm and collected and around 8 minutes in got like 3 corners and a throw-in before Onstad snatched it out of the air on the throw.

Alvarez (FCD) just slammed a nice one in the 20th but it was jumped on...

... and as I type it, Caraccio (HOU) puts one in 30 seconds after on a cross & header on the counter-attack. Great service, great goal.

[brentmcd]

primer gol de la campaña para el argentino

[AlexS]

23' Onstad down in the area after an FCD forward challenged him in the air with a little elbow at the end. FCD number 23. Onstad back up and looks like he'll keep playing, but it looks like his right shoulder is bothering him.

[blog]

Anyone know why Holden is missing from the HOU lineup?

[AlexS]

26' Beautiful pass upfield to Corey Ashe with space on the wing, his cross at the touchline is a bit wild, and winds up being a goal kick.

Cooper holding his head in pain, couldn't see what happened to him, but the resulting free kick was caught by Onstad.

[AlexS]

@blog

Holden picked up an Ankle injury against New England, and also missed the midweek game against Deportivo Saprissa.

[AlexS]

28'

Onstad can't continue (guess his injury was bad) and backup keeper Tony Caig (picked up from Gretna in Scotland) comes in for him. I think I like his keeper jersey more than I like Onstad's.

[blog]

Thanks for that, AlexS.

[eric]

Bummer on Holden. Thanks Alex, just tuning in and catching up, and that was question #1 over here

[Xiphosis]

Almost a goal for Houston, 33' minute. Dallas defense does just enough to clear.

[clint dempsey]

thanks for the effort

[brentmcd]

nice action for dynamo in front of the dallas goal, but not really resulting in a good shot.

toja is class, but he is getting frustrated....

[AlexS]

33' Four (?) shots on goal in 20 seconds for the Dynamo. Might have been fewer, but none of them made it to the FCD keeper. FCD defense did well to limit shooting angles on that attack.

[Xiphosis]

GOAL Dallas

Break-away run

[brentmcd]

i'd like to think that onstad wouldn't have allowed that goal, dammit

[eric]

Kenny Cooper with the sweet lob!

[Xiphosis]

Cooper chips it over the GK's head. 35'

[AlexS]

35' Caig caught out of position on a chip from Kenny Cooper, goal FC Dallas to knot it up at 1-1.

Can't help but think Onstad wouldn't have made that mistake.

[Xiphosis]

Onstad would've been all over it, he knows it to I bet, he's probably fuming on the bench

[clint dempsey]

is boswell sucking up the joint?

[eric]

Near answer by Weibel - Game on! Now let's just get the Telefutura Babe Cam going and call it an afternoon.

[AlexS]

38' Waibel passes to Cameron (?) who bets Serioux in the corner and passes back to Waibel, whose shoot bounces off the outside of the right side post.

[Xiphosis]

Looks like Dallas' midfield is just doing it wrong.

[AlexS]

43' Serioux downright mugs Brian Ching to keep him from getting to a pass, not so much as a foul call from Abbey. Okulaja's letting them play which concerns me giving his love for the red card.

[briguy]

Shite! Anybody know what happens to my MLS Fantasy points with Onstad heading to the bench. He was headed for a clean sheet...

[eric]

My condolences to Onstad's water bottle, which was just slammed to the ground.

[Xiphosis]

Dallas goal on a great run! Cooper!

43'

[Xiphosis]

My bad, 45'

[AlexS]

45' Damn. As I was just thinking "wow, that's Toja's second touch on the ball today" he passes over to Cooper who isn't well marked by Boswell and hits a slow, low shot that Caig jumps all over...

...until he lets it go OVER his hands and into the net >_<

FCD leading well against the run of play, 2-1.

[brentmcd]

grrrrr, i'd like to think onstad would have saved that goal too.

[Xiphosis]

Toja-Cooper could be a pretty dangerous combo this season, they seem to synch up well.

[Nathanhj]

Caig is no Onstad, that's for sure...

[brentmcd]

houston's crosses have been pretty bad so far, with the exception of the one goal

[AlexS]

On review of the gaol, I can't tell if Boswell was on Toja and Waibel moved over to close the angle, with Cameron not being able to move inside in time to stop Cooper or if it was Waibel cutting off Toja with Boswell trailing the play about 20 feet from where he should have been.

[Richard, UK]

2-0 to Dynamo.

[Richard, UK]

That was my predicition without realising the game was underway. I am an idiot.

Oh god.

[Xiphosis]

Half-time.

[Casey C.]

Well, that was an interesting first half. FCD is a different attacking squad with Alvarez up top. AA, Toja and Cooper are working very well together.

[Xiphosis]

I dunno what prompted it AlexS but it was a hell of a goal.

[eric]

Shall we list "keep Onstad healthy" to Houston's to do list, along with Ching? They seem 1a and 1b right now based on a knee jerk reaction to 25 mins of soccer.

I'm also not liking how the Boswell trade worked for them, every game I've seen they've been badly burned by a lack of speed at the back. Ok, well, his salary is $33k. Still, they are slow.

[AlexS]

Halftime
Uggh... FCD shouldn't be in this game much less winning it. They're proving so far they can defend and score against the run of play, which as the away team is all you really need to do.

Houston's crossing is subpar, but what do you expect from the numbers 5 and 6 on the side midfield depth chart? (Okay, Ashe is number 3 on the left and Cameron is number 4 on the right)

Boswell doesn't belong on this backline... throughly unimpressive and always seems to be 10 yards behind the play when a goal is scored.

Caig isn't bringing it today. He's let in 2 soft goals, though the chip by Cooper was impressive. That second goal has no excuse. It was hit harder than I thought at first but Ciag had both hands on it and still couldn't stop it from going over them. That's nothing on Cooper's shot, that's all about Caig messing up. At least if Toja had scored on the rebound it would have just been bad marking.

I knew the Wells for Boswell trade left a bad taste in my mouth...

[Xiphosis]

Houston hasn't looked Bad up front, the cohesion is there. I think Dallas' back four are having a good game more than anything.

But yeah, keeping Onstad healthy would be a very, very good idea if they want a shot at the SS.

[Casey C.]

FCD plays with 3 in the back, and I agree, they've looked fairly decent. The problem with the formation is, there tends to be a jailbreak every once in awhile. It's really up to the other team to make their chances count.

[brentmcd]

mullan for cameron....please!

[Xiphosis]

Unless they had a Come To Jesus meeting at half-time I don't see that happening... but we'll see.

[AlexS]

53' Boswell's boot kills a good Dynamo attack. It's hard to push the FCD backline around until there's a break when you boot the ball into the side stands, Bobby.

[Xiphosis]

Epic chance by Houston, hit straight into the GK's chest though.

[AlexS]

WTF!

55' A prone Dualio Davino grabs Mulrooney's leg and brings him down in the box to keep him from rebounding his own shot and the ref misses it completely!

[Xiphosis]

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAL.

Ching! :D

[brentmcd]

chang!!!

[Casey C.]

Queue that jailbreak I was talking about.

[Xiphosis]

52'

[eric]

So close! Man, I hope Ching can get some, any footspeed back, he's so good on the ball and combining, but he's no good to the Nats at this glacial speed...

Nice gol! Salvaged to, DeRo gave me Alan Gordon flashbacks falling over himself...

[Casey C.]

Wow.

[brentmcd]

Caig lets another in. Unreal

[Xiphosis]

Oh man, twist the knife!

Dallas goal on the counter! 3-2!

[eric]

Right back atcha! 3 -2, what a game. What a pass by Toja.

[AlexS]

56' YOU CAN'T STOP BRIAN CHING!

DeRo wih a nice play, turning the FCD defense and that lets Cameron (?) nail the cross in on the ground for Brian Ching's outstretched leg.

2-2

DAMNIT! Learn some positioning Caig!
Caig caught out again as Alvarez (?) gets a through ball from Richetti and nails it past Caig for another goal against the run of play for FCD.

3-2 Dallas

[Casey C.]

Not exactly the keepers fault there man. Blame the keeper when it's not the defense breaking down completely.

[AlexS]

@ Casey C.

you're right, once again an attacker run between two Dynamo defenders to latch onto a through ball and scores. But Onstad would have stopped that.

[Xiphosis]

Oh that must've hurt :/

[eric]

We all know MLS is a sloppy 2nds (or 3rds) league, but as far as flaws go, I'll take some more attacking flair with flawed defending for a change. Good times!

[Casey C.]

Watching the replay the keeper actually did a pretty decent job cutting down the angles on Alvarez. Can't expect keepers to win on 1-1's.

[Xiphosis]

Great clearance, Ashe barely even got his foot on the ball.

[Xiphosis]

Cheers to Dallas' GK for knowing when to smother a dangerous ball that was being followed up by a dangerous Brian Ching.

[eric]

Bad spill by the Dallas keeper, and if Ching still had any wheels it'd be 3 - 3.

[AlexS]

On review, Caig's position wasn't as bad as I though, if anything Alvarez should have taken another touch to round him completely instead of shooting from there.

64' DeRo with a nice shot from distance that Sala spills and Ching follows up on. Sala dives for it again and gets it, fair challange from the keeper that knocks Ching over.

65' Another cross into the box, another Dynamo header over the bar. I still feel like there are more goals left in this one.

[brentmcd]

davis for ashe?

[Casey C.]

Get the feeling it's time for a Ricardinho or Oduro.

[brentmcd]

de-ro hasn't been the same since he lost his braids

[AlexS]

69' The Dynamo seem to own the ball, but can't get it into dangerous positions. You don't win like that. I'm still surprised we haven't seen any of Mullan... makes me wonder if he hurt himself more this week.

[eric]

Who just outran Toja for that ball in the back? They way Hou has been outrun by everyone in cup and league so far, I fully expected Toja to win that.

First hard evidence for me that the concrete boots they given out might not be terminal and fatal

[Xiphosis]

Oh lord. Mulrooney taken down hard by Toja.

Mulan comes in for Caraccio.

[AlexS]

@brent

Davis is still out injured.

71' Speak of the devil, Mullan in for Caraccio.

[Casey C.]

OK, if your squad is confined to your own half, and your only chance of offense is lobbing balls in to the opposing half, it would seem obvious to bring on some speed.

[eric]

I'm glad that was a YC. We can have a physical league, but we can't have guys hacked down like that.

[Xiphosis]

lol Casey, you're on a roll. Oduro comes in for Toja.

[Casey C.]

OK, it was obvious, on comes Oduro for Toja.

[AlexS]

Toja gets a yellow in the 70' for somthing I didn't see

Barrett gets a yellow in the 72' for taking the legs out from under an FCD player.

73' Dax with a wonderful defensive play to deny Mullan the 1-on-1. Dynamo look dangerous again, but still coming up a bit short.

74' Oduro on for Toja, FC Dallas now firmly into the counter stratagy.

[Xiphosis]

Oh no... any bets on Dallas actually walking away with the full 3?

[brentmcd]

@AlexS: Davis is listed as being on the bench...?

[Julio]

IVES,

Can Juan Toja play for the US? I have always wanted to know if he or Mykel Galindo can play. Toja has not play with the Senior team for Colombia only the SUB 21 team. Galindo played with the Cuban National Team but defected, can't he under immigration rules or what not play for the US?