[CHRON] Ching likely to miss Dynamo's MLS final

[King of 40 Acres]

not good news on Brian Ching's status for the MLS Cup


http://images.chron.com/photos/2007/11/10/8706507/311xInlineGallery.jpg
Ching likely to miss Dynamo's MLS final (http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5293380.html)

Nov. 11, 2007, 11:21PM

By BERNARDO FALLAS
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle

The Dynamo are headed to Major League Soccer's title game for the second time in as many seasons.

This time, though, the defending league champions are bracing to do it without their clutch forward and leading scorer in the playoffs.

With less than a week to recover, Brian Ching is doubtful, at best, for Sunday's match against the New England Revolution at RFK Stadium after injuring his left calf in the second half of Saturday's victory over the Kansas City Wizards at Robertson Stadium to capture the Western Conference final and a spot in the MLS Cup.

"At this point it seems unlikely (that Ching will play)," team trainer Bruce Morgan said late Sunday. "But I don't want to rule it out as a possibility.

"We're trying to be as optimistic as possible. It's a significant muscle injury, but I'd like to believe there's still a possibility that he might be available for selection come Sunday, as unlikely as that appears at this time."

Ching strained his calf in the 69th minute of Saturday's 2-0 shutout win as he charged the goal chasing a cross from the left by Brad Davis.

Ching went down on his own just inside the goalie box. He remained on the ground grimacing and clutching his left leg in pain and had to be helped off the field by team staff.

It marked the second time this season Ching went down with a strained left calf. He missed three weeks in late August and early September with a similar injury.

Ching was unavailable for comment Sunday.

"Brian, of course, is crestfallen," Morgan said. "He's a competitor, and I respect that about all athletes.

"He's pretty distraught, to say the least."

Morgan said the team will rest Ching until likely Friday and then begin aggressive treatment.

The injury to the Hawaii native and U.S. national team member was the only blemish on the Dynamo in what otherwise was a perfect evening that saw the team dominate the opponent from whistle to whistle.

"It was an excellent physical and mental effort," coach Dominic Kinnear said. "I was impressed, and I've seen this team do some great things, and I thought, man, that was great. We didn't give them a chance to get going."

The loss of Ching, one of the league's top target forwards, would be a blow to the aerial dominance of the Dynamo.

Ching has been clutch for the Dynamo in the playoffs since last year, when he scored three goals, including the Western Conference final clincher and one in overtime of the MLS Cup that forced the shootout against New England.

More recently, Ching (seven goals, two assists in the regular season), tallied two clutch goals to help lead the Dynamo to a first-round series win over instate rival FC Dallas.

Still, Kinnear said the team is deep enough to absorb the loss and remain dangerous offensively.

"You always want to field what you think is your best team," Kinnear said. "You want to see Brian healthy and available, but if he can't there's not much you can do about it."

Kinnear started Ching and Nate Jaqua the past two games with positive results.

If Ching is out, Kinnear has a replacement.

"You slide in Joe (Ngwenya)," Kinnear said. "You look at the times Joe and Nate have played together, they've done well."

bernardo.fallas@chron.com

[Kam]

that sucks, because Ching has so much clutch-ness to him.


After New England scored in OT last year, he came back a minute later to tie it up.


That was awesome and ballsy.

[right1]

Who cares as long as Jessica Alba is there.

[King of 40 Acres]

Who cares as long as Jessica Alba is there.

dude they aren't talking about Jessica Alba they're talking about Jessica who used to be a Rockets Power Dancer and now is a Dynamo Girl. Look her up on the Dynamo website or on Dave2000s site that he has linked in his sig.

[rhino17]

that sucks

[halfbreed]

Looks like it'll be Jaqua and Ngwenya up top. Not a bad combination actually.

[yaopao]

Looks like it'll be Jaqua and Ngwenya up top. Not a bad combination actually.

IMO, it's a better duo than Ching-Jaqua. Ching is probably our best striker, but I think a combo of Ching-Ngwenya or Jaqua-Gwenya is better than Ching-Jaqua. Ngwenya has that "it" that no one on the team has. He has speed, tactical awareness, strength and skill. IMO, he's the most underrated/underappreciated in MLS.

It would be nice to have Ching, but I think we're more likely to get off to a good start with Ngwenya in the match.

[leroy420]

Looks like it'll be Jaqua and Ngwenya up top. Not a bad combination actually.

Not at all. I kind of agree with yaopao. Ching and Jaqua are used similarly. They're both good with their back to the goal and winning crosses. Ngwenya is better facing the goal running at defenders. I'd prefer to have Ching out there, but I feel very confident that Jaqua and Ngweyna will get it done.

[Creepy Crawl]

I'm not much of a soccer fan , so does this suck for the Dynamo ?

[MadMax]

I'm not much of a soccer fan , so does this suck for the Dynamo ?

because Ching is awesome.

but we're deep. i think we'll be fine. they've won tough games without ching before...

GO DYNAMO!!!

[Hippieloser]

Probably any other team in the league that lost their star striker you could stick a fork in 'em. It's a luxury to come in with Ngwenya. Jaqua, DeRo, and Davis will have to step it up, too.

[SwoLy-D]

I'm not much of a soccer fan , so does this suck for the Dynamo ?You don't have to be a soccer fan to read that "clutch forward" and "star" player are really important words in a news story. :rolleyes:

I kid, man. Of course this sucks big time, but we have Ngwenya, who should wreak havoc up in the forward area just like he did against Dallas. :o

[leroy420]

Probably any other team in the league that lost their star striker you could stick a fork in 'em. It's a luxury to come in with Ngwenya. Jaqua, DeRo, and Davis will have to step it up, too.

What would New England do w/o Twellman? They'd be toast. The Dynamo front office has done a fantastic job putting this team together. Getting Jaqua off of the Galaxy scrapheap. Getting Ngweyna from Columbus. Getting Mulrooney from Toronto. I don't know what kind of awards the MLS gives out for front office work, but if the Dynamo don't get it, it will be a sham.

[DrLudicrous]

What would New England do w/o Twellman? They'd be toast. The Dynamo front office has done a fantastic job putting this team together. Getting Jaqua off of the Galaxy scrapheap. Getting Ngweyna from Columbus. Getting Mulrooney from Toronto. I don't know what kind of awards the MLS gives out for front office work, but if the Dynamo don't get it, it will be a sham.

Chivas USA coach got coach of the year, I don't think there is one specifically for front office stuff. He can have the award though, we'll just have to be happy with the cup.

Also, we'll be missing Clark because of his suspension. We've got two national team players missing and still have a competitive lineup.

[leroy420]

Chivas USA coach got coach of the year, I don't think there is one specifically for front office stuff. He can have the award though, we'll just have to be happy with the cup.

Also, we'll be missing Clark because of his suspension. We've got two national team players missing and still have a competitive lineup.

And Guzan got keeper of the year over Onstead and his .82 GAA (to go with the nearly 800 minute scoreless streak). Guzan is a good keeper and all, but Onstead had the best year. About the only one I agree with to this point is Edu getting ROY. He is going to be a very good player.

[Creepy Crawl]

You don't have to be a soccer fan to read that "clutch forward" and "star" player are really important words in a news story. :rolleyes:

I kid, man. Of course this sucks big time, but we have Ngwenya, who should wreak havoc up in the forward area just like he did against Dallas. :o

I was really just wondering if they had someone that was sufficient to replace him . I forgot to add that .

[Murph23]

IMO, it's a better duo than Ching-Jaqua. Ching is probably our best striker, but I think a combo of Ching-Ngwenya or Jaqua-Gwenya is better than Ching-Jaqua. Ngwenya has that "it" that no one on the team has. He has speed, tactical awareness, strength and skill. IMO, he's the most underrated/underappreciated in MLS.

It would be nice to have Ching, but I think we're more likely to get off to a good start with Ngwenya in the match.

Good observation. And Ngwenya is the Dynamo's leading scorer this year, although it can be attributed to Ching missing so many games to injury and participation on the national team. Dynamo will be all right.

[Dave2000]

dude they aren't talking about Jessica Alba they're talking about Jessica who used to be a Rockets Power Dancer and now is a Dynamo Girl. Look her up on the Dynamo website or on Dave2000s site that he has linked in his sig.

ha that's hilarious for him thinking that, I was just gonna let him think that :p

thanks for explaining it to him :)

btw, this is a big blow, but we are deep enough to repeat, the Dynamo are an offensive juggernaut

[yaopao]

For those of you who aren't soccer fans, this isn't like the Rockets missing Yao or T-Mac. It'd probably be like missing James when we have Alston or Francis.

In soccer, there are star players, however they aren't as consistent as NBA stars. Also, the fact that I think Kinnear had the wrong lineup of Ching-Jaqua at the forward positions plays a large role in me thinking it might be beneficial...

Ching and Jaqua are both very physical forwards who play the target striker well very well, maybe the 2 best in MLS in that role. Ching, while a good goal scorer/poacher, doesn't have half the skill that Ngwenya does. Ngewnya can play the playmaker role as well as anyone on this team, especially when DeRo decides to pass when he shoot should and vice versa.

Ngwenya is what an athletic Battier would be...

[DaRock1]

Ngwenya impressed me too. If the team had all the strikers available, I'd play the combination of Ching and Ngwenya.

[right1]

ha that's hilarious for him thinking that, I was just gonna let him think that :p

thanks for explaining it to him :)



Think what you want and have fun with your pompon cheerleader girl. I talked to Jessica Alba (well at least she looked like her anyway:confused: ) Whatever. I talked to an incredibly hot girl in line at the Dynamo game and had a blast at Robertson Stadium. (I fell in love when she put about 3 dozen jalepenos on a small order of nachos) Ahhh...Jessica. Go Dynamo. Yo si le voy al naraja!

[Stack24]

At least we are deep at the position. It is a hard loss to take if he doesn't play but at the same time the combination we will have should do some nice damage up front.

[ferrari77]

For those of you who aren't soccer fans, this isn't like the Rockets missing Yao or T-Mac. It'd probably be like missing James when we have Alston or Francis.

In soccer, there are star players, however they aren't as consistent as NBA stars. Also, the fact that I think Kinnear had the wrong lineup of Ching-Jaqua at the forward positions plays a large role in me thinking it might be beneficial...

Ching and Jaqua are both very physical forwards who play the target striker well very well, maybe the 2 best in MLS in that role. Ching, while a good goal scorer/poacher, doesn't have half the skill that Ngwenya does. Ngewnya can play the playmaker role as well as anyone on this team, especially when DeRo decides to pass when he shoot should and vice versa.

Ngwenya is what an athletic Battier would be...


IMHo it is like missing yao or tmac.

Ching and Dero have been yao and tmac since the san jose days.
Ching isnt needed on the pitch for his dribbling ability or passing ability, he's on there for the same reasons teams have always played taylor twellman: because he can fookin score goals. plain and simple.
Ngwenya is not an out and out goalscorer and thats what ching is.

You sound like a huge ngwenya fan. I like the dude, i liked him when he played at coastal carolina, when he played pdl and even when he was underused and utilized in LA and Columbus, but while the dynamo can survive a whole season without ngwenya, aint no way they could survive a whole season without chingy.

Regardless, if ching can't play on sunday, i'm pretty confident that the jaqua-ngwenya pairing will be enough to send the revs home again.

[yaopao]

IMHo it is like missing yao or tmac.

Ching and Dero have been yao and tmac since the san jose days.
Ching isnt needed on the pitch for his dribbling ability or passing ability, he's on there for the same reasons teams have always played taylor twellman: because he can fookin score goals. plain and simple.
Ngwenya is not an out and out goalscorer and thats what ching is.

You sound like a huge ngwenya fan. I like the dude, i liked him when he played at coastal carolina, when he played pdl and even when he was underused and utilized in LA and Columbus, but while the dynamo can survive a whole season without ngwenya, aint no way they could survive a whole season without chingy.

Regardless, if ching can't play on sunday, i'm pretty confident that the jaqua-ngwenya pairing will be enough to send the revs home again.

You are overvaluing the importance of "star" players in a sport where 11 men are on a team. Ching's only attribute he provides that we lack is "clutch" scoring. We have plenty of offensive firepower and Ngwenya is a better complement to Jaqua than Ching is. Ideally, we'd have Ching and Ngwenya starting, but we're not in dire straits without Ching.

Ching is better than Ngwenya at poaching goals, but Ngwenya adds more dimensions that are seriously lacking when Ching and Jaqua are our 2 strikers, namely making timely runs to stretch out a defense which creates chances for our midfield to score.

I think we'll only miss Ching on set pieces. He blows as many wide-open goals as anyone in the league, and because of that I feel that he's fairly overrated. I also think Jaqua is good enough in the air to offset Ching's strength.

Ching has 7 goals in 1590 mins while Ngwenya has 7 goals in 1944 mins. Ching's rate is better by half a game. Which isn't a huge difference considering that Ngwenya plays further from the goal and adds a lot more else than Ching does.

[ferrari77]

You are overvaluing the importance of "star" players in a sport where 11 men are on a team. Ching's only attribute he provides that we lack is "clutch" scoring. We have plenty of offensive firepower and Ngwenya is a better complement to Jaqua than Ching is. Ideally, we'd have Ching and Ngwenya starting, but we're not in dire straits without Ching.

Ching is better than Ngwenya at poaching goals, but Ngwenya adds more dimensions that are seriously lacking when Ching and Jaqua are our 2 strikers, namely making timely runs to stretch out a defense which creates chances for our midfield to score.

I think we'll only miss Ching on set pieces. He blows as many wide-open goals as anyone in the league, and because of that I feel that he's fairly overrated. I also think Jaqua is good enough in the air to offset Ching's strength.

Ching has 7 goals in 1590 mins while Ngwenya has 7 goals in 1944 mins. Ching's rate is better by half a game. Which isn't a huge difference considering that Ngwenya plays further from the goal and adds a lot more else than Ching does.


No my friend, Ching doesnt just provide clutch scoring, he provides scoring.
Ching and ngwenya may have had the same amount of goals, but like you indicated, ngwenya had more minutes due to playing more games. Ching had injuries. Its not like Ngwenya is dropping back to D-mid or playing the same attacking line as Dero, Ngwenya drops behind the main striker but not that far back. Personally i don't think he adds more than Ching does. If necessary the dynamo could always play dero in the position ngwenya plays as dero played like that when he was a forward with san jose.

And your distaste for chings game is really clouding your mind when i read stuff like Ching blows as many wide open goals as anyone in the league.
Dude i can give you an 11 player list of more wasteful strikers.

[Rockets111]

For those of you who aren't soccer fans, this isn't like the Rockets missing Yao or T-Mac. It'd probably be like missing James when we have Alston or Francis.

In soccer, there are star players, however they aren't as consistent as NBA stars. Also, the fact that I think Kinnear had the wrong lineup of Ching-Jaqua at the forward positions plays a large role in me thinking it might be beneficial...

Ching and Jaqua are both very physical forwards who play the target striker well very well, maybe the 2 best in MLS in that role. Ching, while a good goal scorer/poacher, doesn't have half the skill that Ngwenya does. Ngewnya can play the playmaker role as well as anyone on this team, especially when DeRo decides to pass when he shoot should and vice versa.

Ngwenya is what an athletic Battier would be...

Ching is the team's leading scorer and their key offensive player. So yes, in basketball relation to soccer, it WOULD be like the Rockets losing Yao or TMac.

Ching is incredible. I remember one game early in the Dynamo's first year, he had 4 goals in a game or somethin like that.

I hope they repeat.

[CDogg]

Is Ching half chinese or something, he is listed to be Chinese ethicity but dosen't look Chinese to me

[DrLudicrous]

Is Ching half chinese or something, he is listed to be Chinese ethicity but dosen't look Chinese to me

He's from Hawaii, he's probably some mix of Chinese/Polynesian decent.

We're better with him in the lineup but we can still win without him. This team works very well together and players can step in to fill in roles with little drop off. We've seen that all season long, DeRo, Clark, Davis, Onstad, and Ching have all missed significant time this season but we've still been able to win.

[DrLudicrous]

Ching was able to lightly jog yesterday.

http://blogs.chron.com/soccer/archives/2007/11/video_dynamo_up.html

[leroy420]

Ching was able to lightly jog yesterday.

http://blogs.chron.com/soccer/archives/2007/11/video_dynamo_up.html

If anything, he should not start. You can't waste a sub in the first half when the calf goes again. I had the same injury earlier this year. It's a sneaky one. It lets you think you're healed. You can run, stretch, and make good contact on the ball. But that first misstep or backpedal and you're finished.

Ngweyna starts with Ching there for emergency purposes only. I haven't heard his name lately, but is Dalglish healthy? The other option is moving DeRo up front should Jaqua or Ngweyna have to come out.

[DrLudicrous]

If anything, he should not start. You can't waste a sub in the first half when the calf goes again. I had the same injury earlier this year. It's a sneaky one. It lets you think you're healed. You can run, stretch, and make good contact on the ball. But that first misstep or backpedal and you're finished.

Ngweyna starts with Ching there for emergency purposes only. I haven't heard his name lately, but is Dalglish healthy? The other option is moving DeRo up front should Jaqua or Ngweyna have to come out.

The risk of using him as a sub is that if he can't go you used two subs, one to put him on and another to take him off. If he makes an appearance they'll have to be damn sure he can last at least 30 minutes.

Dalglish is healthy but I don't think he'll get any playing time, Wondolowski is more likely to see the field than Paul. Moving up DeRo and putting Holden in the middle would be the most likely scenario if another forward is needed.

[leroy420]

The risk of using him as a sub is that if he can't go you used two subs, one to put him on and another to take him off. If he makes an appearance they'll have to be damn sure he can last at least 30 minutes.

Dalglish is healthy but I don't think he'll get any playing time, Wondolowski is more likely to see the field than Paul. Moving up DeRo and putting Holden in the middle would be the most likely scenario if another forward is needed.

I think you're right with DeRo & Holden. Holden should get some minutes in this game. He's been a big part of the reason why they're here.

Enjoy the game!

VAMOS DYNAMO!

[SwoLy-D]

...
VAMOS DYNAMO!:mad: Why you wanna steal my thunder, man!?!?!? :mad:

:p

[leroy420]

:mad: Why you wanna steal my thunder, man!?!?!? :mad:

:p

Not stealing...enhancing.

[DaRock1]

IMHo it is like missing yao or tmac.

Apple and orange...but if I really have to make the comparison..I'd say Dero is Tmac and Onstad is Yao. These two are the anchors of the offense and defense of the Dynamo. Brian Ching...hmmm...he's Shane Battier...a very important role player.

[Kam]

Apple and orange...but if I really have to make the comparison..I'd say Dero is Tmac and Onstad is Yao. These two are the anchors of the offense and defense of the Dynamo. Brian Ching...hmmm...he's Shane Battier...a very important role player.


Ching is not a role player.

Ching and DeRo are your players.

Let's say that PO is Yao, and you have two McGradys in Ching and DeRo.