When: July 29, 9:00 PM Where: Robertson Stadium, Houston, TX Television: TeleFutura Radio: 790 AM (English), 850 AM (Spanish) Here we go! This is the game that we were all hoping to see when the SuperLiga tables were announced. The game last year against Pachuca was truly one of the most riveting examples of soccer out there and ranks up there with our first MLS Cup win in dramatic Dynamo games. In fact, Channel 55 will be airing a condensed version of last year's game tonight at 8:00, so be sure to catch up with that. Joseph Ngwenya's PK still haunts my dreams a little bit, though. The Dynamo have recently added Nate Jacqua from Austria and Kei Kamara from San Jose to the roster, so I hope that this means we'll start to see some more progress up front. Dr. Ludicrous, if you'd be so kind, please fill us in on any injuries and/or game time decisions. This is one of the most anticipated matches of our season so far, so I hope that everybody can watch it or, even better, attend tomorrow. The 9:00 start time may dissuade some from going, but don't let that discourage you from watching on TeleFutura!
I wasn't that excited about the SuperLiga tournament, until now. They've knocked us out of two tournaments and now we have a chance for a small amount of revenge. Highlights from last year's SuperLiga game* As far as player availability goes, Holden and Ianni are gone for the Olympics, Mulrooney is still injured, and I'm not sure if Robinson's injury in the last game will keep him out or not. I'm hoping since it hasn't been mentioned much that it wasn't that bad. *The first related video is also entertaining, but NSFW.
You will also be able to watch this game live at the SuperLiga website in English if TeleFutura isn't your thing.
Final Score Houston 2 Pachuca 0 Dynamo advance to SuperLiga Final What a game! The Dynamo have evened the score with Pachuca after last year and each team has now won 2 games against the other. This is, without a doubt, our most passionate rivalry. It's very obvious that the two teams do not like each other, as evidenced by Marti choking Wade Barrett after he was thrown down by another Pachuca player. And Corey Ashe being slammed into the boards at the end of the game is another example. The words, pushing, and brinksmanship after the game highlight all of this. Pat Onstad played very well in the first half, especially when he blocked three (?) successive Pachuca shots. I think we got lucky on Pachuca's goal not counting due to offsides, but you won't hear me complaining. Corey Ashe always impresses me with his skills, despite his stature. His goal was very nice, as was Bobby Boswell's. I can't imagine how hot it must have been for Miguel Calero in those pants, long sleeves, and bandana. The Dynamo will play the winner of tomorrow's contest between Atlante (who we owned in the SuperLiga opener) and the New England Revolution (who we always own when it counts).
The newspaper was all full of how much the teams respect each other and don't talk trash in the media etc.... I guess that's only good if the Pachuca side wins....otherwise they pitch a hissy and try to stir up crap. Great win for the Dynamo. Hopefully if we play New England we have a better effort than we have had when we played them this year. I know if Alante wins they will give us a much tougher test than the 4-0 game.
Knocking those guys out of a competition was a great feeling. The Dynamo have been on a roll lately, it seems they've hit their stride after some early season struggles. Jaqua looked really good last night and you could tell that he and Ching had a good understanding of each other. I think having them both up top is going to work well for us. And Cameron continues to impress me, he's played basically every field position and has done a solid job at all of them. He's not perfect, but for a rookie to play out of position as a central defender in a game like this and still have a solid game is pretty impressive. Usually it takes central defenders some time to adjust to each other (see Bobby Boswell early this season) but Cameron was able to fit in nicely. He still made mistakes but none that were too bad.
