Houston 1-1 FC Dallas - Bad call by ref still doesn't excuse all the missed chances

Houston Dynamo 1-1 FC Dallas

In ESPN's continuing effort to deprive soccer fans of the chance to actually watch scheduled events, the sports network pre-emptied the first half of last nights outing due to an overtime basketball game. I understand the need to show the basketball game, but why not throw the MLS match over to ESPN Classic or is the viewing audience for a 15 year old, middle-weight boxing match really so great that it would be a crime to do such a thing?

Anyway, to the game itself. Houston spent most of the first half looking like the team that won the last two MLS Cups with Stuart Holden and Bobby Boswell both having a standout game. The team caused trouble for Dallas all over the pitch, but they could not get that final touch till Brian Ching got on the end of a perfect Craig Waibel cross. Still, with the way FCD played in the first half, Houston has no excuse for not being up by two or more.

The second half saw FCD switch from 4-4-2 to 3-5-2, which closed down a lot of Houston's attack, at least for a little while, and allowed Toja more freedom and created open spaces, which Kenny Cooper exploited for his excellent goal in the 62'.

Then came a call so horrible it really killed the excitement of the game for me. Holden broke loss and was running right at Dallas's goal when Pablo Ricchetti brought him down from behind. Let's see, Ricchetti was the last defender, it was a scoring opportunity and Ricchetti did not come anywhere near playing the ball. This is the easiest red card to give but Kevin Stott failed to deliver. Had Stott gone by what the rules say, the final 15-minutes of this game probably would have been very different.

Even though the Dynamo were cheated, they still cannot blame this one mistake for their failure to earn all three points as they had at least two easy chances early in the second half that should have put the game out of reach.

By the way, I'm sure FCD fans will point to the failure of Stott to call another foul later as an excuse for his earlier blown call. Late in the game (I think it was the 90'), Boswell appeared to clip Dominic Oduro from behind under similar circumstance to Holden's event (except Boswell was actually trying to play the ball). The only problem with this argument is if Stott had made the red card call earlier, this play probably would not have happened. That said, Stott should have called a foul, but did not, probably as a makeup call.

This tie means the Western Conference continues to live in chaos with just 5 points separating first from sixth. It also means Houston now has seven ties, which is the same amount that had all of last season.

Goals:
HD: Brian Ching (6) 21'
FCD: Kenny Cooper (8) 62'
Att: 16,933 (including about 30 FCD fans)
Video Highlights

2008 MLS Week 6 recap - We got ties

This past weekend of play saw a drop in goals and a huge increase in ties as only three matches saw more then two goals while four out of the seven ended tied up.

Attendance numbers also dropped a bit over the weekend, however every team broke the 10,000 mark. Real Salt Lake did the best at 25,571, while Houston came in second with 20,058. On the short side of things, Columbus only had 10,447 make it out while San Jose brought in 10,515. Although the San Jose number might seem small, it actually represents a sellout at Buck Shaw Stadium.

All the other numbers held pretty steady:


Week 6

	Season (42)	Week 6 (7)
Attendance	656,967	110,582
Att per game	15,642	15,797
Beckham Att	142,111	25,571
Beckham Avg Att (6)	23,685	25,571
Goals	117	14
Goals per game	2.8	2
Fouls	1,022	166
Fouls per game	24.3	23.7
Cards (red)	130 (10)	21 (2)
Inter-conference	East 11-1-4	West 1-0-0
Visitors	9-10-23	1-4-2
Ties	9 (21.4%)	4 (57.1%)

Chicago Fire 3-0 New England Revolution
Good news for the Fire, even with Blanco doing next to nothing, they can make things happen if Rolfe and Mapp stay healthy. The bad news, the only team the Fire seem to be able to score a bunch against is New England (7 goals in their two matches this year).

Over on the Revs side of the ball, Twellman can't get back soon enough. They are still creating chances but they have nobody to finish as they have now gone four games without scoring more then one goal in a game.

Goals: CF: Chris Rolfe (1) 29', John Thorrington (3) 50', Stephen King (1) 76'
Att: 10,858


Kansas City Wizards 1-2 Columbus Crew
How hot does the Crew need to get before the good people of Columbus will come see them? Thanks to the amazing midfield work of Adam Moffat and the skill of Robbie Rogers, the Crew looks to be a real horse in this race. Now they just need Danny O'Rourke to stop giving away penalty kicks and who knows what could be.
Goals: CC: Adam Moffatt (2) 4', Robbie Rogers (3) 34'
KC: Claudio Lopez pk (2) 79'
Att: 10,447


Chivas USA 0-0 Houston Dynamo
The first sign that this game was going to be ugly came just as the players were getting ready to step on the pitch as the fireworks went off early hitting the pyrotechnics guy in the face (let's hope he is alright). Anyway, this match got bloody fast as Dwayne DeRosario broke Lawson Vaughn's nose with a high kick in the 9'. Many more reckless fouls followed. In total nine cards were handed out including a direct red on Chivas's Claudio Suarez for pulling down the final player. Needless to say, referee Jozef Batko lost control of this one.

As far as the play, Chivas was playing as many behind the ball as possible while Houston tried to get their offense started. However, Ching is still not in step (his running is off and he couldn't find a ball in the air to save his life) while Franco Caraccio is still not ready for the big time. The good news, once Corey Ashe came in, it opened up the left side of play for Houston and provided for the best soccer of the night. Good news, their defense was looking better, even Boswell, but the final third is still a huge issue.
Att: 20,058


Los Angeles Galaxy 2-2 Real Salt Lake
Note to all defenses, don't give Beckham 10 yards of space. Real had three points in their pocket as they shot ahead 2-0 in the first 20 minutes but poor defended let Beckham carry his team right back into it. Beckerman continued to look good for Real while the main stand out for LA on the night (other then Becks) was Joe Franchino. He did the messy stuff in the middle that lead to the good stuff up top. By the way, LA looked better without Abel Xavier on the pitch.

One last thing, how did Donovan get an assist on the first Beckham goal? It wasn't a quick 1-2 pass situation. I just don't get it.
Goals: RSL: Fabian Espindola (2) 6', Kenny Deuchar (2) 18'
LA: David Beckham (2) 36', (3) 40'
Att: 25,571


FC Dallas 0-0 San Jose Earthquakes
Ronnie O'Brien was again the key for the 'Quakes as he caused pain in the Adrian Serioux free FC Dallas backline, but San Jose couldn't finish. FCD continued their weak offensive still they showed off last Thursday, thus giving Joe Cannon an easy day of it. Overall, Dallas looks off their stride while San Jose and their offside trap are playing better then expected.

By the way, little Buck Shaw Stadium looked great and the crowd was wonderful. Let's hope it stays this way till they get their own home.
Att: 10,515


DC United 0-2 Colorado Rapids
The first test of Marcelo Gallardo versus Christian Gomez is over and Gomez won hands down (even if Simms tied him up most of the match). United lost it in the middle while the Rapids couldn't find a ball they didn't want to shoot. In the end, it was a lackluster day for DC while Colorado finally showed the spark from their first match of the season.
Goals: CR: Jacob Peterson (1) 53', Facundo Erpen (1) 72'
Att: 13,115

2008 MLS Week 5 recap - None of the best are in the West

Only five weeks in and the East looks to be the class of the league this year as they won all five matches between the conferences. If there is any piece of good news the West can take from this weeks games it is that in all but one of the five, the Western side was the visitor. I'm guessing that is cold comfort for the clubs.

As far as the number go, total attendance numbers rose this week to a bit over 17,000 with LA taking gold with 27,000 followed by DC with 23,269 and Toronto with 20,045. Every match had at least 10,000 spectators except for the Red Bulls who could only pull 9,053 against San Jose. FC Dallas was second worse with 10,453. It is a shame that the two games that were most easily accessible to a national television audience also happened to be the two worst attended.

This week's other numbers of interest saw the league go without a tie or a red card while maintaining the roughly 24 fouls per match average. So here are all the numbers for the week:
Week 5

	Season (35)	Week 1 (7)
Attendance	546,387	119,342
Att per game	15,611	17,049
Beckham Att	116,540	27,000
Beckham Avg Att (5)	23,308	27,000
Goals	103	21
Goals per game	2.9	3
Fouls	856	171
Fouls per game	24.5	24.4
Cards (red)	109 (8)	27 (0)
Inter-conference	East 11-1-3	East 5-0-0
Visitors	8-6-21	1-0-6
Ties	5 (13.9%)	0 (0.0%)

Kansas City Wizards 0-2 Toronto FCA bad call was behind Amado Guevara's first goal in his re-re-re-return to MLS as he was in an offside position when the ball was played, but if the ref don't notice then there is nothing to talk about. KC held their own for large stretches of the game as they kept TFC at bay, however the Wizards had no extended period of attack (except for a few minutes in the first half). Toronto fans are no doubt happy with Guevara, but they should still be concerned with the lack of finishing in the final third. With just nine shots on goal, they still have much room for improvement. That said, Guevara's free kick strike was fantastic.
Goals - Guevara (1) 56, (2) 77
Att: 20,045

Houston Dynamo 0-1 Columbus CrewFor the first time this season, the Dynamo defense looked tough again. Sure their one big mistake resulted in a goal, but overall they looked much better (although Boswell again was the weak link), which allowed their midfield to control the game (Ricardo Clark was fantastic). Sadly for the defending champs, their offense could not make the most of their chances making Houston the only team to still have a zero in the victory column. By the way, oddity of the game, hand ball by Ostad in the box after a pass back resulting in an indirect kick.
Goal - CC: Alejandro Moreno (4) 22
Att: 15,271

Real Salt Lake 1-4 DC United
After losing in Real a few weeks back, DC went into a huge funk. After Saturday's match in DC, I'm guessing the funk is over. Marcelo Gallardo's amazing 80th minute goal should be enough by itself to inspire the team to a few more wins. Still, United started flat and, oddly enough, didn't really get going till Marc Burch came on for an injured Fred. Also, the first pk should not have been as it was an accidental hand ball. Still, the second 45' were owned by the team in black.
Goals - DC: Jaime Moreno pk (2) 31, pk (3) 52, Santino Quaranta (2) 67, Marcelo Gallardo (2) 80
RSL: Carey Talley (1) 77
Att: 23,269

Colorado Rapids 1-2 Chicago Fire
The Rapids played the Fire pretty even on the night, but couldn't find anything until it was too late. For the Fire, their offense did improve, although they are still far from dominating teams. Justin Mapp has a solid game, giving Chicago an addition option to moving the ball up field, however Blanco was off on the night. Overall, this game was a little tiring to watch.
Goals - CF: John Thorrington (1) 53, (2) 84
CR: Tom McManus (1) 86
Att: 14,251

Chivas USA 2-5 LA GalaxyI've never seen so many clearance balls out of the box go straight up in the air. The strange thing was it happened much more often to LA, but Chivas couldn't make anything out of it. Another oddity, Backham disappeared for large stretches of the match while Donovan showed just how angry he is by gloating in front of the goat's bench. Anyway, both these defenses are something nutty to watch, but with Razov coming back, Chivas should finally improve.
Goals - LA: Donovan (6) 18, (7) 59, Alan Gordon (1) 76, Donvan (8) 78, Gordon (2) 84
Chivas: Sacha Kljestan (3) 38, Ante Razov (1) 62
Att: 27,000

San Jose Earthquakes 0-2 New York Red Bulls
Jozy Altidore was the reason for both goals as he forced a trip in the box to earn his team a pk and then finished big in extra time. This was the first time San Jose has been squashed this season as the Bulls controlled pretty much the entire match. Claudio Reyna had a good night and almost got his first goal for New York, but it was cleared off the line. The biggest worry for the Reds coming out of this one has to be their inability to put the game away. They were the far better team but they could not find net untill the final minutes of the match. Other teams will not give them so much time.
Goals - NY: Mike Magee pk (1) 79, Jozy Altidore (2) 95'
Att: 9,053