by Ethan Johnson
October 1, 2007

[Updated below]

Yes indeed, I deliberately didn't post anything about the recent road loss to the LA Galaxy, on the grounds of not having anything nice to say. Little did I know that relative to this game, it was a virtual love-fest. Since I passed on the occasion when it happened, belated congratulations to Dax McCarty on his goal. Scored on a cross play, at that. He usually does "set pieces" so it's pretty rare to see him score any other way. Anyway, thug Houston thugged their way into town on the Thug Express. Let's get to the investigate bullet points:

• Here's the news, FCD fans: If you're wanting more people to come to the games, bring people to the game. I brought another n00b to the game, and managed to not get his picture while we were at the game. Despite the game, and the classless behavior in the parking lot by some Houston fans, he had a great time and is looking forward to possibly one more FCD home game before the season wraps up. Soccer fever: Catch the wave!
• I met "hutchtx" from the fan forum before the game. Nice to see you! Great seats, too - but you can't go wrong with close seats in any section, really.
• Not many photos this time, partly out of disgust, partly because I was with a n00b and we were talking about the game a lot, and partly out of disgust.
• I really, really, really hate the Houston Dynamo. I thought I hated the Colorado Rapids. Nope, now that Kyle Beckerman is off the team I don't give much of a rip. But Houston? Plenty to dislike, immensely. I will say One Nice Thing about the Dynamo: I have enormous respect for Pat Onstad. None of the other FCD fans do, but I've got nothing but love for Mr. Fantastic, and wish he'd play for a real team. I think he gets sucked into the rivalry thing a bit too much - he got into a shouting match with the fans during the game - but as a goalie, he's top notch. It's frustrating to not score, but I respect the effort that kept the ball out of the net. Stay tuned for similar lovin' when Brad Guzan comes to town.
• OK: Listen up, FCD defenders: Quit playing the ball forward!! More than a few times, Chicago Houston had some sweet scoring chances because the final third of the pitch consisted of a Chicago Houston attacker, air, and Dario Sala. That can't happen. It just can't.
• To follow on to that point, it struck me that there wasn't much of a cohesive plan on the FCD side of the equation. Defenders playing way forward, blown passes, blown scoring opportunities, hanging on to the ball too long... it all adds up to a highly pessimistic outlook for the rest of the season. "Wait 'til next year" is now, I'm afraid. Unless FCD was having an incredibly off game and is prepared to play inspired soccer in a few days. Could happen.
• Seriously, how much did Houston pay the refs? AWFUL officiating. When thug Houston fans thug their way over to the holy, angelic FCD fan forum and admit that the officiating sucked, you know there's a problem. This doesn't exonerate FCD for their horrible outing but it sure didn't help to have at least two would-be penalty kicks waved off as no-calls. And the double red card debacle toward the end should cost the ref his job. Won't, but should.
• Denilson had about 3 minutes of jogo bonito, and was eventually subbed off for Ricardinho. The Dallas Morning News had a less than flattering Page 3 article about him in the Sunday non-college football sports section, which should have been locker room material for him to come out and make a statement. That statement ended up being this: AUUUUGH! No, really.
• Drew Moor should not be expecting any Christmas cards this year from the linesman he f-bombed and angrily kicked the ball toward after blowing a clear goal kick call. The resulting corner kick translated into a Houston goal. [Update: I reviewed the game footage, and the kicked ball was a legit Houston corner kick. From our viewing angle and Drew Moor's angry reaction, I thought it was a blown call. So yeah, the lack of Christmas card appears to be justified - doop.]
• Ruiz didn't do himself any favors with his flopping fish routine, because when the real flagrant foul stuff happened later, the ref figured he was flopping some more. See Boy Who Cried Wolf, The.
• The Houston fans who thugged into town on the Thug Express formed a parade into Pizza Hut park, chanting Dynamo songs of some sort. I was going to ask them if they wanted to wait for a police escord to lead them in, but oh, that's right, we're not thugs! Silly me!
• Cram it, Houston goobers. I'll delete every last classless comment from you losers. Post it where the sun don't shine. And the breaking the glass bottles in the parking lot stunt? High class, all the way. How about the "breaking the seats in PHP" trick? Makes me wish we did that when we came to town, but oh, that's right, we're not thugs! Silly me!
• And here's what really irritates me about the Houston "fans" who apparently are hardened criminals first, and fans second: I saw quite a few orange jerseys in the crowd, and many of them were co-existing peacefully amongst the red-and-white of FCD fans. No swearing, no pushing and shoving, no arguing, just fans supporting their respective teams and more or less agreeing to disagree. THIS is what I'm looking for in a rivalry, let alone any FCD home game. It's really too bad that some bad apples have to bring down the entire fan base by association. On the up side, what's going to happen in 2008 when the San Jose Earthquakes are reincarnated? Houston fans should be enjoying some major cognative dissonance next year.
• Argue the score all ya want, but Houston takes it 3-0. I don't know that it will change anything, but I am strongly considering sending some sort of complaint to MLS about this particular officiating crew. We're all human and make mistakes, but this officiating was nothing less than gross incompetence. Is MLS this hard up for refs? Is there some kind of training camp they can go to?

Click on the thumbnails to see the full-sized image. Enjoy!

Houston fans arrive at PHP	PHP stage dressed for concerts	Dog picture for Marlena	Juan Toja and Carlos Ruiz warm up
Here come the Hoops	Pre-game huddles, plural	Pat Onstad	Houston fans being civilized
Ruiz walking away with the ball	What FCD players saw after getting flagrantly fouled by Houston	Getting ready for free kick	Denilson moves into position
Exciting Dax McCarty free kick	FCD free kick at far end	Ricardinho warming up	Sala disgusted with on-field fight at far end

Next home game is on October 3 for the US Open Cup final against New England. Let's win some hardware! <EM>

(Much, much more virtual ink has been spilled by me about Major League Soccer. The fledgling but growing MLS article archive may be found here.)