by Ethan Johnson
October 27, 2007
After all of the highs, all of the lows, all of the "meh", all of the "you have GOT to be effing kidding me", all of the "To-ja! To-ja!", all of the "GOL GOL GOL", all of the "we're Houston's bitch", all of the doubt, all of the cautious optimism, all of the irrational exuberance, all of the deep depression, all of the "come ON ref", all of the "...sideways!", all of the streamering, all of the photos, all of the people watching, all of the chanting, all of the clapping, all of the hoarse days after, all of the yelling at the TV, all of the hope, all of the despair, all of the love, and all of the tough love, FCD made it to the playoffs. And now, get on your feet, and make some NOISE for this playoff edition of YOUR investigative bullet points:
- For whatever reason, the semifinals are a "home and away" series. Part 1 was played in Frisco, and part 2 will be next weekend in Houston. The winner is determined by aggregate scoring. So if Team A wins the first game 3-1, Team B has to score 3 goals to win the series. Despite the annoyance factor that there isn't an outright elimination after one game, this allows both cities to see their team in the playoffs.
- This special circumstance had me wondering if this was indeed my final trip to Pepperoni Park for the 2007 MLS season. I tried to take photos with a sense of finality, but perhaps there will be one more playoff game (hope hope) before the MLS Cup in Washington DC.
- I [heart] kids. Especially kids who sit next to me and are well behaved. Much better kid situation this time compared to last week's debacle. One kid asked me who I was "voting for." I revealed my FCD logo on my shirt, which settled the debate.
- Pretty tame streamering this time compared to last week. I guess the sale ended at Streamers Galore.
- Once again, my One Nice Thing to say about Houston is that Pat Onstad is a pretty amazing goalie. He has a tendency to get sucked into onfield drama, which I figure is a plus. Mo' drama, Onstad! Keeps your mind off of, you know, tending goal.
- Make no mistake, there is NYET love between FCD and Houston. I mean, the players HATE the supporters' section. At least this time they didn't take BS practice goal kicks at section 116, although I wish they had, because it would suggest that they weren't completely focused on the game.
- I'm thinking it's officially fair to say that the Denilson Era has drawn to a close. He went through the motions looking to be subbed in, but my clue as to who was going in next was that a specific sub would start doing wind sprints while everyone else did light jogging. Ding, ding, ding, all three subs did wind sprints and left Denilson sulking (!) on the endline.
- Clarence Goodson is the man, man.
- Dario Sala got the nod in goal. I was nervous at first, but Sala apparently has been studying Burse's best attributes and adding them to his arsenal. So like I was saying, Dario Sala is the man, man.
- Nice to see Toja doing the sliding tackle thing, except it kinda helps to have some sort of continuity. Sliding tackles are fan friendly moves, but when the ball just ends up loose in a sea of orange jerseys, it's not really accomplishing much other than attacting photo bugs. I view this as a milestone on the road to recovery after his ankle injury.
- 1-0 to the Super Hoops on an amazing Clarence Goodson goal. Houston had a scary goal chance in the final minutes, but Dwayne DeRosario was de-nied by Sala and Goodson. They are the men, man.
Click on the thumbnails to see the full-sized image. Enjoy!
OK, onward to Houston for the second half of this caper. I can't make the trip this time, but I'll be yelling at the TV like I did. GOOOOO FCD! <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.)
