Compelling Soccer

The first thing I learned is that player evaluations are a lot harder when you don't know a lot of guys in the game and you don't speak the language of the broadcast you are watching it in.

So as promised, I checked out another MLS team in action on Wednesday night. This time it was the Houston Dynamo in action in the CONCACAF Champions League group stage game against the Mexican side Pachuca south of the border. I was hoping to see play better than I did from DC United Tuesday night and for the most part, they delivered. Unfortunately for them, Pachuca was much better than San Juan Jabloteh.

It was a matchup of two US national team members, Brian Ching for Houston and Jose Francisco Torres for Pachuca. Torres, for those who don't know, is a talented midfielder whose strength is in possession. Possession is not a part of Bob Bradley's vocabulary, so Torres remains tied to the bench. In this one, Torres started and came off in the 75 minute, right after Pachuca went up 2-0. He looked fine in the midfield, but then pretty much everyone on Pachuca did in this one. I also suffered for not knowing if they were referring to Gregario Torres or Francisco Torres when they said "Gr.." Torres. It could have been Gregario, it could have been Gringo. Gringo of course would be indicating Francisco's American background. I do know he didn't score the goals, those went to Edgar Benitez Santander (25th minute) and Paul Aguilar (73).

Brian Ching, for those who didn't see my Liverpool recap yesterday, has a special place in my heart as everything that is wrong with US soccer. He's big, he's slow and he's useless at the international level; in essence, giving us a preview of what Emile Heskey will look like on a soccer field when he's 45. Ching also only lasted 45 minutes in this one, though I suspect that had to do with factors other than his play. Houston played with 10 men in the second half and needed a player other than Ching, whose strengths are to stand there, to make up the difference. Ching's knock on the international level is that he's far to slow for the game. That critique looked apt Wednesday against a Pachuca team that was quicker to the ball and better on it.He was a non factor in the first half.

The US national team also has two other players on Houston, flavor of the month Stuart Holden and the hero of Port of Spain Ricardo Clark, but neither played Wednesday. It's too bad because as arguably Houston's best players, the team was not capable of putting their best foot forward.

The basic thing I came away from this one was that Pachuca was a better side than Houston, at least on Wednesday. They were much better in possession and more threatening with it. They consistently found spaces and gaps to make runs. They showed a willingness to switch the field. In the second half, they exploited their man advantage to full effect, even up by a goal. The team didn't stop attacking even with the advantage, both man and in possession, at home with a one goal lead. They went for the throat, and unlike even Liverpool earlier in the day, they firmly pressed down on it.

For all intents and purposes this game ended in first half stoppage time when Dominic Oduro picked up his second yellow of the match and was sent off. I don't remember how he got his first yellow, but it was the second bad tackle I saw from him, so I had no qualms about him getting the red. Geoff Cameron would later pick a yellow card in the second half that Houston was very fortunate not to have turn into red, as he took down a Pachuca midfielder in space, with a slide tackle from behind when he was clearly beat on the play.

The two plays underscore something I've long noticed with the US style of play; it borders on stupid at time. Players will slide tackle in soccer. But in general at the higher levels, if they go to ground, they get the ball. Going to ground and getting the man without getting ball is a near certain card in Europe and the best players are careful when they do it. American players, both in MLS and on the national scene do it far too much. Then American fans whine about biases against them because their players pick up cards, seemingly more than other teams do. The vast majority of cards I've seen Americans pick up in international play stem from going to ground and not getting the ball or enough of it.

It's not rocket science. If you are doing something that gets you penalized, the solution isn't to keep doing it and scream "oppression" when you get sent off. It's to change what you're doing. Slide tackles should not be necessary for defending; get in position and make plays.

I still admired the effort Houston put in, even if they were outclassed. In a results based business, it's hard to argue that they came out with a better result than DC United did on Tuesday. But we're all about process here at Compelling Soccer, and adjusting for opponent is a part of analyzing events. Reading the forums on Soccer By Ives, I'm somewhat surprised by the sentiment that they quit on this one. I was nodding out (12 AM eastern) by the end of it, but from what I saw they were going as hard as they could through the first 30 of the second half. However, when you are getting dominated in possession, it can give the appearances of laying down since it can become akin to keep away.

The bottom line was Houston was outclassed in talent on the road. Most times, that's going to result in a loss and Wednesday night, it did.

Entertainment Factor: 6- Solid Affair: Pachuca's passing was nice at times and it was impressive to see how much space they created, even factoring in the extra man. The down side was that Houston's odds of winning dropped to near nil when the lost Oduro. Also awful job on the Spanish telecast as they flat out MISSED the first goal because they were going to a replay. Heck the announcer was still talking about the replay and didn't start going into his goal chant until the Pachuca players had run over to the sidelines to celebrate.

Overall, I was enthralled in the first half, struggled by the half hour mark in the second half, so a slightly above average score seems fair for this.