A three-way on the freeway to First Kick: Episode 3: The forward pass

Finally, we head up top:

FORWARD


MARTEK: Up top, I'm looking at a forward pairing of Brian Ching and Chris Wondoloski. "Francisco" Franco
Caraccio has looked nice on the ball, but he clearly has some adjusting to do
regarding the speed and physicality of the MLS game.

Kinnear has been subbing
the Generalissimo and Wondo this spring, but I am wondering when he's going to
start the two together because it's Ching's health that makes me worried up top
and not Wondo's.

Here's a thought: assuming Dynamo don't resign Jaqua and/or
Ngwenya when the Austrian season ends, how about moving Holden up? What do you
think?


MISTER3D: If I think the dynamo should rest Dero what should they do about ching? Play him! but sub early. Against the revs it would appear ching- wondolowski start. Against municipal, Wondolowski's very being vibrated with goal scoring desire. He has looked good in the preseason and deserves the opportunity to take his chances into the season proper. Maybe we will see kinnear's rookie du jour, geoff cameron subbed in for ching on saturday, who else could it be? Really. Has anyone seen Kyle Brown this preseason. This may be to early to declare but carracio looks to be a fantastic addition. Once he adjusts to kinnear's expectations (running and defending--I swear you could see his thoughts in the municipal game, "what,, I am a number ten argentine. I do not defend and run around like some midfielder") and mls I predict that he will be a much loved member of the orange nation, leading many to ask, "ngwenya who?"


Holden up top is not an option, who are you Martek, peter nowak?



PLAYTHERAPY: Brian Ching is a good forward but we suffer from his all-out physical play. I mean he really throws himself around out there, which leads to him spending far too much time on the trainer's table. Last year, I compiled the stats and he's missed something like 30% of his teams games over his career. We need him healthy and scoring goals. His goal touch suffered much of last year.

I have made much fun of Wondo's wrestling antics, a lot of energy marking out his defender. No more if he can play the way he did against Municipal. He played both ways, having a major impact, with hard tackles, steals, and constant hustle. What I wish he had was something that really distinguished him as a striker. Perhaps that will come with minutes. As mr3d wrote, you could feel his goal hunger and we wanted him to score, too. Baaad! Caraccio showed great promise, with cheeky touches belaying creative skill and an intuitiveness (the flick to Ching in the box was masterful) that I haven't seen by any Dynamo other than De Ro. I echo the occasional, "What? ME Defend?" attitude, though he improved a wee bit the last few minutes.

As always with games against the Revs, just how Bawston (okay, New England) react after a Dynamo score, whether the Revs are ahead or not wil determine the course of the game and final score. In the Cup, after the Dynamo equalized, you could see that, "Oh, shit, not again!," look in New England's eyes. I hope it will be a great game.


MARTEK: Mister3d, how dare you impugn my good friend Peter Nowak. Believe me, when his more, ah, creative tactics lead to the US bombing out of Beijing early, thus bringing Holden and Ianni back here to Houston right away, you too will be singing the praises of the guy. Mark my words!

Geoff Cameron coming in early for Ching? You were right all those posts ago, this really will be the Year of the Goon!




MISTER3D: Peter Nowak is clearly the smartest guy in the room or just a jerk. the truth is probably somewhere in the middle. Ok, the scale leans more to the jerk side but moving holden out of the midfield seems counterproductive.


Thankfully, ching didn't play a full 90 in poland so I'm thinking 60 or so minutes then yank him. Sometime in the second half would be a great debut for the wondo/carracio pairing. Kinnear might as well see what they can do together.


I'm looking forward to the opening game but with international competition hovering so close at hand the revs game is a little like oatmeal, good for you and sustaining yet lacking that magic deliciousness of the fresh off the comal breakfast taco that is concacaf.


PLAYTHERAPY: Can Kinnear even pronounce 'sub' before the 70th minute- except Holden for Davis? I'll go one worse than your suggestion, Martek, why not Holden for Onstad? Or a presidential running mate?