Monday, April 14, 2008

Worried about Dynamo? Actually, unlike some others, I think I actually have a reason to be "an optimistic fellow"


Oh, the portents of doom and gloom. A disaster of biblical proportions! Dogs and cats living together!

Let's just have a little perspective here, shall we?

As I posted over at CHI, Dynamo are suffering from the same malady they had at this time last year, CCC fatigue, not to mention just plain jet lag. They just played seven meaningful games in three countries in 31 days, only three of which were at home. That's an average of one game every 4.428571 days (according to my handy-dandy calculator thingy), which you can do over a span of three or four games, but not seven! (As the Dom has pointed out to Bernardo Fallas.)

Dynamo over that time has gone 1(the first of the seven by the way!)-2-4, which is actually a pretty stout mark over that span, while fighting a host of key injuries (Onstad, Robinson, Holden, Davis, Mullan, Waibelinho). So would I like a better record? Sure. But am I worried about Dynamo? No. This week off before taking on the Gals in LA (another road game! Dynamo don't return home until May 3.) is going to be a sweet salve indeed.

Maybe I'm just wearing the rose-colored glasses here, but when I look at this roster, and see these players slowly filtering back to health (Mullan, Davis, Holden and ERob), I am looking at a serious run of quality wins.

I think the main thing with which Dynamo has had a problem that they can do something about (since the schedule and freak injuries are both beyond their control) is communication on defense. Clearly, the ERob/Boswell pairing in the back is not going all that well. And getting Tony Caig to stay in his damn goal (I read he wandered out front and made two great saves in the KC game, highlights of which I cannot see), cool down and work with his defense would be nice as well until SuperCanuck comes back. Solve that problem, and suddenly these questions all fall away.

We'll see what happens in LA this weekend. If Dynamo is truly back in form, the Gals are a team that can make you look good in a hurry.

So no, I ain't afraid of no ghost.

3 comments:

playtherapy said...

Still it's frightening for a team that lives by shutting down its opponents having such leaks in the water works- i.e., Caig deciding to be the linkman/defensive midfielder and Boswell's weekly mishaps. I couldn't see the game either- can anyone tell us whether this game was a defensive slam dunk or did we merely "luck out" in this one?

Martin Hajovsky said...

Playtherapy, I think there's something wrong with your glasses, not enough rose in them apparently. Maybe a healthy dose of Gals-pirin will help us all with our headaches Saturday.

playtherapy said...

I guess if you judge a game by halves- then we looked damn good!