HOUSTON - Throughout the first half of the 2007 MLS season, Houston Dynamo's defense has vaulted them to the top of the league as they look to defend their league championship won a year ago. On Wednesday night at Robertson Stadium, it was the Dynamo defense that got them off to a great start toward another title, that of the inaugural SuperLiga, after a 1-0 victory against Mexican giant Club America.
"We were good (defensively)," said Dynamo head coach Dominic Kinnear. "I don't think (goalkeeper) Pat (Onstad) made a good save tonight. I think a lot of the stuff came to him, so the guys in front of him were great.
"Pat (Ianni) and Eddie (Robinson) were physical with their two forwards and making life difficult for them. Craig (Waibel) and Wade (Barrett) were good, but I think Richard Mulrooney was great. He sat in the middle and distributed the ball well and broke up a lot of plays. I think it was a team effort tonight. Team win and team shutout."
Houston got the only goal it would need in the 41st minute when Stuart Holden crossed the ball from the left side of the area to the far post, where Nate Jaqua was waiting to tap in for an easy goal into an open net.
"Stuart played a great ball across. I'm not sure how he got down there," Jaqua said. "I was able to lose my man. I had a lot of time to think about it and I was able to put it in the back of the net."
The game was marred by physical play throughout as Club America was whistled for 17 fouls and three yellow cards, while Houston was whistled for 15 fouls and two yellow cards.
"They were trying to intimidate me, get into my head," said Joseph Ngwenya, who had a verbal altercation with Ricardo Rojas in the 39th minute that resulted in a light shove. "I'm glad I kept my head ... it was a bit physical today."
Kinnear said Dynamo didn't have a scouting report on Club America for their opener in Group B play, and Barrett concurred with Kinnear adding that the team was more worried about the New England Revolution last week, but that didn't stop Dynamo from keeping a clean sheet.
"We didn't know a whole lot about them," Barrett said. "We were worried about the New England game going in just a few days ago so we really turned our attention to this game a couple of days ago.
"We tried to figure out what system they were playing early in the game and just adjust to that. That was something Dom talked about before the game. We didn't know what they were going to throw at us but we needed to figure it out early and I thought we did a pretty good job of that."
Dynamo now sit atop the Group B table, and they aren't concerned about excuses people might make for Club America. Even though Club America was in their preseason, to Dynamo it was an important win.
"I can't control what people think. I think you saw a frustrated team. ... If they want to say it's a preseason game, that's OK with me, I can understand that," Kinnear said. "I understand they've played only one game. I think they played Chelsea, so they've had competition. People can think what they want to think, but I think we were the better team. ... I think that for 90 minutes, the Houston Dynamo played well tonight."
Jeremy Rakes is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major LeagueSoccer or its clubs.
