After a disjointed first-half performance that was clearly not their best, Houston Dynamo coach Dominic Kinnear did not rant, did not have a tantrum at halftime. He just asked for 5 percent more from his club ... or maybe 10.
"No, not at all," said Kinnear if he took any frustration out on the wall of what is normally D.C. United's locker room. "However that gets thrown out there that I'm a paint-peeler, that maybe happens twice a year. For me, and the guys will testify to that, it was just 'play a little better.' The field kind of slowed us down a bit as the ball was getting stuck in our feet a bit and I just told the guys that if we pick up our play maybe 5 or 10 percent I think we'll be in good shape."
During their last visit to RFK Stadium, Kinnear shut the locker room down for more than 50 minutes after a loss to United that left them 2-5-1 and in the midst of a goal-scoring slump.
"I think just in general we didn't have a very good first half. We said at halftime that everyone needs to come out and be 5 percent better and take a little bit better care of the ball and come out and be relentless in the second half," said Houston captain Wade Barrett, echoing Kinnear.
Just moments into the second half, Joseph Ngwenya had a decent good scoring opportunity that went wide but seemed to change the tempo for Dynamo.
"I thought the first half from my perspective, we looked a little tentative, a little nervous for the type of guys we have," said goalkeeper Pat Onstad, whose brilliant reflex save in the 87th minute sealed the victory. "At halftime no one was really down, we got 45 minutes, we haven't played our best stuff. We could tell we were into it (after Ngwenya's chance)."
THANKING FRANK: That Houston is a team with a large core of players that had been together for several years was a big topic of conversation in the days leading up to MLS Cup 2007. That camaraderie is seen as a big part of Dynamo's success and a major reason why they're able to rebound from adversity.
While Houston is only the second team to win back-to-back MLS Cup titles, following D.C. United in 1996-97. the dynasty actually started back in San Jose, when many of these players won a pair of championships with the Earthquakes in 2001 and 2003.
And while the two teams are considered separate entities in the MLS record books, Kinnear knows where his team's dynasty started.
"These guys played for Frank, learned how to become a team under Frank and I just kind of taken over where Frank left off," Kinnear said referring to Frank Yallop, who coached San Jose during that run. "They were successful then, they're successful now. They hate to lose."
USING HIS HEAD: After having his hands full in the first half with the crafty Khano Smith, who nearly set up a second Taylor Twellman goal with a darting run through the Houston defense in the 33rd minute, Dynamo defender Craig Waibel knew he had to do something to contain the Bermudan international.
So he used his head. Actually, it was Smith who used his following a collision in the box in the 64th minute.
After the two tumbled to the ground inside the box, Smith jumped up imploring for a penalty kick call from referee Alex Prus. When Prus turned a deaf ear, Waibel got into Smith's for his appeal.
That's when Smith turned and head butted Waibel, who fell to the turf. It wasn't quite Zinedine Zidane on Italian defender Marco Materazzi in the 2006 World Cup Final, but there was a concern Smith would be the first player sent off in an MLS Cup Final since Dema Kovalenko in 2004.
Instead, Prus went with a caution, but Waibel believes the damage was done.
"I knew at that point Khano was frustrated," Waibel said. "Obviously I didn't do a good enough job of it in the first half. Part of my game is outthinking people, part of my game is playing angles, the one part of my game that isn't there is speed so I had to get something into his head and I finally did."
SAY WHAT?: Waibel had a pretty good week in the quote department, as well. When he arrived at the team hotel, the 32-year-old defender talked about his run of five MLS Cup appearances.
"I'm a dinosaur," he said. "I've been lucky enough to be on some great teams. I've got the full spectrums of MLS Cups from watching to playing from behind to being subbed out to finishing an MLS Cup. I've run the gambit."
Sunday, Waibel was credited with an assist on Dwayne De Rosario's winning goal in the 74th minute when he fed Brad Davis, who launched a perfect cross towards the penalty spot where De Rosario headed the ball past Matt Reis.
"I did not know that," Waibel said. "But that's a two-game point steak for me -- a career best!"
Dylan Butler and Chris Snear are contributors to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
