I’ve Got Two Words: Galaxy vs. Dynamo Post-Game Analysis

By: NathanHJ | June 30th, 2009

And those words are: Pleasantly Surprised.

I watched this game twice, once in person (commenting from the stands on Jen’s pre-game posting) and once on the MLSLive.tv stream and both times I was impressed at how the Galaxy ended up playing their game and made the Dynamo adjust to them. How unusual! How pleasant!

From the time the game started through Todd Dunivant’s goal off of Mike Magee’s cross/shot in the 24th minute the run of play belonged to the Galaxy. The midfield seemingly won every 50-50 ball, the backline gave Brian Ching and Kei Kamara endless trouble, and both Alan Gordon and Edson Buddle got into dangerous positions, challenging the Dynamo backline and making Pat Onstad fairly nervous.

On the Galaxy side of the equation, the style of play was perhaps the best execution of what Bruce Arena has been pushing since he got here: short, quick passes that emphasize possession, patience in looking for the through ball or long pass and tough defense that calls on everyone on the field. The personnel also performed, in some cases much beter than I expected given the opponent. For example, Stefani Miglioranzi playing what we used to call the “stopper” roll in high school, caused no end of problems for the Houston midfield. Not generally known for his footwork or soft touch, he won balls and got off linking passes all night long. (And no, I wasn’t suffering from beer goggles from the $1 beer – you can only get so drunk on Bud Light.)

And as I’ve been emphasizing all season long, when Magee plays well, the Galaxy does well. Just watching the game on Sunday you could see this. Magee had a worse second half and the team’s possession was much choppier in the final 45, though perhaps the most fluid attacking sequence came in the second half. As David put it in the comments on the pre-game post, “AJ slides in and alights with the ball. Crosses it out to Lewis who drops it back in to Buddle, whose header goes just wide. Finally some style and excitement.” Indeed. The rest of the half, though the Galaxy continued to frustrate the Dynamo, the missing presence of Landon Donovan loomed large. Final passes weren’t on target enough, incisive runs didn’t quite happen, and Edson Buddle went wanting for dangerous service.

On the Dynamo side of things, Dominic Kinnear tried to compensate for his missing starters (Wade Barrett, Craig Waibel – both injured – and Ricardo Clark who put in a dynamite performance at the Confederations Cup) by putting attacking midfielder Stuart Holden in the Ricardo Clark role, counting on his touch and passing to link with Brad Davis positioned in the middle as the playmaker. While the Galaxy was able to put everything together, a sense of calm and purpose forged through all the ties in the first half of the season, this central combination for the Dynamo just never came together. On paper there is really no way a Galaxy midfield of Jovan Kirovski, Miglioranzi, Mike Magee and Eddie Lewis outplays Brian Mullan, Davis, Holden, and Corey Ashe. But that’s what happened Sunday. When the Dynamo midfield sputters their entire team misfires. Sunday, they were dangerous only in spurts. Even when Omar Gonzalez went out with about 25 minutes to go, replaced by Tony Sanneh, the Dynamo had nothing to answer with.

The final pleasant surprises were AJ Delagarza, who played his most error-free game of the season, kept his calm, and pretty much kept Corey Ashe in check all night, and Alan Gordon. Sure Gordon tried to beat people a couple times with this feet when he should know better and blew a wide open look in the first half, but he worked his way into open spaces numerous times, fought for every ball and had his chances. Oh and I would be remiss to say that for once I was not completely annoyed by Kirovski’s presence on the field.

So the team that dropped a home game to Real Salt Lake and got thoroughly outplayed in Oakland by the San Jose Earthquakes managed to take the best team in MLS out of its game and take three critical points at home. Sure, we’re still in 6th place on 18 points, but we’re within 3 of a tie for 4th. And there’s a good possibility that we can get those crucial points on July 4th. First, we get Landon Donovan back who played an amazing Confederations Cup and scored a beautiful goal against Brazil, which just jolt the offense into wakefulness. Second, we play New England. Normally that’s not a plus, but the team is struggling as they try to find a replacement for the injured Taylor Twellman. They’ve won only once on the road this year (3 ties) and they’ve actually got fewer points (16) than the Galaxy. Third, they’ve got a growing self-confidence, while the Revolution has nothing but frustration and doubt. It should be a tough hard-fought game, but the Galaxy have the ability to prevail.

Man of the Match: Todd Dunivant – not just for scoring but also for playing a steady solid game at left back.

What about you guys? What did you think? What did you see differently? Who did well? Who needs to improve? How do you feel about beating the top team in the league? What about the subsitions of Bryan Jordan for Alan Gordon and Chris Klein for Eddie Lewis?