WWTBAM Bored

I may not be able to speak for days.

Last night the Houston Dynamo beat FC Dallas 4-1 to advance in our first round playoff series on aggregate, 4-2.

Last week we had lost in Dallas 1-0 so we needed to win by two last night to win the series and advance. Dallas scored in the first half last night on their only shot on goal to make it 2-0 and things were looking pretty grim. Houston had several scoring chances but just couldn't get a goal.

However, in the opening minutes of the 2nd half Arturo Alvarez of Dallas, a Houston native, committed a red card offense and was sent off the field meaning that FCD has to play with only 10 men the rest of the way. The offense was kneeing one of the Houston players in the groin while both were out of bounds before a Dallas throw-in.

When Houston finally got one goal the crowd of 30,088 went crazy. It was absolutely deafening in the stadium. And then a few minutes later when Houston evened up the overall total score it got even louder. Houston had several more chances to score in regulation but couldn't quite get the clinching goal so the game went to overtime. Houston settled things with not one but two goals in the first half of overtime and held on to win.

Amazing, amazing game and experience. Of course we did not want to lose but especially not to Dallas so it made everything all the sweeter. Our supporter's group went over to our official bar after the game and watched the game all over again until 2 am this morning.

We now face the winner of the ChivaUSA/Kansas City series. KC leads that series 1 goal to 0 with the deciding game in LA tonigth. If KC wins we would get the Western Conference championship game in Houston next Saturday. If Chivas wins we have to travel to LA.

I'm in there somewhere.

Is something on fire in there?? You guys sure know how to celebrate!

That is pretty frightening. I hope no one was hurt.

Yes, something is on fire, sort of. There is a flare and and a smoke bomb going off. That area of the supporter's section is mostly El Batallon. They get a little more carried away than we, the Texian Army, do. I'm over to the left close to the checkered flags.

The flares have been banned and we have been pretty good about not lighting them off this season but some of the guys figured that this might be the last home game of the season and why not.

No one got hurt. Well, not right then. One of my friends tried to jump over the railing at one point and bruised his foot. But he got treated at the stadium first aid area and came back to the section on crutches. That got a cheer.

I never thought of it as frightening. We sing, cheer, throw streamers, confetti, and jump up and down for the entire game. The flares just seem like an extension of that.

I have the feeling that if the Texian Army and other Dynamos fans had been around to defend the Alamo, the Mexican Army would have run away in fear.

That would have sparked a great celebration, too!

The kids' soccer games don't even remotely resemble yours. They might be more fun if they did...

Only ONE flare?

And they wasted it by not throwing it at a referee?

What's wrong with you slackers? Don't you know how real soccer fans are supposed to behave?

If you need some lessons, I can recommend a few U11 Dads from a tournament I worked last weekend. They could give seminars . . .

More good news. Kansas City and Chivas USA tied 0-0 tonight. That means KC wins the series 1-0 on the strength of their goal in the first game of the series.

Which means we get another home game. The Western Conference final against KC will be in Houston next Saturday night! If we win that game we are off to the MLS Cup final in Washington DC on November 18. The Eastern Conference final is Chicago at New England on Thursday night.

Houston won the MLS Cup last year in Dallas so we are still alive to repeat as Cup champions. No team has repeated as Cup champions since DC did it the first two years of the league in 96 and 97.

Tickets went on sale today to the general public for the Houston-Kansas City Western Conference championship game this Saturday.

So many people called in they crashed the Dynamo phone system for several hours but the team still managed to sell a reported 10,000 tickets by 3 pm today.

We had 30,088 last Friday night for our first round playoff game. Something around 31,000 is the capacity at Robertson Stadium, our home field on the University of Houston campus. Looks like we might get our second sellout of the season there.