Giles Barnes lines up a shot against the San Jose Earthquakes.
Houston, Texas — Last week I wrote that the Dynamo looked like they lacked a sense of identity which once made them a fixture in the MLS playoffs, they returned home from Toronto having taken a big step toward regaining it.
There was changes against Toronto, of course. Kofi Sarkodie was dropped to the bench, Raul Rodriguez slotting in at right outside-back without even missing a beat, meaning David Horst partnered Jermaine Taylor at the heart of Houston’s defense.
Coyle said of the changes “When all was said and done we knew we performed really well against San Jose, a game we should’ve won. We felt we had to make changes just to freshen up.” Coyle added “Kofi’s done terrific for a lot of games but we felt he needed a little break and Raul stepped in and we all know his qualities. That’s why you have a squad and a roster so you can change things and freshen up when you need to.”
Fans may tend to disagree with Coyle regarding Sarkodie’s recent performances. He made 2 big mistakes in the game versus FC Dallas for the first and fourth goals, not to mention losing the ball cheaply out-wide against Sporting Kansas City for their first goal. Sometimes players go through a rough patch and need to be kicked into gear. A run on the bench can only make the always positive, always energetic Sarkodie more willing to get back into the team. That can only be good for Houston.
With Brad Davis nursing a hamstring strain and Nate Sturgis still recovering from a dislocated shoulder the song, as they say, should remain the same for Houston meaning David Horst will be in line to face his former club on Saturday evening.
Horst saw his first start since April 11th in the game versus Toronto and looked assured as usual. What I have noticed with Horst is that he does a lot of the stuff that Taylor needs his other centre half to do so that he can concentrate on being his best. Horst wins a lot of headers and throws himself into a lot of challenges. The ESPN commentators noted the way Horst plays — with guts. Not to say Jermaine Taylor does not play with guts, but the big Jamaican does tend to switch off at points — that was evident for Jozy Altifore’s goal.
The biggest thing to take away from the game versus Toronto is not necessarily that it’s the Dynamo’s first away win this season, but Giles Barnes’ performance as captain in the absence of Brad Davis.
This season must be seen as a transition season for Davis — we know Barnes is his long term successor as captain — and with the skipper approaching 34 this November, you have to wonder how long he will be able to give the Dynamo the same level of performance he has since joining in 2006. As luck would have it, this seems to be a transformation season for Barnes.
You look at the likes of Ignacio Piatti, Federico Higuain, Bradley Wright-Phillips, and you wonder if the Dynamo would benefit from a player of that caliber. Well against Toronto Giles Barnes announced himself as that player. Before the game against TFC Barnes had scored 4 in 4 games, dropping back to behind the striker he dominated the play and flew by TFC and USMNT captain Michael Bradley like he wasn’t even there on the way to setting up Will Bruin’s goal.
I hope he waved on his way past.
Owen Coyle said of Barnes’ performance “It epitomizes everything that we are looking for going forward. He is a wonderful player when he is in that form and we are fortunate to have him.”
We are entering the Giles Barnes era in Houston, make no mistake about it. With Erick Torres set to arrive from Guadalajara in July, Houston may just have found their x-factor within that partnership.
Barnes is going to be a big part of this franchise going forward, and carrying over his unstoppable form will be crucial for Houston if they hope to beat Nat Borchers and the Portland Timbers.
A note on penalty kicks: When I was about 13 years old I was on my way to a Chelsea game with my father and brother. We stopped in a small corner grocery store as we always did on our walk to “the ‘Bridge” and we spied a familiar face. Trying to hide underneath a beret (yes, a beret), buying cigarettes, stood Chelsea legend Frank LeBoeuf. We said hello and walked the rest of the way to the stadium with him. Just me, my dad, my brother and Frank LeBoeuf.
I forget most of the conversation — it was 14 years ago now — but one thing always jumped out at me: our conversation about penalty kicks.
I had told Frank that my team had won a trophy that year, but had to win it on penalties because we missed one during the game. I tried to defend our striker, saying it was a good save by the opposition ‘keeper but the mercurial Frenchman (who only missed 3 of 20 penalties he took for Chelsea) simply said:
“No. Nobody should miss from 12 yards out, versus just the goalkeeper.”
Time for the gaffer to drum that story into Dynamo penalty takers’ skulls. Two penalty misses in two weeks will not have pleased Owen Coyle, regardless of whether or not Boniek scored the rebound against TFC.
The Dynamo entered BMO field in disarray, but they left for Houston with their heads held slightly higher than they have been able to of late. They haven’t quite found their identity yet, but it’s closer than it was before kick off last weekend.
Saturday’s game will kick off at 7:30 p.m. CT and will be broadcast live on ROOT SPORTS Southwest Alternate Channel (7 p.m. pregame) and in Spanish on Telemundo Houston (tape delay; 11 p.m. broadcast). The game can be heard on Yahoo Sports Radio 1560 AM and La Ranchera 850 AM and 101.7 FM (Spanish).
Injury Report:
Houston Dynamo: Nate Sturgis — R shoulder dislocation (Doubtful); Brad Davis — L hamstring strain (Probable).
Portland Timbers: Will Johnson – R leg surgery; Michael Nanchoff – sports hernia surgery; Gastoìn Fernaìndez – turf toe (Questionable); Ben Zemanski – R ACL surgery (Out).
Likely Lineups:
Houston Dynamo: GK Deric; DF Rodriguez, Horst, Taylor, Beasley; MF Lopez, Boniek, Garrido, Clark; FW Barnes. Bruin.
Portland Timbers: GK Kwarasey; DF Powell, Borchers, Ridgewell, Villafana; MF Jewsbury, Chara, Wallace, Nagbe, Valeri; FW Adi.
Follow Scott Nicholls on Twitter: @scottnicholls
