Houston Snatch Point In Plucky Draw With TFC

Bobby Boswell ensured the league leaders returned home with a point by canceling out Dwayne De Rosario’s first half strike.

Jul 18, 2009 7:11:27 PM

More On : Houston Dynamo, Toronto FC

By Talha Zaheer

A depleted Houston side stepped onto BMO field to tackle high-flying Toronto FC. With the likes of Brian Ching, Stuart Holden, and Andrew Hainault missing, Houston Coach Dominic Kinnear was more than happy to see the return from suspension of Geoff Cameron and Bobby Boswell, with the latter sealing a point for the battling league leaders. Toronto FC played the same side that earned the away game victory over San Jose with Sam Cronin and Ali Gerba missing on Gold Cup duty.

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First Half

To start out, Pat Onstad saved a low De Rosario shot early in the game. At the other end, Cameron’s curling effort had Stefan Frei beat but it bounced back off the woodwork. Those turned out to be the more memorable plays in what was otherwise a disappointing first half.

Adrian Serioux attempted to dribble the ball out of a tight spot. A clash of knees resulted in the Canadian international suffering what is described as a knee contusion. Danny Dichio replaced him in the 36th minute. Jim Brennan was pushed back into defense to accommodate the towering striker.

Dichio proved to be a good substitution as he played an integral role in the opener. Marvell Wynne played the ball in his direction but Dichio stepped over the ball allowing it to race into the path of the onrushing De Rosario. The four time MLS all star lashed the ball past Pat Onstad to give Toronto FC a 1-0 lead.

Despite being a goal to the good at half time, coach Chris Cummins thought TFC “were shocking”. He also lamented the style of play the home side had to adopt upon Dichio’s introduction, declaring, “I don’t want us to be direct”.

Houston, for their part, also contributed to the abysmal quality of football on display. Much of the blame can be laid on the dilapidated BMO field pitch that is hardly worthy of professional football but the scrappy nature of play and hopeless passing from both sides contributed to a poor first half.

Second Half

Both sides went into team huddles before the onset of the second half. This seemed to spur Cameron on as he energetically put himself about the field and generally gave Toronto a hard time with his physicality. Houston started the brighter side with Toronto content to just sit back and absorb the pressure and hit the visitors on counter attacks. The ploy almost bore dividends when De Rosario out-muscled Mike Chabala to send in an inviting cross that Dichio failed to convert.

The Houston side seemed to have taken a leaf from the Chelsea handbook as they continued to intimidate the referee by crowding around him and complaining vociferously. The ploy seemed to work. Nick Garcia was shown a yellow card for a foul on Dominic Oduro.

Oduro then shot straight at Frei after Corey Ashe had played him through. It was a fantastic opportunity that he should have capitalized upon. The game had become scrappy with some plays one only expects to see at schoolboy level soccer as 4-5 players tussled for the ball at close quarters.

Chad Barrett failed to make the most of yet another one-on-one chance having been put through by a first time Amado Guevara through ball. Barrett tried to chip Onstad, but the giant stopper got a piece of the ball to slow its goal bound advancement, allowing a defender to knock the ball out for a corner before Barrett could get a second bite at it. That corner produced some fine deceptive skill from Guevara inside the area as the Honduran managed to find De Rosario who miraculously swiveled in a tight spot and sent in a strong goal bound shot that Onstad did well to save.

Plenty of incomplete passes ensued. Eventually, TFC were made to pay for spurning the opportunities that had come their way. Bobby Boswell rose highest to meet a cross from Cameron after the home side had only half cleared a corner in the 74th minute. Despite Frei managing to prevent his initial attempt from crossing the goal-line, Boswell was on hand to bundle in the rebound and silence the crowd.

The setback forced TFC to up the ante with first Barrett and then Dichio trying their luck. Yet, Houston almost nicked all three points when Boswell’s glancing header whistled past Frei’s right hand post. Nana Attakora had the opportunity to make himself an instant hero, but fluffed his lines from a terrific Guevara delivery. Any sort of touch would have resulted in the net bulging, but the burly defender’s desperate lunge failed to make contact with the ball.

Toronto were awarded a free kick deep in injury time after Julius James foolishly fouled Dichio. Guevara narrowly missed the target with what was the last kick of the game.

Despite there being 29 shots during the game, it was rightfully branded as a “poor game” by both coaches with Kinnear echoing Cummins sentiments, “it was two average teams on the day” and that at the end of the day, “draw is a fair result.”

Houston’s four-match road trip has elapsed and they can look forward to playing some games at home. With the Gold cup nearing its conclusion, they will be comfortable in the knowledge that their star players are close to a return.

Toronto, while pleased to have met their four-point target from the last two games, will be hoping for better in a highly competitive eastern conference. They too look forward to the culmination of the Gold Cup with Ali Gerba and Sam Cronin tied up with their national squads. In a more exciting development, Cummins confirmed TFC had made an offer to Julian De Guzman and are awaiting his response. His inclusion would be a huge boost to the Reds.

Talha Zaheer covers Toronto FC for Goal.com

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