HOUSTON, Texas -- With less than three weeks until their first competitive game, the Houston Dynamo held their first preseason game against FC Dallas Friday afternoon at Robertson Stadium. Houston coach Dominic Kinnear was the happier coach on the day as the Dynamo got imposed their will on the flanks and scored on two set pieces for a relatively easy 3-0 victory.
Houston's three goals all came from great service. In the sixth minute, a Brian Mullan cross found Chris Wondolowski who beat FC Dallas center back Steve Purdy and finished nicely past 'keeper Ray Burse. In the 13th minute, a Brad Davis corner kick found Craig Waibel who headed home. On the third goal, a Richard Mulrooney corner was cleared poorly to Julius James and James didn't miss from short range to round out the victory.
"All three periods we looked sharp," Dynamo coach Dominic Kinnear said. "First game for both teams and I am happy with how we started and ended the game."
The game was divided into three 30-minute periods and while Kinnear maintained the same group for the first hour, the final period gave him an opportunity to get a look at several new faces on his roster.
In addition, some starters were missing for the Orange, with Brian Ching and Ricardo Clark away with national team duty and Stuart Holden and Corey Ashe were both injured. Veteran defender Eddie Robinson was also unavailable as he was being inducted into the Greensboro (N.C.) Youth Soccer Hall of Fame, and that allowed him to play center back Julius James for the entire 90 minutes. James was acquired from Toronto FC in the deal for Dwayne De Rosario.
"I thought he looked good on and off the ball," Kinnear said. "He is enjoying it here so far and he is learning the way the guys are looking to play all around him."
With Holden out injured, the game provided Brad Davis the opportunity to get some minutes in central midfield as the Dynamo look to replace De Rosario in their attack.
"I like it. It's different. You have to be more aware at all times, but it's something I grew up playing in there and it's something I don't have a problem doing," Davis said. "It's something I'll work hard on because I know if there are injuries, I may have to step in there and play."
Overall, Houston was happy with the result.
"I thought it was fantastic. We showed well. We played a good game and deserved to win and we did," Davis said.
On the other side, FC Dallas head coach Schellas Hyndman was disappointed with his team's performance.
"I didn't think we played well," he said. The FCD boss indicated he thought his team would have been better prepared. "Practice has been great. Today was an eye-opening," he said.
In particular, Hyndman had been trying to improve his team's flank defense in the preseason and so to give up a goal in the run of play from wide service was troubling.
"There are things we have been working on and we were not able to do, so that is disappointing," he said. "Last year we gave up 44 goals throughout the year, 31 or so on the flank, so we talked about that a lot. ... So it's disappointing, of course."
The good news for Hyndman was that the season's first competitive outing offered him an opportunity to evaluate some new faces. In particular, Hyndman praised his new center back, Steve Purdy, signed last month from German second division side 1860 Munich.
"I thought Steve Purdy did a good job in his first game against an MLS team," Hyndman said. "I don't know if anyone really stepped up and did really well."
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