Losing in Seattle is not embarrassing; they are a very good team with and have a tough environment to play in. Giving up two goals to break your shutout streak is not that embarrassing; a deflected goal and a penalty kick, those things happen. What took place in the first half between midfielder Colin Clark and a ball kid is embarrassing. It’s not just an embarrassment for Clark, but for the Dynamo, the league, and the fans.
As you know by now, Clark had a run in with a ball kid on the sideline early in the first half. Clark used an anti-gay slur towards the kid that was caught by the sideline microphones on the NBC broadcast. There are so many different thoughts I have on this whole incident and a lot of these feelings have been conveyed in various articles making the rounds on the web.
Before I say anything else on the subject I want it to be known that I have interviewed Colin Clark on our site and he has helped us spread the word on the site. I don’t want any of the commentary I have on this subject to be seen as biased because of this. What Clark did was wrong, plain and simple. A suspension from the league is likely coming and it should be. In a football world where racial incidents still occur far too often, Major League Soccer cannot allow this type of behavior to go unnoticed. Do other players perhaps say these things during games? Does this happen in games and not get caught on cameras and/or microphones? Perhaps this is true but that is not an excuse for this. Sure, we’ve all played sports and been caught up in competitive moments. We probably have all said things we know we didn’t mean and shouldn’t have said. Again, these aren’t excuses for this happening.
Clark has since apologized on his Twitter account and the league and the Dynamo have issued statements. I hope the ball kid has not been overlooked in this. I hope all of the parties involved also apologized to this child. He did nothing wrong and should not have been a victim of the verbal abuse. As a Dynamo fan I feel embarrassed. I feel embarrassed for us as fans, I feel embarrassed for the team and the league, and I feel embarrassed for Clark. I think Clark will likely get a multi-game suspension. The Dynamo don’t play again for three weeks which would mean Clark would have quite a lengthy layoff. In the meantime, both Clark and the Dynamo will look to mend fences and hopefully try and put this ugly incident behind them.
As for the game itself, the Dynamo were undone by two early goals and could never find their rhythm going forward offensively. The defense gave up its first goals of the season. Geoff Cameron is a rising star in the league and with the national team but he had a night he’d probably like to forget. Both Seattle goals came from corner kicks. David Estrada scored his league leading fourth goal when his shot from outside the box deflected off Cameron and left keeper Tally Hall going the wrong way. Seattle’s second goal was a Brad Evans penalty after Cameron was called for fouling Patrick Ianni in the box. Ianni was jumping to head a corner and Cameron shoved him in the back, sending Evans to the spot to bury the second goal.
The Dynamo had control early and looked the stronger side in the first twenty minutes. Will Bruin went close when his volley from the top of the box was tipped over by Seattle keeper Michael Gspurning. The two quick goals from the Sounders really did the Dynamo in and effectively ended the game. The Dynamo have struggled to score this season and a 2-0 deficit did not help the cause. This team isn’t built to come from behind and score a lot of goals; they just don’t have the personnel to do this.
The defense for the Dynamo is among the best in the league but if they want to be among the elite they need another dynamic offensive player. With Clark likely facing a suspension the offense will now be further hindered. Due to some odd scheduling, and likely because of the stadium, the Dynamo don’t play again until April 15th. A three week break so early in the season may not be needed but it comes at a good time for the Dynamo. Expect Dominic Kinnear and the coaching staff to use this time to find their footing on offense. Kinnear loves the 4-4-2 and the 4-1-2-1-2 variation was used when the team won their MLS cups. Dwayne De Rosario was the attacking midfielder in this formation but Brad Davis played in that role often. If the team can acquire a winger or attacking midfielder I would love to see a move back to this formation.
With the three week layoff I probably won’t have much to write about in the coming weeks. After what happened this past weekend, that may be a good thing. Hopefully the team can put this loss behind them quickly. The incident that took place won’t go away quickly but hopefully it serves as a learning moment and can help us rid our beautiful game of such ugly things.
(image courtesy of houstondynamo.com)
