Readers have their own opinions of Caig’s play for Houston Dynamo

Which team will rebound better from a bitter midweek loss: Houston at Kansas City on Saturday or Arsenal at Manchester United on Sunday?

Ahead of an intriguing weekend slate of games, here are a few reader observations:

“I am an avid Houston Dynamo supporter and in your story entitled ‘Greed Dooms FC Dallas’ your evaluation of goalie TonyCaig’s play was spot-on, and the prediction for the Saprissa match was eerily prophetic. He cost the Dynamo two more goals last night in a 3-0 loss.

“If this keeps up, there will be enough footage of his miscues for a highlight reel. Last night’s errors were another ball through his hands and a very embarrassing challenge play that left him sprawling while the Saprissa player skipped past him to score on an open net.

“If Coach Dominic Kinnear isn’t shopping for a replacement, I’ll be very surprised. The Galaxy can only hope that Caig is still in goal when it plays Houston on April 19. Becks, Landon and Co. could have some fun.”

– Chris Hoyt, Houston

“I wonder why you (and unfortunately not only you) persist in claiming that Caig was beaten by a lob because he was out of position. Have you watched the replay? I was at the game and it seemed to me that Caig was on the 6-yard-line when Kenny Cooper made his shot. How is that ‘way out of position’?

“Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that Caig played well. He was truly awful on the second goal and could have done better with the third. But I challenge you to look at the footage objectively and tell me what he did wrong with that first shot.”

– Jason Wintz

Reply: If Caig had stayed on his line, it would have forced Cooper to shoot instead of lob. Caig should not have come out of the net unless a Houston defender was near enough to provide cover on the goal line.

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“Just wanted to object to your description of the first goal [in the Galaxy-San Jose Earthquakes game].

” ‘An astute pass from Landon Donovan, a cool side-foot shot into the open net by Beckham for his first MLS goal after goalkeeper Joe Cannon had come out to cut the angle, and there it was.’

“It can’t be an open net when the ball is sent through the ‘keeper’s legs, which is what happened. An open net implies that the shooter has nothing between himself and the (therefore) open goal. But clearly Beckham had to deal with an obstruction: the goalkeeper.”

– Tom Moese

Reply: Sounds like semantics. There was no one in the net, therefore it was open.

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“If you are going to cover Galaxy games, I would appreciate that you place a picture of the action [instead of a photo of Kobe Bryant watching it]. No offense to Kobe and family, but this was the Galaxy’s night and you were ruining it.”

– Vedran Agovic

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Reply: Point taken, but Kobe is news wherever he goes. Would you object to a Lakers game story featuring a shot of David Beckham watching at Staples Center?

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“You wrote that the pitch at the Meadowlands is a ‘dreadful, patched-up, threadbare, NFL-logoed carpet.’ You are right about the dreadfulness and NFL logo, but the carpet is almost new and in great shape for artificial turf.”

– Julian C. Swearengin, New York

“I don’t believe the rumors about Juan Roman Riquelme and MLS, but even if he were to play at Giants Stadium on June 8, the horror of the playing surface that the New York Red Bulls put up with most of the year will be hidden from him.

“For international games [such as the June 8 USA-Argentina match] they always put down real grass at the Meadowlands. Sometimes the sod works well, but other times the turf would have been safer and better because the freshly laid sod can come up in large clumps.

“We Red Bulls fans look forward to those few weeks of real grass without football lines and the NFL logo.”

– Gene Hiigel, Brooklyn

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“So when does Alexi Lalas get fired?

“He built this team. He’s got the team’s salary cap tied up on three players. He traded away good players for terrible bench players. Frank Yallop in an interview alluded that management (I took this to mean Lalas) wouldn’t let him make the decisions he needed to make as coach.

“When Santino Quaranta was traded to New York, he said Yallop’s hands were tied because of the decisions from Lalas. I’ve already heard various reports online that Ruud Gullit and Lalas are not getting along and that the coach may leave.

“So when is Lalas going to get fired? This ‘jewel’ of Major League Soccer seems to have lost its luster and appears to be a stone wandering aimlessly in the breeze.”

–Javier Padilla, Santa Clarita

Reply: Interesting analogy. Must be one of those rolling stones that’s become airborne, I guess. As for Lalas, you seem to have covered it pretty thoroughly. It will be up to AEG to make the call, but it’s not going to happen two games into the season, guaranteed.

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“The Galaxy opens the season with a thud, their central defender receives a red, their striker gets injured (and was injured when they acquired him), and for the home opener the L.A. Times decides to write about the opposition. With such decision making, it is no wonder that soccer fans go to the Internet for news.”

– Christopher Mandzok, Claremont

Reply: Glad you could join us here on the Internet. Plenty more news next week.

For comments or questions on soccer, email: grahame.jones@latimes.com