Two-time defending champs have a lot of work to do

Sainey Nyassi (back) and the Revolution ran all over Corey Ashe and the Dynamo in a 3-0 season-opening win on Saturday. AP

FREEDMAN: The return of MLS' best-ever rivalry BECHTEL: Becks provides hype, Blanco the flash BALLARD: Beane bringing Moneyball to San Jose LALAS: Defending champ Houston has work to do FREEDMAN: Galindo greatest-ever success story GALLERY: 14 new faces, new places around MLS BUENO: Designated-player rule has changed MLS SOCCER AMERICA: MLS alumni take over league

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What can be learned from one game?

That's the question being asked all around Major League Soccer on Monday. With Round 1 of season in the books, everyone from pundits to coaches to season ticketholders is wondering if those first 90 minutes augur anything for the rest of the season.

My answer is, everything and nothing can be learned from one game. Especially if it's the defending champion Houston Dynamo you're wondering about.

Actually, we learned everything from just five minutes. It only took about that long for the Orange faithful to shield their eyes from TV images of the Dynamo's opening-day match at the New England Revolution and groan that most subtle of insults: "Uh-oh."

It was around minute five that the Revolution's 19-year-old Gambian striker, Kenny Mansally, made his first sortie into the heart of the defense. It was like watching Manfred von Richthofen, a.k.a. the Red Baron, buzz into Allied territory. (Or so I've heard.)

Yes, the Dynamo were missing Ricardo "the Destroyer" Clark in the midfield and Brad Davis on the left side, which is why everyone expects the Dynamo will ultimately be just fine. And everyone already knew, entering the match, that Dominic Kinnear's side needed to bring in a proven No. 2 striker to pair with Brian Ching. But the "uh-oh" was directed squarely at the defense.

I think most people understood that Ryan Cochrane's departure would be a problem, but I doubt anyone predicted it would be this bad. After all, the Dynamo still have Eddie Robinson, a Best XI defender. He's the kind of defender who makes other defenders better. His ability and desire made up for Cochrane's deficiencies in the center of defense for the past few years; he should be able to do the same with Cochrane's replacement, right?

Not on Saturday night. The Dynamo's defense was in shambles. First of all, Brian Mullan started at right back. Only if Pat Onstad had started there would it have been stranger.

Second, starting alongside Bobby Boswell -- he of the 2006 Defender of the Year award and this "Bachelor Bobby" video, which falls in the "man, you can't make this stuff up" category -- Robinson did his best to stop the bleeding. But he was like a butterfly band-aid on a gunshot wound. Boswell was slow and confused, like a disoriented wildebeest, nipped at by quick, frenzied cheetahs -- particularly Mansally.

(As an aside, did Mansally and his compatriot, Sainey Nyassi, also 19, look awesome or what? Single-handedly -- or, I guess, double-handedly, because there are two of them -- the Revs have gone from being MLS' most methodical side to being one of its fastest.)

About 11 minutes into the game, like a chess player rethinking his approach, Kinnear went to three in the back to deal with the Revolution's overwhelming advantage in the midfield. It was the correct move, but it left the back line even more exposed, and Mansally and Nyassi, often joined by Steve Ralston, had a field day picking them apart.

So what now for the defending champs?

(Aside No. 2: What now for all the pundits -- who shall, um, remain anonymous -- who picked Houston to get back to the MLS Cup final? This is really the best part about the aftermath of Matchday One: seeing the know-it-alls, like yours truly, get a little hot under the collar about their predictions for the season. Or, if the know-it-all was spot on -- e.g., the one guy who picked the Colorado Rapids to win it all -- seeing him gloat.)

For the past few years, consistency has been the hallmark of the league's best teams. Houston, New England, D.C. United, Chivas USA -- they have succeeded by keeping and developing their core players. And let's not forget that Houston started last season dreadfully, going winless in the first month, before turning it on in mid-summer.

This year, though, things are different. Just about every team in the league has improved. Every team brought in massive reinforcements, many of them proven players from South America. But Houston brought in very little besides Boswell and Argentine striker Franco Caraccio, who was with second-division Arsenal de Sarandí in Argentina. He might be another Luciano Emilio; he might not.

So what can be learned from one game? Nothing that can predict how a team will do in the end. But everything about what a team needs to do now if it hopes to be part of the discussion at the end.