Houston Dynamo Lose 2-0 at San Jose: A Sloppy Night on a Sloppy Pitch

On Saturday June 4, 2011, in a homecoming of sorts, the Houston Dynamo's lack of offense resulted in a 2-0 loss to the San Jose Earthquakes in Santa Clara, California. Steven Lenhart and Simon Dawkins stepped up for San Jose in the absence of Chris Wondolowski, who was on national team duty, giving the Earthquakes the win. Lenhart scored his goal in the 69th minute while Dawkins sealed up the San Jose victory with a goal in second half stoppage time.

The majority of players who made the move from San Jose in 2006 are no longer with the Houston Dynamo, but the San Jose fans still remember the departure and the match still had a rivalry feel, at least from the San Jose perspective. The Earthquakes have struggled mightily this season, sitting down near the bottom of the Western Conference table, but Saturday night they stepped up in a way befitting a team with a better record.

Although the Dynamo came out attacking during the first half, they were never able to capitalize on any of their chances. While there are plenty of excuses for the Houston loss - missing regular starters due to national team call-ups, a sloppy pitch, a still recovering Danny Cruz, etc. The reality is there is no excuse for the Dynamo's now seven (7) match winless streak, especially considering how solid they had looked during their early season unbeaten streak. An away draw last night would have kept the Dynamo fans a little more content, but the manner in which the Dynamo lost, combined with their recent inability to hold onto leads, is not sitting well in Houston, a city that is currently experiencing a serious sports slump, save the minor league Houston Aeros who are playing in the Calder Cup.

Not surprisingly, last night's loss has the Dynamo fans grumbling louder than normal, and even the once unheard of notion that maybe it is time that longtime Coach Dominic Kinnear should move on has been uttered. While I'm not close to saying it's time for Kinnear to move on, I do think that it is time for an Assistant Coach step up and fill the void that was left by John Spencer, who took over the coaching job at Portland Timbers last summer.

Two pluses that Dynamo fans can take away from last night's match is that Geoff Cameron is back in central defense where he excelled in the 2009 season, and Colin Clark, who continues to look solid, picked up his first start with the Dynamo.

Up next for the Dynamo is a home match against Chivas USA on June 11th. The Dynamo need to take this week to get focused, work on the mistakes, work on communication, and end their current streak. There's plenty of time in the MLS season for the Dynamo to make up this lost ground, but they need to start the forward progress now if they want to ensure a return to the MLS Playoffs after missing out last season.

Changes at Houston Dynamo, So Long Spencer & Landin, Hello Obodai

During tonight's broadcast of The Orange Slice on 1560 The Game, news about changes at the Houston Dynamo started filtering out. Most importantly, the Dynamo announced the departure of long term assistant coach John Spencer, secondly, the Dynamo had released their designated player, Luis Angel Landin, and finally, the Dynamo had signed midfielder Anthony Obodai.

The 39 year old John Spencer started his soccer playing career when he signed for Glasgow Rangers in 1985, where he saw his first playing time in 1987. After loan stints at Greenock Morton F.C. and Lai Sun (Hong Kong), Spencer found himself at Chelsea in 1992, where he remained until 1996 when he was loaned to Queens Park Rangers. The QPR loan turned permanent in 1997. After subsequent stints at Motherwell and Everton, in 2001 Spencer found himself in the United States playing for the Colorado Rapids. Spencer retired from playing football after the Rapids' 2004 season. Spencer has served as the assistant coach for the Houston Dynamo since the Dynamo came to Houston, prior to the 2006 MLS season.

On tonight's show, we spoke to Chris Canetti, COO of the Houston Dynamo, who told us that last week Spencer informed the team he would be leaving to pursue another opportunity. The split was amicable and Canetti indicated that it was not the Dynamo's place to make an announcement about Spencer's future. Since last fall, news that the Portland Timbers, who will be joining MLS for the 2011 season, were interested in hiring John Spencer as their coach had been circulating. In fact, if memory serves, some of the stories indicated that Spencer would likely stay with Houston until July 2010 before joining the Timbers organization. While John Spencer will be missed here in Houston, I'm sure Dynamo fans wish him good luck at Portland, except when Portland plays the Dynamo of course.

Last summer the Houston Dynamo brought Luis Angel Landin in as a designated player. Landin, who caught the eye of the Dynamo during the past couple years when they played Pachuca, was considered the kind of physical Mexican player who could probably handle playing in MLS. Unfortunately, Landin joined the Dynamo shortly after the league break in Mexico and during a period when he wasn't seeing much playing time in Mexico. In other words, Landin wasn't match fit when he joined the Dynamo. While he looked to be in better shape at the start of the 2010 MLS season, he still wasn't in the physical shape he needed to be in for a long MLS season, plus, during the 2010 season, he has succumbed to too many injuries. In the end, the Dynamo gave Landin a shot, but when they decided it wasn't a salvageable situation the Dynamo did what they normally do, they released him.

While fans say goodbye to Spencer and Landin, they'll soon be saying hello to Ghanaian Anthony Obodai. Obodai, a midfielder, comes to the Dynamo from the Dutch club RKC Waalwijk, where he has played since 2007. Previously, Obodai has played at Sparta Rotterdam and Ajax. Tonight, Canetti stated that Obodai's visa has been approved and that they expect no problems in obtaining an international transfer certificate from The Netherlands.

During our interview with Canetti, he did indicate that the Dynamo are looking at several players to round out the Dynamo roster, but he was not willing to go into any details on the identities of these players. One thing Canetti did make clear is that while the experience with Landin has not soured the Dynamo on the designated player issue, at this time the club is not in a financial position to consider a designated player signing.

Friday Odds & Ends

-- Pat Walsh has a commentary on Goal.com, in which he expresses the opinion that the better teams in the MLS, like the Houston Dynamo, are playing too many games:

http://www.goal.com/en-us/Articolo.aspx?ContenutoId=541174

This issue came up on the American Soccer Show episode that came out the first week of the year, on which I was a guest, and we came to the conclusion that it benefits the Dynamo because they get more chances to look at their younger players in game situations.

-- The Chicago Fire have been interested in hiring Dynamo assistant coach, John Spencer, to serve as their new coach, but he turned their offer down.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/soc/5442280.html

-- For the - I'm Glad Oliver Luck is Dynamo President File - more head scratching decisions coming out of the L.A. Galaxy FO, which has sent stand-out GK, Joe Cannon, to San Jose:

http://www.mercurynews.com/othersports/ci_7941874?nclick_check=1

-- On the Amercian Soccer Spot, Kartik has some good things to say about Eurosnobs and the January transfer window.

http://csrnusa.com/ussoccerspot/

-- Parma is looking to obtain striker Cristiano Lucarelli from Shakhtar Donetsk:

http://www.goal.com/en/Articolo.aspx?ContenutoId=541300

-- The skilled, but frustrating Roma winger, Amantino Mancini, is likely to leave Roma this January:

http://www.goal.com/en/Articolo.aspx?ContenutoId=541982

-- Back-up GK changes at Roma, could see Gianluca Curci leaving and Massimo Taibi coming in as his replacement:

http://www.goal.com/en/Articolo.aspx?ContenutoId=541097

-- The Vatican feels that football is a good way to teach life lessons:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7179757.stm

Speaking of Italian Football, the winter break is over and Serie A returns this weekend.