Houston Dynamo host Columbus Crew SC on March 7th in 2015 season opener

Houston Dynamo Press Release:

HOUSTON (Friday, March 6, 2015) – The Houston Dynamo open their tenth season on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. as they host Columbus Crew SC in the 2015 season opener at BBVA Compass Stadium in a match presented by Visa. Limited tickets are available at www.HoustonDynamo.com, by calling 713-276-GOAL, or by visiting the BBVA Compass Stadium box office (2200 Texas St., Houston) from 12:00 p.m. through kickoff tomorrow.

The first 6,000 fans will receive a poster to commemorate the club’s 10th season, courtesy of Visa. Following the game, Kroger will present its first of five postgame fireworks shows scheduled for BBVA Compass Stadium this season.

The game will be broadcast live on ROOT Sports Southwest (Alternate Channel; 7:00 p.m. pregame show) and can be heard on Yahoo Sports Radio 1560 AM and 850 AM (Spanish).

Saturday marks the debut of Owen Coyle after he was appointed as the second head coach in Dynamo history on Dec. 9. The former English Premier League manager with Burnley and Bolton Wanderers follows Dominic Kinnear after he led the Dynamo for nine seasons.

The Dynamo return the core of last season’s team, including forward Giles Barnes, who collected Dynamo MVP, Players’ Player of the Year, Ironman of the Year and Golden Boot honors in 2014. Additionally, Honduras international midfielder Luis Garrido and four-time World Cup veteran DaMarcus Beasley will be with the club from the start of the season after joining last July.

The 2015 Dynamo roster also features 11 new players, including defender Raul Rodriguez, who spent the last four and a half seasons with Espanyol in Spain’s Liga BBVA, and midfielder Leonel Miranda, 21, who arrives from Argentinean power CA Independiente. Mexico national team striker Erick “Cubo” Torres, who scored 22 goals in 44 games with Chivas USA, will join Houston at the end of his current loan back to Chivas Guadalajara.

Columbus experienced significant change in 2014, with a new head coach, Gregg Berhalter, and a midseason rebranding, with a new logo and slight name change to “Columbus Crew SC”. Berhalter enjoyed breakout seasons from several young players who return in 2015, including Ethan Finlay (11 goals, 7 assists), Justin Meram (8 goals, 4 assists), midfielders Wil Trapp (28 starts) and Tony Tchani (33 starts), defender Waylon Francis (6 assists in 24 games) and goalkeeper Steve Clark (34 starts).

In 2015, Berhalter will count on former Dynamo forward Kei Kamara, who returns to MLS with Crew SC after two seasons with Middlesbrough in the English Championship. Columbus’ primary playmaker is Argentine midfielder Federico Higuain, 30, who has 27 goals and 23 assists in 71 appearances with Crew SC since arriving in Columbus in 2012.

Following Saturday’s opener, the Dynamo remain in Houston to host MLS expansion club Orlando City SC and Brazilian star Kaká on Friday, March 13 at BBVA Compass Stadium. For tickets for the Dynamo’s tenth season, including full-season plans starting at $380 and partial-season plans starting at $99, visit www.HoustonDynamo.com or call 713-276-GOAL.

ABOUT THE HOUSTON DYNAMO

The Houston Dynamo are a Major League Soccer club that has won two MLS Cup championships and four conference championships in its first nine seasons and qualified to represent the United States in international competition six times. The team trains in the Houston Methodist Champions’ Field at Houston Sports Park (HSP), the premier training facility in Southeast Texas, and plays at BBVA Compass Stadium in downtown Houston. For more information, log on to www.HoustonDynamo.com or call (713) 276-7500.

And Now It's Time for Something Completely Different

Well, not something completely different, but it is time for a change, time to shake things up here and get out of a rut, time to broaden the scope of this blog.

For close to a year now, for a variety of reasons, I've felt pretty burnt out on soccer and have felt the need to pull back. What I've learned in this time is that I'm less cynical and jaded when I get soccer in smaller doses and on my time and terms.

I'll still post about soccer here, in fact, I'll touch on an MLS development a bit later in this post, but I intend on posting about other topics too, such as arts, food, entertainment, other sports, books, etc. I know some die hard soccer types don't appreciate this kind of mixing of topics, too bad.

So first topic of the day is that the NFL announced that Houston will be the host of Super Bowl LI in February of 2017. It's about time NFL, it'll have been 13 years since Houston last hosted the Super Bowl, time to realize Houston wasn't to blame for Janet Jaackson's "wardrobe malfunction."

I grew up a Houston Oilers fan, it was painful, but I was still 100% Luv Ya Blue. I've never really hidden the fact that I'm a fan of NFL football and admire, most of the time, how the league went from being a little sister of the poor not only to Major League Baseball but also to college football and grew into the financial and entertainment juggernaut of the American sports world.

Meanwhile, Don Garber and MLS made their own announcement today, a 20th MLS team has been selected and it will be NYC FC, which will join the league in 20015. The team is a joint venture between the New York Yankees and Manchester City FC. As of now, it's not clear where the team will locate its stadium. While the Corona Park location in Flushing Queens has come up as a potential location for a soccer stadium, but it's not clear that MLS is completely sold on that idea. It does seem likely that the team might play some matches at Yankees Stadium in the Bronx. I wouldn't be surprised if they try to push for a Brooklyn location.

I didn't do a scientific study on soccer fan/media reaction to this decision, but it does seem that a large number of people are unhappy with this decision, with the possible exception of people who have been long time rivals of RedBull New York, the team located in Harrison, New Jersey.

I really don't have much problem with the decision to put "another" MLS team in the New York City region. Even with a lovely new stadium in Harrison, RedBull has not managed to capture of the attention of many New Yorkers or created the type of fan base that the Jets and Giants have, a fan base willing to travel to the Meadowlands for home games.

MLS needs a strong presence in the New York City area, will NYC FC bring that? Who knows, but sometimes you just have to roll the dice.

Well, that's all I have for today. With this new format I should be posting more, not always about soccer, not always about multiple topics, not always etc.

Your Friday Goals for March 22, 2013

El Capitán is headed back to Dallas, turmoil in the United States National Team's locker room, March Sadness is underway, and World Cup Qualifying resumes, it's time for your Friday goals.

More after the jump:

Resolutions for the 2013 MLS Season

With Major League Soccer set to start the 2013 season this weekend, I felt it was time to suggest some resolutions for the forthcoming season. Some of these might not be acceptable to some (or maybe a large amount) of MLS fans, but I am of the opinion that trying to abide by these resolutions would result in the 2013 MLS season being an enjoyable season, for us all.

Stop Saying "We Need to Grow the Game":

A battle cry from the soccer media and soccer fans in the United States is that, "We must grow the game!" Well, we can't really grow the game, the game will grow organically, in the same manner that the NFL and NBA managed to grow organically out of the shadow of Major League Baseball. Organically growing the game is essentially on MLS and, to a lesser extent, U.S. Soccer. Put out a good, accessible product and the game will grow.

MLS fans and U.S. Soccer fans bemoan what they call "Euro Snobs," bemoan how you're likely to find more Manchester United fans at the soccer bar than MLS fans. Well, that supports my argument, EPL, La Liga, and UEFA have all managed to provide a good, polished product that has, thanks to the internet and cable television, managed to grow big fan bases in the United States, as well as elsewhere in the world.

For a number of reasons, primarily financial, MLS still has lots of growing to do to reach those levels of popularity. It's not going to happen overnight, not if you want MLS to create a solid financial foundation, but MLS has come a long way since 1996, it'll get there.

Finally, let's be honest, efforts to grow the game can often be counterproductive because too many soccer fans can become annoying evangelical zealots that tend to turn away sports fans who are not soccer fans.

Stop Complaining about Lack of National Television Coverage:

There's a simple truth about sports broadcasting in the United States that many MLS fans do not seem to comprehend, and that is the fact that no major sports league has all of its games broadcast on national television. Not MLB, not NBA, not NHL, and not even NFL.

Thanks to contracts with NBC Sports Network and ESPN2 about two MLS matches per matchweek are broadcast nationally. Additionally, almost every MLS team, if not all MLS teams, have contracts with regional channels and networks that broadcast all of their non-nationally broadcast matches.

This is pretty much how it is in MLB and NBA. While NFL does have broadcast contracts with CBS and FOX, many of those games are only shown in specific regions. Only the Sunday, Monday, and Thursday night games are truly national broadcasts.

I don't have the time or inclination to do a statistically breakdown on the percentage of league games in each league that are nationally broadcast, but face it MLS fans, MLS is not getting a cold shoulder on the national broadcast landscape.

Stop Complaining when National Television Coverage is Delayed by Another Sport:

Sometimes sports games and events go over their scheduled time, sometimes that means you're going to miss the start of an MLS game. One most occasions, due to contractual obligations, the network cannot leave the prior game or event to go to the MLS game before that prior game or event is over.

But here is the good news for you, when an MLS game goes over it's scheduled time, the network is staying with the MLS game and not switching to the game or event scheduled to follow the MLS game.

Stop Complaining about American Football Lines on the Soccer Field:

Do you want MLS teams to make money so that they can pay better salaries, attract better talent, improve the product, grow the game? Then learn to live with American Football lines on MLS pitches.

For teams with their own stadiums, leasing them to college and high school football teams and tournaments is a good source of revenue. Get used to the lines, they'll be showing up every fall.

As a side note, MLS is not the only place you see those lines - they're also in some stadiums in Mexico, plus some teams in Europe share stadiums with rugby teams, which have similar lines.

Forget about promotion and relegation:

It's not a viable option, not right now. The current lower soccer leagues in the United States are in too much turmoil and uncertainty that promotion to MLS would just hurt MLS and relegation from MLS will hurt league revenue and investment.

While many "resolutions" that MLS seems to want to push seem to be geared towards creating a more "family friendly" environment, these resolutions are geared more to trying to get MLS fans to be more realistic about MLS and the business world it exists in, to be happy with how far MLS has come, and to learn to sit back and enjoy the ride, cause the destination will be worth it.

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I'm Done With Landon Donovan

I'm done with Landon Donovan.

I'm done with his sabbatical.

I'm done with his Major League Soccer "return."

I'm done with his lack of passion.

I'm done with his lack of heart.

I'm done with his pouting.

I'm done with his unrealized potential.

I'm done with his body language.

I'm done with his lack of genuine displays of emotion.

I'm done with his monotone way of talking.

I'm done with the speculation.

I'm done with the Livia Soprano of U.S. Soccer.

I'm done with the what could have beens.

I'm done with the apologists.

I'm done with the accolades.

I'm done with the leniency.

I'm done with him not fighting harder.

I'm done with his penalty kick routines.

I'm done with him on the United States National Team.

I'm done with Landon Donovan.

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I reserve the right to change my mind and opinion based on the future performances of Landon Donovan.

Houston Dynamo Sign Andrew Driver & Trade Je-Vaughn Watson

With just over a week before starting the 2013 MLS season, the Houston Dynamo have made a couple moves as they get closer to solidifying their roster for the start of the season. On Tuesday February 19th, the Dynamo traded Jamaican International Je-Vaughn Watson to F.C. Dallas for a second round pick in the 2015 SuperDraft. While some might think the Dynamo are getting the raw end of that deal, the trade was primarily made to open up an international roster slot for today's signing of English midfielder Andrew Driver.

Driver, 25, has been playing for Heart of Midlothian F.C. in the Scottish Premier League since 2006. The Dynamo acquired Driver from Hearts on a loan deal.

“Andrew is good at taking people on, he crosses a good ball and can take set pieces,” said Dynamo head coach Dominic Kinnear. “He is a hard-working player and I think he will definitely fit in with the team. He has a good attitude on the field and is versatile. He can play on the left or right side of midfield.”

“I am very excited about the opportunity to come and play for the Dynamo,” Driver said. “I have followed MLS over the years and Houston has stood out as one of the top teams. I know a lot of success has been because of the work of Dominic Kinnear, so I am delighted to have the chance to learn from him and improve as a player under him.”

“It’s always exciting to add a young international player with talent and experience,” said Dynamo President Chris Canetti. “Andrew will add valuable depth to the squad at a time when we are set to face a heavy load of games between MLS and Champions League."

The Dynamo start the 2013 season on March 2nd, when they host D.C. United at BBVA Compass Stadium.

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U.S. Soccer Player Robbie Rogers Comes Out, Steps Away from Football

Today, on his website, U.S. Soccer player Robbie Rogers acknowledged on his website that he is gay and that he was stepping away from the sport of soccer.

Rogers, who is only 25, has played for Heerenveen, Columbus Crew, Stevenage, and Leeds United, as well as earning 18 caps with the United States National Team. Earlier this year, he left Leeds Unit in a mutual agreement with the club.

In the world of masculine sports, it is not easy for a male athlete to come at and tell the world that he is gay, so I applaud Robbie Rogers for his decision, for his bravery in being honest to his family, friends, fans, and more importantly for being honest to himself.

I wish Rogers would not end his career as a soccer player though; at the age of 25 he still has lots of good playing years left in him. If Rogers is making the decision to retire because he's concerned about how his teammates and opponents would receive him, I wish he'd reconsider. While soccer has its fair share of machismo mentality, it is also the sport that seems to have developed more acceptance of the LGBT community, especially Major League Soccer. In fact, I think MLS is much more progressive on this issue than any of the leagues in Europe, and if Rogers were to sign with an MLS club, he'd experience very little negativity from players and fans.

That being said, based on his statement, it appears that Rogers used soccer as a refuge from having to acknowledge the truth to himself, to others. If he feels he needs to retire in order to discover who he is, what he wants, then who I am to question that decision?

Godspeed Robbie Rogers, many of us soccer fans hope to see you on the pitch again, but we know it's more important for you to find happiness first.

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Houston Dynamo Sign Bryan Salazar to a Homegrown Contract

On Thursday February 14, 2013, the Houston Dynamo announced that they have signed Dynamo Academy forward Bryan Salazar to a homegrown contract. Salazar becomes the fifth player from the Dynamo Academy to sign a professional contract with the Dynamo first team. Per team and league policy, terms of the contract were not disclosed.

Salazar, a senior at Houston area Fort Bend Bush High School, has been in the Dynamo program for six years, having progressed from the Dynamo Junior Academy as a 13-year-old up to playing for the Dynamo U-18 squad over the past two years. The Houston native has traveled with the Academy to tournaments in El Salvador, Mexico, and the Netherlands. Salazar was also part of the Dynamo Academy U-16 squad that won the 2010 Dallas Cup.

“When I joined the Junior Academy six years ago, I was told this was my chance to become a professional soccer player and I’m excited this day has arrived,” Salazar said. “I want to thank everyone at the Dynamo Academy that has helped me achieve my dream of playing for the Dynamo and I look forward to continuing my career under Dominic Kinnear.”

This season, Salazar has scored nine goals in 14 games for a Dynamo U-18 squad, which has won seven of its last nine matches and is in second place in its division. At the USSF Development Academy Winter Showcase in December, the 5-foot-9 winger scored five goals in three matches, including two goals each against the Portland Timbers and San Jose Earthquakes U-18 squads.

“Bryan is an exciting young player,” said Dynamo head coach Dominic Kinnear. “When he gets the ball, he is not afraid to run at defenders. He has put up some good numbers with our Academy teams and I think he has a very promising future. We want him to succeed as a person and a professional and we will do everything we can to make sure that happens.”

Salazar will finish high school and continue to play with the Dynamo Academy before joining the Dynamo full time this summer. Salazar is tentatively scheduled to travel to Charleston with the team this weekend for their first match of the Carolina Challenge Cup.

The Dynamo Academy, presented by Statoil, was launched in 2007 as a way to develop local talent in the Houston area with the goal of signing players to the Dynamo. Since 2007, four players have been signed to Dynamo homegrown contracts: goalkeeper Tyler Deric and midfielders Francisco Navas Cobo, Alex Dixon, and Josue Soto. Deric recently re-signed with the Dynamo after leading the team to a first place finish in the 2012-13 CONCACAF Champions League group stage. Of the other homegrown players that have signed with the Houston Dynamo, only Alex Dixon remains a member of the club.

The Houston Dynamo begin their 2013 MLS season by hosting D.C. United at BBVA Compass Stadium on Saturday March 2nd.

Portions of the above were taken from a Houston Dynamo press release.

Michael Chabala Returning to Houston Dynamo?

While there has not been an official statement from the Houston Dynamo, based on this tweet by Brad Davis it appears that Michael Chabala is returning to the Houston Dynamo.

The Dynamo drafted the defender in the 4th round of the 2006 MLS SuperDraft, but did not make his MLS debut until 2009 against RedBull New York. Chabala ultimately made 47 appearances for the Dynamo before he was traded to the Portland Timbers in July of 2011. Subsequently, in 2012, Portland traded Chabala to D.C. United, who declined his contract option for 2013.

Since Chabala obtained free agent status after going undrafted in the 2012 re-entry draft, if the Dynamo did sign him, the Dynamo did not have to give anything up to make the deal. In light of that, along with the fact that the Dynamo need back line depth and Chabala is already familiar with Dominic Kinnear's system, this seems like a no-brainer of a preseason signing.

I'll update this as more details become available.

Houston Dynamo Lose André Hainault to Ross County in the SPL

It's January, which means its that time of year when MLS players who are out of contract get the chance to seek out new work in Europe. Many of those MLS players are unable to get a contract in Europe, so they come back to MLS, but some of them get the opportunity to stay in Europe, and this year defender André Hainault is staying in Europe.

It was announced yesterday that Hainault has signed a deal with Ross County in the Scottish Premier League. While the SPL has lost a lot of its luster over the years and while Ross County was only promoted to the SPL last season and currently sits above only Dundee on the table, the reality is that not only will he make a bit more money in the SPL and get more playing time, he will also be in a position to get the attention of more scouts from England.

This is not the 26 year old Canadian's first time with a European club, before coming to the Dynamo in 2009, he was at FK Baník Most and AC Sparta Praha, both in the Czech Republic.

Although he was the Dynamo Defender of the year in 2011 and although he scored some very crucial goals for the Dynamo, Hainault saw his playing time decrease in 2012 while Jermaine Taylor and Kofi Sarkodie saw more playing time on the back line this past season. Hainault's departure will have a negative impact on the Dynamo, who tried to resign him during and after the 2012 season, since he gave much needed depth to the Dynamo's back line. As followers of MLS know, depth is a much treasured resource by MLS clubs, especially when that depth consists of players with as much skill as Hainault.

SiriusXM FC - A 24/7 Soccer Channel - Set to Launch

At 6:00 a.m. central time on Monday October 15, 2012, SiriusXM will launch a new channel devoted to soccer 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The channel, called SiriusXM FC, will be on Sirius 94, XM 207, and online channel 960. Additionally, certain programs on the new channel will be available on SiriusXM's On Demand feature. In addition to daily broadcasts of The Football Show and Counter Attack, the channel will feature English Premier League matches, FA Cup matches, and MLS Cup playoff matches. SiriusXM's coverage of American soccer will ramp up more with this new channel since it will be airing MLS Extra Time in addition to the MLS playoff matches. Grantland based Men and Blazers will also be featured on the new channel. Additional programming from talkSport will be used on SiriusXM FC to help round out the 24 hour broadcast schedule.

SiriusXM is a subscriber-based satellite radio company. While SiriusXM is built into many new automobiles, it is possible to retrofit an older vehicle with the service, and it is possible to purchase an online subscription only. For more information about subscribing to SiriusXM, home to The Howard Stern Show, visit: SiriusXM's Subscriptions page.

A Must Win Match for the Houston Dynamo?

It's really difficult to call any given Major League Soccer match a must win match for one or the other club (unless, maybe, it's the last match of the regular season), but it seems that many Houston Dynamo fans believe that their team's next match is a must win if the Dynamo want to make it to the MLS Cup Playoffs.

On Saturday evening, the Houston Dynamo will host the New England Revolution at BBVA Compass Stadium. The Dynamo currently sit at 5th place in the Eastern Conference standings, with 46 points, while the Revolution sit at 9th place with 29 points. While the Revolution obviously don't have any shot at passing the Dynamo in the standings, this isn't Serie A, this is America, where lowly teams love to play spoiler. After the Dynamo's 1-3 loss to the Union, another low standing team, in Philadelphia this past Sunday, Dynamo fans are obviously concerned about Saturday's match.

I don't begrudge Dynamo fans their concerns, I've been a follower of Houston professional sports long enough to know that Houston teams have a bad tendency of playing to the level of their opponent, but it's a little too early to proclaim Saturday's match a "must win game."

The Dynamo still have four more regular season matches, including Saturday's match, before the end of the season. Three of these matches are at home, where the Dynamo have yet to lose this season, and then the last match of the season is away at the Colorado Rapids on October 27th.

There's an old cliché in sports: "We're taking it one game at a time." That's what the Houston Dynamo have to do right now, and that's what the Houston Dynamo's fans need to do right now too. The team and its fans need to focus on Saturday's match right now. Not on what's going on in the rest of MLS or the Eastern Conference, and not on the standings or the playoff race.

If the Dynamo focus solely on the match before them, focus solely on winning that match, and go out there and try to win that match, then, ultimately, everything will fall into place.

There's no point freaking out over the standings or getting all emotional and irrational based on the last result. Take it one game at a time, go out there and win that game, and everything will be fine.

Saturday's match begins at 7:30 p.m. central time and will be broadcast on KPRC Channel 2 in Houston, with the radio broadcast on Sports Talk 790.

Houston Dynamo Get 1-0 Win Against Real Salt Lake Thanks to Late Penalty

Photo by Nigel Brooks

Between the weird scheduling of the match on a Thursday night, the questionable officiating, depleted rosters, and the rather languid play, last night's match between the Houston Dynamo and Real Salt Lake took the "beautiful" out of the beautiful game. Until the final seconds of the match, it appeared that the score would stay at 0-0 and the Dynamo would have to wait until September 29th to finally pick up their first MLS home win since August 3rd, but then Macoumba Kandji was fouled in the box and Colin Clark converted giving the Dynamo a 1-0 win and breaking their 4 match streak of not winning an MLS match.

Going into Thursday's match, things did not look promising for the Dynamo squad, which had been decimated by injuries, international call-ups, and some sort of vicious stomach virus. Instead of starting the match with the typical 7 substitutes on the bench, the Dynamo managed to only put 5 players on the bench and had to cancel the reserves match due to the lack of available players.

For over half of the match, it appeared that the Dynamo were in a preventive defense, just trying to hold off the Salt Lake attack in hopes of picking up a draw. Late in the second half, the Dynamo managed to regroup and put more pressure on Salt Lake Keeper Nick Rimando, who put on a stellar performance that surely foreshadowed his future at the international level.

Hope of a goal appeared in the 75th minute when Will Bruin picked up a penalty, and Brad Davis was given the green light to take the kick, but, to the chagrin of Dynamo fans, Rimando, who is one of the best keepers in the MLS at saving penalty kicks, prevented Davis' attempt from going into the net.

In the end though, Rimando turned out to be his own worst enemy because he was the player that fouled Kandji, thereby setting up Clark's match winning penalty kick.

The 3 points that the Dynamo picked up last night will potentially prove crucial as the Dynamo fight to ensure the squad a spot in the MLS Cup playoffs.

Next up for the Dynamo is a visit to Livestrong Sporting Park to face the current leaders of the Eastern Conference, Sporting Kansas City, on Friday September 14th at 7:00 pm cdt. The match will be televised on NBC Sports Network.

Houston Dynamo Take Fans on Roller Coaster Ride While Picking up 4 Points

One can forgive Houston Dynamo fans if they're feeling rode hard and put away wet this morning, it's been a long, emotional week for them, and the week isn't even over yet.

This long week began on Saturday when the Dynamo hosted their rivals from North Texas, F.C. Dallas, at BBVA Compass Stadium. This was Dallas' first visit to the new Dynamo stadium and the only match between these two clubs this season.

The Dynamo got off to a quick start thanks to a Will Bruin goal in the 3rd minute. In light of the rough season that Dallas has had, many fans, especially Dynamo fans, suspected that the early Dynamo goal would demoralize the Dallas players, and it did for the rest of the first half.

Schellas Hyndman must of fired up his players with a good halftime speech, because Dallas started the second half like it was a whole new game. When Jackson picked up the Dallas equalizer in the 59th minute, there was a sense that Dallas was not going to be content to leave Houston with a draw and one point.

Any plans Dallas had for picking up the win pretty much died in the 63rd minute when Jair Benítez picked up a red card for an off the ball elbow to Colin Clark. Then, in the 76th minute, Adam Moffat scored a goal from distance, giving the Dynamo the win and bragging rights.

Last night, Toronto FC paid its first visit to BBVA Compass Stadium and, despite sitting at the bottom of the Eastern Conference table, started the match like a team determined to win the league. In a chaotic first 22 minutes Toronto went top first with a goal by Jeremy Hall in the first minute. Bobby Boswell managed to tie things up for Houston with a lovely header in the 20th minute, but then Danny Koevermans put Toronto ahead in the 22nd minute. Thanks to second Koevermans goal in the 45th minute, Toronto had a 3-1 lead over the home side at the half.

Those of use who grew up Houston sports fans are used to our professional teams playing to their competition - putting up great performances against top teams while losing to the bottom feeders they should easily beat. But, based on twitter, it seems that many Dynamo fans are not familiar with or used to that Houston sports dynamic, because their tweets during halftime suggested that the world was coming to an end, that this was the worst Dynamo match ever, and the season was over. I was almost surprised I didn't see any fire Dom tweets during the half.

For the second half, it seems that the Dynamo managed to channel their inner 1993-1994 Houston Rockets, the team that turned Houston from Choke City into Clutch City, and decided that Toronto was not going to leave Houston with 3 points. Will Bruin ended up playing the role of Houston hero by picking up goals in the 73rd and 90th minutes, giving Houston a 3-3 draw.

The Dynamo's week is not over, they head north of the border to face Montreal on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. The match will be broadcast on Fox Sports Houston.

Dynamo Best Galaxy, 2-1, On A Hot & Humid Saturday Afternoon

When the MLS schedule was set, Saturday's match between the Houston Dynamo and Los Angeles Galaxy looked to be a good rematch of the 2011 MLS Cup Final, and possibly a potential preview of the 2012 MLS Cup Final, but the Galaxy have been struggling, having only won 3 matches this season, and big names like Landon Donovan, Robbie Keane, and Geoff Cameron weren't available due to international call ups. With a 1:30 p.m. start line, the bigger question was how well the Galaxy would hold up in Houston's heat and humidity.

It was the Galaxy who scored first, when, in the 10th minute, Edson Buddle scored his first goal in ten weeks. Whatever life the Buddle goal pumped into the Galaxy was quickly sapped away as the heat began to take its toll on the away side. When Brian Ching's shot hit the crossbar and bounced off of the Galaxy's Mike Magee and into the net in the 38th minute, it looked like the Galaxy were ready to head back home with a draw.

Not long after the second half started, Houston was awarded a corner kick, which Brad Davis took. When Davis put the ball in the air, Dynamo defender Andre Hainault leaped up, heading the ball past Galaxy keeper Brian Perk. That goal, which came in the 57th minute, was all that the Dynamo would need to pick up the win, despite a few minor offensive bursts by the Galaxy before the match ended.

Obviously, the heat was an issue that was addressed by both teams after the match. While Dominic Kinnear and his team don't necessarily enjoy playing on a hot afternoon in Houston, they've seemed to accept it as something that they have to deal with from time to time. Meanwhile, the Galaxy were a little less accepting of the situation. Galaxy coach Bruce Arena not only complained about having to play in the Houston heat, but having to do so after just having played in San Jose on Wednesday. Meanwhile, Beckham complained about both the heat and the officiating.

After the win over the Galaxy, the Dynamo have 16 points and are currently in 6th place in the Eastern Conference.

Up next for the Dynamo is a US Open Cup match against the San Antonio Scorpions at Heroes Stadium in San Antonio at 7:30 pm on Tuesday evening.

Some Random Thoughts on Promotion & Relegation in U.S. Soccer

Earlier this spring, Ternana, a football club in Terni, Italy, mathematically qualified for promotion from Lega Pro Prima Divisione to Serie B for the first time since 2006. To give their fans a chance to fully celebrate this promotion, the club held a friendly earlier this month. The picture above and the videos below are from that friendly.

These images attest to the type of excitement that promotion and relegation adds to the support of a football club in Europe, especially for those who support clubs in the lower divisions. There's always the hope, the dream that one day your club will climb its way into your country's top league, and, if you're lucky, stay there.

In light of the extra zest that promotion and relegation add to football in Europe, it's not surprising that there is a segment of soccer fans in the United States who want to see promotion and relegation adopted by Major League Soccer, the North American Soccer League, and United Soccer Leagues. While some of these fans hope that promotion and relegation will happen sometime in their lifetime, there are others who have adopted an almost evangelical zeal for the concept, wanting it implemented immediately.

To be honest with you, I've never cared one way or the other about whether or not we should have promotion and relegation at all levels of American soccer. When pestered by one of the pro/rel zealots, my response tends to mirror the response of Tommy Lee Jones in the "Fugitive." But seeing the images from Terni made me wonder a bit as to how feasible promotion and relegation is at the moment.

To me the feasibility of promotion and relegation for US soccer revolves around money, which is dependent on fan and sponsor support. I completely reject the purist argument that just because promotion and relegation is employed in many other countries' leagues, we must have it here in the US. It is perfectly allowable for a sports league in the US to adopt the format of other sports leagues in the US. There is no promotion and relegation in NFL, NBA, NHL, and MLB; therefore, it is acceptable for MLS to follow the format of those leagues. Meanwhile, since promotion and relegation is a prominent part of professional sports leagues in Europe, it is acceptable for the American football leagues in Europe to adopt promotion and relegation as part of their respective structures. I'd be curious to know if there are any American football fans in Europe who argue that promotion and relegation should be dropped because the NFL does not use promotion and relegation.

After 12 years of growing success, fan support, expansion, and new stadiums, I believe MLS is here for the long haul. There are still some financial issues at play in MLS, but a whole lot would have to go wrong before the league found itself on the verge of financial collapse. That being said, I believe it would be prudent for MLS to strengthen its financial foundation some more before toying with the idea of promotion and relegation. The other part that needs to be in place before MLS considers promotion and relegation is the existence of stable and financially viable lower divisions. I'm not an expert on the NASL or the USL, but I get the impression they still need several more years to put themselves in a position where they would be financially viable to enter into a promotion and relegation arrangement with MLS.

As fans, it is easy to lose track of the fact that professional sports, especially in America, is a business, and as such those who've invested millions of dollars in teams need to succeed at a financial level, otherwise there's no point to keep investing in the team/sport. There is no financial incentive for MLS and its owners/investors to adopt promotion and relegation at this time. Maybe one day, but not now.

A Beautiful Night, But An Ugly Draw: Houston Dynamo 0 - 0 Portland Timbers

Photo by Nigel Brooks

Last night the weather was behaving when the Houston Dynamo hosted the Portland Timbers in the first ever night match at BBVA Compass Stadium, but the play on the field never matched the loveliness of the evening weather.

The Dynamo, playing their third match in 7 days, had to shuffle the starting lineup in order to give some players a much needed rest, thereby, ostensibly, giving the Portland Timbers, coming off over a week of rest, an advantage, but the only advantage the Timbers seemed to have was some questionable calls and no calls by the officiating crew.

After a little over 90 minutes, it was the Dynamo who, despite looking lethargic at times, dominated the match with 18 shots, 7 of which were on goal, and controlling possession for 59 minutes. By contrast, Portland had only 9 shots, just two of which were on goal. In the end, the Dynamo squad are right to be happy that despite the grind of their schedule, they managed to maintain a clean sheet and can now take a few days to recover before heading to New England to face the Revolution on Saturday night.

Saturday's match starts at 6:30 p.m. central time and will be broadcast on KPRC Local 2 in Houston, with the radio broadcast on Sports Talk 790.

The Dynamo's next home match will be on Saturday May 26th when they host the Los Angeles Galaxy. That match starts at 1:30 p.m., yes 1:30 p.m, and will be broadcast nationally on NBC Sports.

The Kids Are All Right, Despite The Schedule: A Dynamo Update

Let's face it, it's been an a very unusual start to the 2012 MLS Season for the Houston Dynamo, but come May 12th, Dynamo fans will likely decide this unusual start was worth it.

In just over three weeks, the latest jewel in the Houston stadium scene will open in the east side of downtown, BBVA Compass Stadium, the new home of the Houston Dynamo, gets its hard opening on Saturday May 12th when the Dynamo host DC United in a home of their own. Gone are the days of using Robertson Stadium on the University of Houston campus, this season the Dynamo will lay claim to being the first Major League Soccer team to have their own stadium in a downtown locale.

In order to accommodate the construction schedule, MLS sent the Dynamo on an extended road trip to start their season. When May 12th rolls around, the Dynamo will have played 7 away matches. While this appears to be a daunting task for any MLS team, though not a new task since both the Philadelphia Union and Sporting Kansas City have dealt with similar circumstances, the Dynamo have handled it well, already besting their desired goal after only 5 out of said 7 matches.

Via several interviews, the Dynamo have indicated their goal was to pick up at least 7 points during this 7 road game stand. With last Saturday's 2-2 draw with the Crew in Columbus, the Dynamo now sit in 4th/5th place (tied with the Chicago Fire) on the Eastern Conference table with 8 points. While the Dynamo are substantially below Sporting Kansas City, who have run off with 21 points out of 8 matches, things are going all right for the Dynamo who still have 3 games in hand against Kansas City.

This weekend the Dynamo face DC United, the number two team in the East, with 12 points, and then the head to New Jersey to face the RedBulls on Saturday May 9th, before making their return to Houston for their first match at BBVA Compass Stadium when they host DC United in a sold out match on May 12th.

Dynamo Win Second Straight Match on the Road

Today the Houston Dynamo returned to their old stomping grounds in the Bay Area of California as they faced off against the San Jose Earthquakes at AT&T (nee PacBell) Park in San Francisco. We all know that the Houston Dynamo were once the San Jose Earthquakes and that MLS has created a fiction whereby the expansion Earthquakes get to "keep" the Dynamo's old trophies . . . this means there is a whole lot of bad blood when the teams play.

In light of MLS's decision to make a completely and totally unbalanced schedule this season, the Earthquakes and the Dynamo faced off in the only regular season match they will play against each other in 2012.

In the end the Houston Dynamo bested their foes 1-0 thanks to San Jose's keeper Jon Busch fouling Brian Ching in the box. Brad Davis converted the penalty and that's all Houston need to pick up it's second straight road win of 2012.

The MLS Schedule Conundrum That, Well, Isn't A Conundrum

The 2012 Major League Soccer season kicked off this past weekend with a noticeable difference, the first match of the season was not broadcast on national television, in fact it wasn't till Sunday afternoon that an MLS match was broadcast nationally. While the realization of no national broadcast dawned somewhat late on many MLS fans, it did not go unnoticed on Saturday as fans scrounged to find free previews of either MLS's internet/cable season subscription packages or for an unsanctioned online feed. In recent years, MLS usually kicked off the season with a marquee match broadcast on ESPN2 on a Thursday evening, but such an option was not available since MLS started the season a week earlier than last year and its two English language national broadcast partners, ESPN and NBC Sports, were locked into broadcasting the various NCAA Conference Basketball Tournaments. In the past, MLS's opening match was often in competition with the NCAA Tournament, but CBS owns those television rights so ESPN could easily fit MLS into its broadcast schedule.

Not surprisingly, the fact that the MLS season seemed to start with a whimper instead of a bang resulted in two intertwined issues rearing their heads in some circles of MLS fandom: 1. the MLS schedule; & 2. the place of MLS in the US sports hierarchy.

I say these issues are intertwined because MLS fans often feel victimized in how MLS is treated by national broadcasters viz-a-viz how said broadcasters treat other sports. I lost count of the number of times last season a Twitter uproar occurred when some sporting event on ESPN went longer than its scheduled broadcast time, bleeding into a MLS broadcast. The reality of the sports broadcast business is that events sometimes take longer than expected and its the rare occasion that a network can or will break away from an ongoing sporting event to go to another sporting event.

Then there is the other often complained about issue of MLS starting its season at the zenith of the college basketball season and having its playoffs in the middle of the NFL and college football seasons. While I know some MLS fans are general sports fans and grew up watching other sports, I also know there is a good number of MLS fans who do not follow many of the other professional/collegiate sports that get the bulk of the American sports fan's attention. So for those who don't really follow other American sports here's something to keep in mind: there are only two truly "slow" periods on the American sports calendar.

The first slow period runs from early February into early March. This period starts after the Super Bowl and ends with the start of NFL free agency and NCAA Conference Tournaments. During this period you have NBA, NHL, and college basketball, but from a national perspective those leagues are in the doldrums and nothing else too exciting or earth shattering is occurring during this period.

The second slow period runs from late June into late July. This period essentially starts a little after the NBA Finals and runs till the start of NFL Training Camp. Yes, the MLB All-Star game takes place during this period, but it is not as big of an event as it used to be and this period of time marks the doldrums for MLB.

So, unless MLS wants to confine its season to these two short, slow periods on the US sports calendar, the league is going to find itself in competition with other sports when it comes to butts in the seats and eyes on the tv screen. Instead of focusing on the perceived slights towards MLS by its national broadcast partners, MLS fans need to keep it all in perspective. They need to remember that all of the professional leagues in the US fight for national broadcast airspace, and that all of the professional leagues in the US rely heavily on regional broadcasting for the bulk of their broadcast coverage. This includes the NFL, because not all of its Sunday games are available in all markets, many are only shown in certain regions of the country. The fact that there was a small battle over a portion of MLS national broadcast rights, a battle that has resulted in NBC Sports getting an MLS deal, is something that MLS fans should take as a positive. While there is some concern

I know there is a huge emphasis in MLS fandom and journalism to "grow the sport," but, in the end, the growth of the sport is going to have less to do with national broadcasts or competition from other American sports. The key to growing the sport is putting a good product on the pitch, a product that's quality will translate to televised matches, even if those matches are only televised on regional sports networks.