I’ll admit I nearly forgot about this game yesterday and then I nearly forgot to post some thoughts about it. Honestly I didn’t get much out of the game other than the fact that both Heath Pearce and Brian Ching are definitely in line for a World Cup roster spot right now. The two better hope that there is some MLS this season or their WC dreams will go bye-bye.

That would be a shame too.

Anyways, here are some highlights and thoughts on the 2-1 win over El Salvador from ESPN. Crazy finish to the game but a nice showing by the MLS All-stars USMNT.

Brian Ching will be called to lead the Dynamo yet again. (Getty Images)

The 2010 season presents a challenge for Dominic Kinnear and the Houston Dynamo. First of all their top two stars from a year ago are now gone to Europe. Stuart Holden and Ricardo Clark left a big hole in the midfield and some would even argue that the club is still recovering from the trade of Dwayne de Rosario from last winter.

Today we take a gander at where they are right now going into the new year. So far the Dynamo have shifted some players around drafted a couple guys that may never see time on the field and for the most part done very little in terms of player movement this winter. We’ve actually heard more news surrounding this club’s potential stadium deal than new players joining the roster this winter.

Let’s take a look at who the Dynamo have and where they still need to go before the new season starts next month.

Continue Reading…

Houston had another strong season behind Brian Ching. (Getty Images)

Dominic Kinnear teams always compete, always and the 2009 edition of the Houston Dynamo looked very similar to the ones we’ve seen win league titles over the last few years. Even though the Dynamo lost their big star in the midfield in a trade to Toronto before the season started everyone knew this team would still compete.

Just as in years past the Dynamo started out strong on the year. Brian Ching, Stuart Holden and up and coming stars like Geoff Cameron lead the way for the Orange. Pat Onstad had yet another stellar season in front of the net thanks to another strong defense in front of him.

And just like in years past Kinnear pulled all the right strings in trades by getting parts on his roster that were missing like speed up front when he got Dominic Oduro from New York or some extra size when he got Cam Weaver from San Jose. Yet again we asked questions like “why are clubs even going into business with Kinnear and the Dynamo?” We knew the results would be the same as before as Kinnear would get something out of nothing and lead his club to the top of the standings again.

But then the ladder part of the summer hit. Ching, Holden and Ricardo Clark missed buckets of time with the US national team and that seemed to be when things got a little dicey. They brought in Luis Angel Landin as their DP, and while that should be a good move for 2010 it didn’t pan out all that much for 2009. Also for some reason the club’s discipline kept shooting themselves in the foot. August and September saw more cards, particularly red cards than most would want to see.

By the end of things the Dynamo lost on a weird night in LA in the playoffs. They may have been the better team on the night but moving forward into 2010 will certainly be interesting.

What Went Right In 2009:
A lot of good did happen in Houston this season. Ching produced, Brad Davis continued to be completely underrated, Cameron emerged like most had figured he would and Holden showed he could very well be the real deal. The Dynamo continued to have strong depth that kept them afloat despite all issues they had late in the season with suspensions and what not.

What Went Wrong In 2009:
As mentioned before the lack of discipline they showed late in the season was a real bummer to see. They went from being one of the most consistent clubs in the league on the year to a wildly inconsistent bunch. Offensively they still lacked a punch when needed and Landin didn’t step into the role as a DP like most would have liked this year.

What’s Next:
Well we know Ricardo Clark is out and its possible Stuart Holden could join him. Should that happen this bunch will go from being one of the deepest teams in the midfield to just a mid-level team. Kinnear will have to do his best to find replacements if that happens. They have to find a way to retain Holden and improve their roster on offense. But at the same time they do need to find some depth in defense behind Bobby Boswell and Cameron.

Fredy Montero leads the charge for the expansion Sounders. (Getty Images)

The playoffs are finally here and tonight they kickoff with a bang up in the Pacific Northwest as the Houston Dynamo travel to Qwest Field to face the Seattle Sounders FC in a big first leg western conference semi-final series.

Seattle comes into the playoffs as one of the league’s hottest teams and with the opening game at Qwest you have to believe Sigi Schmid and company will pull out all the stops to make sure the expected large crowd stays happy. Schmid will have to rely heavily on Jhon Kennedy Hurtado and Leo Gonzalez in the back to slow down the attack from Brian Ching and Stuart Holden.

The Dynamo need to find a way to get a goal early and then rely on their strong defense to carry them in this game and in the series. Catching Seattle off guard on corner kicks or free kicks could go a long way for the Dynamo. However the most important thing for Dominic Kinnear’s bunch is staying out of card trouble. These last couple months have been nothing but yellow and red cards for Kinnear’s team. Make no mistake if they get into card trouble it will be another early exit for the Dynamo this year in the playoffs. You can’t beat a club like Seattle with ten men, you just can’t do it.

I think tonight’s game will be physical as Houston will want to use guys like Geoff Cameron and Bobby Boswell to keep Fredy Montero and Freddie Ljungberg off the boards. Look for Seattle to play the wings a lot in this game and also look for Ljungberg to try to live up to his DP status with the Sounders.

I like the homeside by a slim margin in this one. These two played two exciting games in the regular season and I don’t see anything different here tonight. Goals by Ching for the Dynamo and goals by Montero and Nate Jaqua for the Sounders.

WVH Prediction: Seattle 2, Houston 1

It's do or die for Toronto FC. (Getty Images)

Big time weekend ahead for Major League Soccer. Four clubs have punched their tickets to the post season dance with four remaining spots left open to possibly all get snatched up this weekend.

You can pretty much put a playoff implication on every game this weekend. Either a team will come closer to clinching a spot, will clinch a spot or will be eliminated from contention. Its pretty much as simple as that as we head into the final two weeks of the regular season.

Going into the weekend it is important to see where everyone stands. There will be plenty of scoreboard watching from players, coaches and fans this weekend.

Eastern Conference
1. Columbus (13-5-10, 49 pts., 2 games remaining) – X
2. Chicago (10-7-11, 41 pts., 2 games remaining)
Western Conference
T1. Chivas USA (13-9-5, 44 pts., 3 games remaining) – X
T1. Houston (12-8-8, 44 pts., 2 games remaining) – X
T1. Los Angeles (11-6-11, 44 pts., 2 games remaining) – X
Wild Cards
2. Seattle (10-7-11, 41 pts., 2 games remaining)
3. Colorado (10-8-10, 40 pts., 2 games remaining)
4. New England (10-10-8, 38 pts., 2 games remaining)
BOTTOM SEVEN OUT
Real Salt Lake (10-11-7, 37 pts., 2 games remaining)
FC Dallas (10-12-6, 36 pts., 2 games remaining)
D.C. United (8-8-12, 36 pts., 2 games remaining)
Toronto FC (9-10-9, 36 pts., 2 games remaining)
Kansas City (8-12-8, 32 pts., 2 games remaining)
San Jose (7-13-8, 29 pts., 2 games remaining) – Eliminated from contention
New York (4-19-6, 18 pts., 1 games remaining) – Eliminated from contention

For Colorado, Seattle and Chicago it is simple this weekend. You win and you are in. New England can do the same with a win along with a couple other items (DC, Dallas, TFC, and RSL all draw or losing their games this weekend).On the flip side for Kansas City they are all but mathematically eliminated here, they would need about 40 different things to happen to even have hope of reaching the playoffs. In other words this weekend will should put their eliminated status in for good.

Everyone is in action this weekend except for New York who played and lost again in the midweek. As always feel free to leave your score predictions and thoughts below. Continue Reading…

As the playoff race has heated up in Major League Soccer, so have the goals that have been scored. This week we saw plenty of good goals but only a select amount were above the rest.

The best goal for me was either Sainey Nyassi’s run against New York or Brad Davis’ strike against RSL.

(Note QuickKicks on the league site did not have the Columbus/Chicago goals)

Order of video: David Beckham, Edson Buddle, Brian Ching, Yura Movsisyan, Brad Davis, Dax McCarty, Jimmy Conrad, Sainey Nyassi, and John Wolyneic.

Seattle needs another big game out of Fredy Montero this weekend. (Getty Images)

There’s not too many more weekends left in the 2009 regular season. Week 27 is a full one as we gear towards the playoffs in a few weeks. With so many clubs still in contention the action this weekend should promise to be very good.

More than likely after this weekend we will have a new group of wild-card clubs as right now three of the four clubs currently in the wild card spots are tied, and just one point behind the top wild card club Seattle. Plus the three or so clubs just right outside the playoff zone are just a couple points back as it is. So a shake up should go down just as it has over the last several weeks.

Plenty of good matchups this weekend, especially that Chicago-Columbus game which should shed some light on if the Crew will hold off the Fire for first in the east and in the Supporter’s Shield race.

As always feel free to post your score predictions below. Continue Reading…