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.

Keepers:

Who they have: Pat Onstad, Tally Hall, and Tyler Deric.

Notes: As long as Onstad remains healthy this isn’t an area of concern for Kinnear. Big thing will the the development of Deric who has to be in some way the future keeper of this club. My bet is they will loan out Deric this season to a USSF Division II club or even a USL-2 club. They have to get him some playing time to get any sort of progression out of their first academy signing.

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Defense:

Who they have: Bobby Boswell, Eddie Robinson, Ryan Cochrane, Craig Waibel, Mike Chabala, Wade Barrett, and Andrew Hainault.

Notes: Getting a healthy Robinson back this season should be a big thing for the Dynamo. This group will still be solid with all the talent they still have in the back. One thing though will be getting some depth and some youth here.

I still believe if this group stays healthy they won’t have too many issues this season. I kind of see Kinnear trading for a defender to add depth at some point this season.

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Midfield:

Who they have: Kevin Harmse, Geoff Cameron, Brad Davis, Daniel Cruz, Erik Ustruck, Richard Mulrooney, Brian Mullan, Corey Ashe, Samuel Appiah, and David Walker.

Notes: Big change here will be seeing Cameron slide into the midfield. Honestly from knowing Cameron and seeing him play he’s probably better suited for the midfield than in the defense anyways. Houston will be looking for him to really step it up this season and carry the load in the midfield. Thankfully he does have some quality offensive players like Brad Davis to help out in the assist department.

Big thing here will be if guys like Ashe can step up play on the wings. If Houston’s wing play is weak this season so will their offense. Ashe, Davis, and Cameron have to step it up in order to keep the Dynamo near the top in the west.

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Forwards:

Who they have: Brian Ching, Dominic Oduro, Luis Angel Landin, and Cam Weaver.

Notes: We know this, Ching will have to carry the load once again…that is if Landin doesn’t finally step up and play to his DP status. Those are two guys that will have to score the goals this season we know that but don’t sleep on Oduro or Weaver here. Oduro and his speed along with Weaver’s size are big parts to this groups offensive output. How Kinnear uses them this season will be key.

Landin, Weaver and Oduro will likely have to step up production though if Ching does make it to South Africa with the USMNT this summer. Should any dip in goals happen while Ching is gone this club will be in trouble.

More than likely we’ll see a trade for this group though at some point in the season. It seems like once a year Kinnear makes a trade for a striker within the league. I look for that to happen yet again this season towards the middle part of summer.

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Overall:

The questions always surround this club each year about their offense and where it will come from. Now the question will be can they improve from losing two important players in their midfield. They can replace one with Cameron and they’ll get away with guys like Mulrooney filling in for Clark but will that be enough? I honestly doubt it.

Funny thing is we always doubt something with this club each year and yet they still show up when it matters. Kinnear knows what he is doing more than most coaches in this league do. He works his system well and always knows how to find the right parts for it. They won’t be flashy this year but they’ll get by. I think adding a couple more parts in the midfield on the wings and maybe a defender or two in the back for depth purposes will suit them well.

Rodney Wallace has proved to be one of the best picks in the 2009 Draft. (Getty Images)

A lot has been said about this year’s draft class. Going into the draft a lot of people thought it was a deep pool of players, more so than it had been in a few years. After eight or nine games for most clubs you could say those people figured right. Many rookies continue to get plenty of minutes and impress folks in the stands with their abilities.

I figured instead of doing the usual look at the potential rookie of the year today to do something a little different. Instead I will be looking at each club’s selections once again. I’ll do most of the first round and a few random picks here and there from that with a few other notes.

Most of all the clubs who had first round selections used them wisely as we can all see. A few others did not though. Then you have the clubs that hardly picked at all. Those are tough to grade.

As always feel free to post your comments below on the subject.

Seattle Sounders FC: This club made a big splash with Steve Zakuani at number one who has lived up in my eyes as a number one pick. Definitely more of a Maurice Edu-type pick rather than a Nikolas Besagno-type number one pick. Which is a good thing for the expansion Sounders. Zakuani has done enough to make the Sounder draft class one of the better ones this past year.

Toronto FC: Two picks in the first round usually mean the club will do fairly well. While one pick (O’Brien White) hasn’t played yet due to injury, the other pick has certainly lived up to his pick number. Sam Cronin was a worthy number two pick in the draft. Either off the bench or in the starting lineup, Cronin has shown he has what it takes to help make this TFC club a contender. But TFC’s best pick was probably in the last first round pick they had with keeper Stefan Frei. He probably has made the biggest impact of the three first round selections.

LA Galaxy:What can you say about their top two selections? Omar Gonzalez and AJ DeLaGarza have become pretty comfortable in the starting rotation. Each took sometime to get use to the style of play in the league but they are a big part of the reason why this club has only lost a single game this year.

FC Dallas: Had some good selections in the first round. George John has proven to be a very good pickup for this club in the back, who really needed help defensively. Peri Marosevic will get his time. Not a bad draft but then again not the best.

DC United: Two picks in a row in the first round have led to arguable the best draft class for this club in a very long time. Both Rodney Wallace and Chris Pontius are mainstays in the starting lineup for Tom Soehn and each are making big time impacts for the Black-and-Red this season. Right now I would say they are both in the thick of things for rookie of the year. Also, third round pick Milios Kocic has been a good pickup for them in goal when needed. He was a very underrated pick at the time and proves to be maybe one of the best steals of the draft.

Kansas City Wizards: A club with loads of picks this past year. Matt Besler has been a good addition to this club’s defense and Graham Zusi saw decent minutes to start the season. Overall their draft proved to be a decent one but nothing too exciting.

New England Revolution: Another club with a lot of picks, the Revs went out in typical Steve Nicol fashion and got a few good steals. Darrius Barnes and Kevin Alston have been big additions to the club’s defense and I would say Barnes could be right up there in the discussion of rookie of the year. Come on, the kid was a third rounder!

New York Red Bulls: Jermey Hall proved to be what we all pretty much expect him to be. A good pickup. Other than that the Red Bulls really didn’t end up with anyone else that has done enough to improve this club.

Real Salt Lake: Ah, most felt it was the worst draft of any club and I have to still agree with that. Jean Alexandre has really done little of note to be a first round selection. Raphel Cox has decent potential though to make up for it however. I wouldn’t mind seeing him get more playing time for this club as it is.

San Jose Earthquakes: No first rounder and really no big impact selection. Brad Ring hasn’t played but third rounder Quincy Amarikwa is showing potential. Either way its a draft class for this club that few will remember in years to come.

Chicago Fire: With this club being deep already adding a few rookies is tough. None have even had a sniff at the starting XI, much less even time off the bench so far this season. It may be a come back in a year and see if anyone does anything of note.

Chivas USA: Another club with few selections. Michael Lahoud has seen some decent time off the bench for this club. From what I’ve seen out of him in person this kid has some real potential to make the Chivas draft class for this year a good one.

Colorado Rapids: Another so-so draft. None of the players selected have even seen playing time this season. Hard to even say it was a good draft in that regards.

Columbus Crew: Kind of the same as the Rapids. Though fewer selections, one guy has seen time with the club so far this season. I do think third rounder Alex Grendi has turned into a solid selection for the Crew. He’s seen his fair share of playing time already.

Houston Dynamo: The club that took the biggest risks in the draft are seeing any sort of reward from it. Hey we kind of expected it when they took Daniel Cruz and Marcus Tracy with their only picks that it would be a high-risk/high-reward type of thing.

Cruz is the youngest of any player available right now for the draft at 19. With him in the draft you can bet he will quickly move up the boards as he will be one of the better strikers in this draft.

Cruz is the ninth player to sign a GA contract according to SBI today.

A total of nine players have been signed to Generation adidas contract, with a potential tenth still being discussed right now (though that is looking to not happen from a few people that I’ve been talking to). Here is the current list of GA signings:

• Steve Zakuani
• Omar Gonzalez
• Rodney Wallace
• Jeremy Hall
• Baggio Husidic
• Kevin Alston
• Stefan Frei
• Peri Marosevic
• Daniel Cruz

What do you make of this class so far? A lot of people around the league seem to think it is one of the strongest in recent memory.