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.

This is definitely goal of the week material but since it is slow today I thought I would go ahead and post it up today.

Great run of play goal. Its a shame Pat Onstad didn’t get an assist credit for it. Houston showed last night that they are definitely the top dog right now, even though they are three points back of Chivas in the overall standings.

Mainly since I am running way behind on my weekend recaps my thoughts from this weekend will be sort of brief due to lack of time on my part. Not a whole lot changed for me over this past weekend. Some certain clubs finally won games for a change this season and others continue to impress. This weekend was full of sloppy defending and cool finishing.

Here are the notes I jotted down from this weekend’s action. If you have any comments from the games this weekend feel free to post below.

- Chivas continues to roll here. The AmeriGoats get another win at home, improving to 7-1-1 on the year. An eight point advantage in the standings right now. Wow. At this rate they will clinch a playoff spot by mid-July. I’m just wondering when the flame will go out and this club will cool off for real here. They have a tough stretch coming up with hosting DC, at KC and then home again against Chicago. I wouldn’t be shocked to see them either roll through those at their current pace right now. I mentioned their fast start in comparison to other fast starts in league history. Right now they are tied for the second best start behind the 2000 KC club and the 1999 Miami club. Interesting fact that Steve Goff mentions is the common fact is Preki. He played for those two clubs and is coaching this Chivas club.

Just how are they doing this though? The cast of no-names and what nots are just getting the job done no matter what. They clean up on sloopy defending and are very tight in the back. They are showing that they don’t need to be flashy to win or be well anything great to win.

- And speaking of the club Chivas beat on Saturday, Real Salt Lake continues to be unimpressive on the road. Let’s hit reality for a second. This club has always been terrible on the road. The fact that they don’t score on the road this season only makes it worse.

Jason Kreis has a lot of work to do with this club still. Right now they aren’t a contender. Kreis will probably make a change up top soon by placing Fabian Espindola up top instead of Yura Movsisyan who has been rather poor so far this season (one goal and one assist in eight games). Continue Reading…

Jesse Marsch and Chivas USA continue to roll. (Getty Images)

Another week down in Major League Soccer and a lot of things remain the same around the league. Week seven is in the books here Chivas USA still remains the league’s top club. Other things that are still constant in the league include:

- New York still struggling
- Columbus still struggling to win
- Chicago still drawing games, yet still undefeated
- Dallas still losing games
- Salt Lake still losing on the road
- Attendance still so-so across the league

And a little sidebar that a couple of you pointed out to me, I picked every game correctly this past week. Some of the scores weren’t right on but I did have all the winners correct and all the draws be 1-1. Yeah, sorry to toot my own horn but sometimes it is nice to be right. Continue Reading…

Kansas City fans have been pretty good so far. (Brian Stevens, WVH Photo Correspondent)

Typically I do a version of this kind of thing for all MLS clubs but this time around I wanted to do something a little different with the typical Good, Bad, and Ugly column. Instead I will be looking at things in the league as a whole that I have liked, disliked and have absolutely hated thus far in the early going of the season.

Most of this is stuff I’ve been keeping track of here since the start of the season. I may ramble on a bit but you are always welcome to do the same below.

Good:

Quality crowds in Seattle, Toronto and even in smaller venues like San Jose or Kansas City. I believe there is a reason why San Jose and KC want smaller soccer stadiums for their future. It doesn’t all have to do with money and not being able to consistently fill those stadiums, it is because they have the fans that create good atmosphere (I think both clubs have underrated supporter’s groups). The same sort of thing you see in Seattle and Toronto. Passionate fans equal a good time at the park.

Bad:

So-so numbers in places like LA for Galaxy and Chivas games, Chicago for Fire games and DC for United games. For those clubs it doesn’t really deal with a lack of advertising or even the clubs being bad on the field. Its honestly an economical thing in my eyes.

Still seeing bad numbers in Colorado and Columbus too. Thing about the Rapids is though they’ve only played one home game so far. With the club doing pretty well so far this year things could change in their favor in terms of butts-in-seats.

Ugly:

Numbers we see in Dallas are just terrible. The fact that the club has gotten a shade under 12k for their last two home games is pathetic. Marketing around Dallas is nearly non-existent, and people just can’t get excited about this club. It has little to do with the performance on the field I think (because the town supports baseball’s Rangers decently enough each year and they are largely just as bad if not worse), but it deals more with a lack of knowledge about the club in the local community.

Continue Reading…

Week five produced a few nice goals and probably some even nicer saves (see below). Below are the goals I felt were worth to be goals of the week.

If you think I missed a goal, just let me know.

Chad Barrett:

Bryan Jordan:

Brian McBride:

Josh Wolff:

Juan Pablo Angel:

Ben Olsen:

Save of the Week:
Pat Onstad: