Sacre bleu! And that's enough stereotypical French speak for now... In any case, it appears that today's pre-season friendly against the Montreal Impact was not quite as fruitful as their previous game against the LA Galaxy earlier this week when they won 4-1 against the former MLS Champs.
In any case, as with the previous game we don't have too much information to go on for this match since we weren't there to actually cover it.

There are some stories in life and sports that force us to re-evaluate what is important. This is one of those stories. It is the story of a young man whose courage, determination and heart has touched the lives of professional athletes from all over Major League Soccer and beyond. Evan Mundine, a 13 year old boy from Texas has found a way to connect with athletes in the best ways possible.

There are some stories in life and sports that force us to re-evaluate what is important. This is one of those stories. It is the story of a young man whose courage, determination and heart has touched the lives of professional athletes from all over Major League Soccer and beyond. Evan Mundine, a 13 year old boy from Texas has found a way to connect with athletes in the best ways possible.

STARTERS
Medio Tiempo with an article saying CONMEBOL is making a huge proposal to CONCACAF for the 100th Anniversary of CONMEBOL in 2016 - scrap the Copa America, scrap the Gold Cup and hold 1 joint tournament in the United States with 10 CONMEBOL teams and 8 CONCACAF teams!

Dominic Kinnear was predicitably asked after the match about former Dynamo capatain Brian Ching and he made a slightly surprising comment:

"I think in the beginning, we were a little bit liberal with what we were saying," Kinnear said. "I think it was a little bit rude, and I apologize for that, back when Brian first got selected by Montreal in the Expansion Draft.

Ching squared off against his old club yesterday. (Photo via Montreal Impact)

As bad as it was back in November, both Brian Ching and the Houston Dynamo are ready to move past the whole expansion draft fiasco.

Ching now a member of the Montreal Impact played the Dynamo yesterday in a preseason scrimmage.

Ching squared off against his old club yesterday. (Photo via Montreal Impact)

As bad as it was back in November, both Brian Ching and the Houston Dynamo are ready to move past the whole expansion draft fiasco.

Ching now a member of the Montreal Impact played the Dynamo yesterday in a preseason scrimmage.

By ADAM SERRANO

CARSON, Calif. -- For months, people have awaited Brian Ching's first match against the Houston Dynamo.

After being left unprotected by Houston in the expansion draft, Ching threatened retirement before eventually being selected by the Montreal Impact.

The Dynamo continued their undefeated preseason (for what that's worse) with a 2-0 victory over the Montreal Impact. This was the first MLS competition Houston has faced this preseason and it's fitting it was against Brian Ching and Le Impact. Colin Clark and Cam Weaver both scored for the Dynamo.

Brian Ching, the man who built BBVA Compass Stadium, is set to see his former Dynamo teammates today for the first time since the Montreal Impact picked him in the expansion draft last November. The Dynamo and Impact will play today at a practice field at Home Depot Center. I was in contact with Ching [.

Brian Ching, the man who built BBVA Compass Stadium, is set to see his former Dynamo teammates today for the first time since the Montreal Impact picked him in the expansion draft last November. The Dynamo and Impact will play today at a practice field at Home Depot Center. I was in contact with Ching [.

For a team that has lost (Brian Ching, Danny Cruz, Hunter Freeman, Carlo Costly) more than it has gained (Nathan Sturgis, draft picks, trialists) over the offseason, the Houston Dynamo might just find itself in an improved position once the 2012 season begins where the 2011 ended. And that would be without a single major offseason acquisition.

Some quick news notes:

• Oh Boy, Oh Boyd!

holla'Portland...

Kris Boyd he of the recent excursion to Dynamo country is not earmarked for Stumptown USA, the Portland Timbers. Boyd will join as a designated player.

The flip from Boyd to Cooper will be contrasting for P-Town fans as Boyd's game more closely dovetails with Diego Chara's a little bit of nastiness and a whole lot of go-go-go.

Judging by the general content of the comments around here (and in other places), the main concern going into the 2012 Houston Dynamo season is that team has dipped in quality with the loss of Brian Ching and Danny Cruz. The fear seems to be that we are in for yet another long season of middling to above average results with the possibility of a serious drop in form.

It seems like just yesterday the Dynamo played for the MLS Cup in Los Angeles, in fact it was only 66 days ago, but time waits for no one and the new season must get underway. Yesterday at the team's training facilities, the Dynamo did just that, kicking off the 2012 season with the opening of pre-season camp.

The defending Eastern Conference champion Dynamo began preseason camp for the first time in franchise history without the services of club icon Brian Ching and Eddie Robinson. It was definitely odd not to see those important players running around. Speaking of forwards, the Dynamo are still trying to lure a veteran forward in Great Britain [.

So, sitting here this afternoon thoroughly enjoying the Bundesliga back in action after an interminable winter break, I have come across a series of stories that might just warm the hearts of us Houston Dynamo supporters near and far.

First comes this excellent piece from Soccer America about Geoff Cameron in USMNT camp.

The United States and Venezuela last met on May 26th, 2006 in a friendly that was part of the send-off series for that summer's World Cup. Playing at Browns Stadium in Cleveland, Brian Ching and Clint Dempsey scored in a 2-0 USA win with Tim Howard recording the shutout. This was also the game where Michael Bradley made his debut, coming on as an 89th minute substitute.

The Houston Dynamo have always seemed to have a love-hate relationship with the MLS SuperDraft. In the franchise's early years in Houston, Dynamo Coach Dominic Kinnear seemed to have no qualms about trading away a top draft pick in order to obtain a player who filled a need or role right away for his squad.

The Houston Dynamo have always seemed to have a love-hate relationship with the MLS SuperDraft. In the franchise's early years in Houston, Dynamo Coach Dominic Kinnear seemed to have no qualms about trading away a top draft pick in order to obtain a player who filled a need or role right away for his squad.

MLS lives by a simple creed, there is no such thing as too many drafts. Thus today we had our fourth draft of the off-season with the 2012 Supplemental Draft. This is essentially rounds 3-7 of the SuperDraft but in the interest of time, money and general interest, it's been split off in to its own event.

The Philadelphia Independence drafted six players in Friday's WPS draft, with University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee forward Sarah Hagen being the top pick. The big question is whether they'll get her to move over from Bayern Munich, where she's under contract.

The Independence then took UC-Irvine defender CoCo Goodson and Florida State defender Toni Pressley in the second round, Santa Clara goalkeeper Bianca Henninger and Portland forward Danielle Foxhoven in the third, and Maryland forward Jasmyne Spencer in the fourth round.

Yes, Brucio is still away. Sources say he's exploring restaurant franchise opportunities in Newfoundland. Please be patient with me. I am an amateur.
So how did everybody fare in Thursday's MLS SuperDraft?
Over at No Short Corners, Will Parchman is apoplectic that Enzo Martinez fell all the way to 17th, where Salt Lake scooped him up.

The Houston Dynamo did not make any trades in today's MLS SuperDraft. Brian Ching is still will Montreal and Andre Hainault is still here, so all that unnecessary hullabaloo caused by a certain Chronicle writer was for naught. Instead the Dynamo added two new players, selecting forward Colin Rolfe and midfielder Warren Creavalle.

11:23am: Now is the time to float any and all wacky trade rumors. It's almost expected that at least one MLS veteran will move clubs out of nowhere. 11:20am: How likely is it that Toronto remains the only team with two first round picks? Highly unlikely. 11:06am: Rumors abound that Montreal is trying to entice Houston to part with Andre Hainault in exchange for the quick return of Brian Ching and Montreal's #1 pick.

Featured image: Nicolae Stoian

We'll have updates of today's SuperDraft throughout the day as well as reaction to the Union's selection. On to the news...

Philadelphia Union

Ives Galarcep's mock draft at Fox Soccer has this to say: "The Union are believed to be shopping forward Danny Mwanga, and even with the recent addition of young Costa Rican forward Josue Martinez, Philadelphia can use some depth up top.

Earlier last night, I was alerted to the recent Chron.com blog piece by Jose de Jesus Ortiz, and his idea to get Brian Ching back from the Montreal L'Impact. You can read the full blog piece here. In my time as a Dynamo Theory Blog writer (ok, I know I haven't been nearly as active as of late. I blame work), I've read over a ton of ideas about how to fix or better the team.

Four time MLS Cup champion defender Eddie Robinson, one of the last remaining original Dynamo, announced his from professional soccer today. Robinson came with the team in 2006 when they moved from San Jose and was a key part of the team's two championships. Injuries have limited Robinson the last couple seasons, but his retirement from the game does not mean we'll be seeing any less of E-Rob around Houston.

It's the biggest excuse to throw a mid-winter party in MLS: the SuperDraft. The annual gathering of coaches, executives and personnel directors all huddled under one roof to select the next crop of can't-miss collegiate prospects.

Sure, it may be a crapshoot. For every Steve Shak, there's a Nick Rimando.

By J Hutcherson - WASHINGTON, DC (Jan 10, 2012) US Soccer Players -- Whatever happens on Thursday at Major League Soccer's SuperDraft (12pm ET - ESPN2), Montreal has already made the biggest player move. That happened in the expansion draft, when they opted against taking a player's wishes into account and used a pick on then-Houston forward Brian Ching.

"In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king" said a famous philosopher centuries ago, but he may as well have been writing for MLS Talk about the 2011 Eastern Conference champions. The Houston Dynamo took advantage of a ...
Visit http://www.majorleaguesoccertalk.com for the rest of the story.

Welcome to the 2011 Creamsicles: The Dynamo Theory Awards.

For the first time, Dynamo Theory will be honoring the best of the best from the 2011 Houston Dynamo season. Hopefully this becomes an annual extravaganza, but we'll have to see how things go this year first. We surveyed our readers and staff members to determine the winners and we'd like to first thank everyone for participating in the voting!

With the news coming yesterday afternoon from Jesus Ortiz on the Chronicle that Brian Ching will not retire and will report to Montreal Impact camp when it opens, the ant bed that is Dynamo fandom was again stirred with a stick. Reaction varied from renewed anger towards Jesse Marsch to clever theories about when Ching will have to have season ending surgery that sticks the Impact with his large salary for the season.

Photo: Nicolae Stoian

Philadelphia Union

Reaction to the release of the 2012 schedule:

The Goalkeeper notes that the Union is hosting New York and DC twice. "This strikes me as unfair from a competitive balance standpoint...As such, it would seem to me to make more sense to have each team host one team once and one team twice.

Chron.com: Ching will not retire, will report to Montreal team

Despite contemplating retirement after he was selected in the expansion draft last November, Dynamo icon Brian Ching will report to camp with the Montreal Impact. Link here.

We're about a week and a half away from the MLS Superdraft in Kansas City. It's the first of two drafts for the league, with a supplemental draft following a week later. KC have their natural 16th pick in the 1st round of the Superdraft, and then have the 30th selection in the second round. That selection came from FC Dallas in the trade that sent Kevin Hartman to Dallas.

Kermit the Frog didn't give us the entire truth. While it might not be easy being green it seems even a touch more difficult being Forever Orange. Houston might be one of the more unlovable clubs in the league stretching back to 2006 with their origins birthed to the detriment of the city of San Jose and its an original MLS franchise.

In the spirit of full transparency, and wasting no time since the balloting was announced, I am jumping in with both feet and giving you my picks for Dynamo Theory's 2011 Creamsicle Awards. Hopefully, we can finish the year and start the next with a healthy discussion and debate on reviewing what was, for me, the most fun Houston Dynamo season that didn't have a trophy-winning celebration at the end of it.

The time has come to award the first ever Creamsicles!

We're beginning this annual (hopefully) tradition with nine categories for Dynamo fans to vote on. The awards and nominees are listed below and the voting link will be at the bottom of the post. You have one week to vote, so get to it!

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Click Here to Vote for the 2011 Creamsicles

VOTING CLOSES THURSDAY, JANUARY 5th at 11:00am CT

Team MVP: Tally Hall, Brad Davis, Andre Hainault, Geoff Cameron

Forward of the Year: Brian Ching, Cam Weaver, Calen Carr, Will Bruin, Carlo Costly

Midfielder of the Year: Brad Davis, Luiz Camargo, Adam Moffat, Danny Cruz, Colin Clark

Defender of the Year: Geoff Cameron, Bobby Boswell, Andre Hainault, Corey Ashe, Hunter Freeman

Newcomer of the Year: Adam Moffat, Luiz Camargo, Calen Carr, Colin Clark

Rookie of the Year: Will Bruin, Kofi Sarkodie, Alex Dixon

Moment of the Year: New Stadium Groundbreaking, Dixon's Goal vs.

First, we'd like to wish our own holiday wishes to our readers and new visitors. Thanks for making 2011 a special year at The Yanks Are Coming, and we hope to provide more solid coverage, analysis and unique perspectives on both the USMNT and USWNT in 2012. Soccer has always had a place at Christmas- [.