Danny Califf is going back east, to play with Toronto. (Getty Images)
Just as in last year's Re-Entry Draft, the 2012 stage two round went fast and furious with loads of surprising picks all around. Some clubs passed on selecting anyone at all while the LA Galaxy and San Jose Earthquakes went a couple rounds deep to pick up depth for the 2013 season.
After yet another agonizing bye week for the Fire in this young 2012 MLS season, it's finally
that time again. I am back to prep you for the Fire's Sunday night showdown with the Dynamo with
our customary 3 questions exchange. Instead of having 6 total questions like we usually do, Zach
Woosley over at Dynamo Theory was kind enough to answer the 3 questions that we had for him.
Earlier this week, we discussed Houston's offensive struggles and whether Cam Weaver has earned a spot in the starting lineup. Saturday morning, Weaver added a brace to hand the Dynamo Reserve team the Central/Mountain division championship after a 2-1 win over Chicago Fire Reserves.
Weaver's two goals give him a total of 11 on the season, a total that ties Chris Wondolowski's Dynamo record in the 2006 Reserve league.
Remember when Brad Davis was subbed off towards the end of Saturday's win over the New England Revolution? Did you notice he seemed to be limping a bit as he exited the pitch?
Well, our worst fears have come true as our starting left midfielder will miss the upcoming match against the Impact with a calf strain.
Houston returned to their winning ways on Thursday night, in front of 18,452 at BBVA Compass
Stadium. After Brad Davis failed to convert a Dynamo penalty in the 74th minute, Colin Clark was
successful in stoppage time. Salt Lake goalkeeper Nick Rimando was called for a foul in the box,
setting up the penalty.
The Dynamo went to El Salvador and all they got was a lousy t-shirt...and three points! Goals
from Brian Ching, Cam Weaver and Je-Vaughan Watson led Houston over C.D. FAS 3-1.
The switch back to a 4-4-2 formation led to a near dream first half for the Dynamo with goals
from Ching and Weaver.
Just four days after a tough victory over FC Dallas in the Texas Derby, the Dynamo will be back
to work tomorrow night at BBVA Compass Stadium. This time, it's Toronto FC, an Eastern Conference
foe who has put the struggle in struggling so far this season.
This will be Paul Mariner's second match in charge of Toronto after replacing Aron Winter less
than two weeks ago.
The Dynamo defeated their rivals FC Dallas 2-1 tonight in a spirited and entertaining affair at
BBVA Compass Stadium. We saw some ugly goals, some pretty goals, a straight red card and some
handbags...all the things would would expect from a derby match.
I doubt you could have scripted a better start for the Dynamo.
It was like the first seven seconds of that Revolution TV spot.
Black and white scenes of frustrated players. Mistakes. Distorted audio. General malaise.
Although the Revolution followed the philosophy Jay Heaps drove him in the second part of that
spot "We're going to attack" they fell into their 2011 form when Luiz Camargo equalized in the 87th
minute.
The emotional home opener at the newest cathedral of soccer in America is passed and it's time
to get down to business. The Dynamo have limited time to recover and prepare themselves mentally
and physically for a well rested Portland Timbers team that is desperate for points.
It's been a hectic week for the Dynamo, the dreaded side effect of having to compress the
season's home schedule in a shortened amount of time.
The Dynamo travel to the nation's capital to face streaking DC United who are unbeaten in six
matches, going back to a March 18th loss to the Galaxy. United took apart the New York Red Bulls
last weekend 4-1 so one expects they'll be full of confidence ahead of this early season Eastern
Conference clash.
It's only been two weeks since the Dynamo last played an MLS match, but it feels like a month.
Considering the season just started and the fact we're still a month (a little less technically)
from the home opener probably contributes to the gap feeling a lot worse.
It's been a tumultuous couple weeks though for the Dynamo despite not being on the field.
First Colin Clark (3 match ban), then Adam Moffat (1 match ban), now Brad Davis. The Left Footed
Beckham is questionable for Sunday's match against the Chicago Fire with a calf injury and will
undergo an MRI today. That's never something we like to hear about any of our players, but
especially about our midfield maestro.
MLS announced today that Dynamo midfielder Adam Moffat has been suspended for one match for a
reckless tackle committed against Sounders' Osvaldo Alonso during last Friday's match.
The incident occurred in the 35th minute and the MLS Disciplinary Committee determined the
tackle endangered the safety of his opponent.
After the night Nick Rimando had in goal for Real Salt Lake, there's no question he'd like to
have one moment back.
Rimando, who saved a Brad Davis penalty and a point-blank Will Bruin header late in the second
half, committed a foul on Mac Kandji that led to a last-second penalty, one that Colin Clark
converted to give the Houston Dynamo a 1-0 victory over RSL at BBVA Compass Stadium Thursday
night.
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.
There was soccer today at HASP! And the Dynamo won!
Hey, after last Friday, we could all use a pick me up. Unfortunately, I wasn't at the game, so
I'll have to offer up the official match report as evidence of the Dynamo 2-0 Reserve League
victory over Sporting Kansas City. Cam Weaver continued to annihilate the Reserve League with a
brace as the Dynamo moved in to a tie with the Rapids atop the Central/Mountain Division.
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.
The Houston Dynamo defeated 10-man FC Dallas in the Texas derby on Saturday night, and they can
thank Adam Moffat for that.
Moffat scored the winner in Houston's 2-1 triumph over rivals FC Dallas on Saturay night in the
first match between the two at BBVA Compass Stadium. Moffat's goal, combined with Jair Benitez
being sent off in the second half, improved the Dynamo to 3-0-1 in their new stadium while
extending FC Dallas' current winless run to 10 matches.
In seasons past we've generated shot +/- stats for players to illuminate how teams play with
certain players on the field. We've been a little remiss in waiting this long into the season to
get the 2012 stats out, but with the international break it's a good time.
As a refresher, we count the net shots a team generates with a player on the field (so their
team's shots minute shots allowed) and normalize it to 90 minutes.
This is an attempt at a live blog Game Thread for the Dynamo's Lamar Hunt US Open Cup match
tonight vs. the San Antonio Scorpions. Please feel free to post at will here if you are following
the match, which is being live streams on HoustonDynamo.com. You can also follow it via the
Scorpions' Twitter feed here or the Dynamo Twitter feed here.
So, here's a quick Monday morning look-back to Luiz Camargo's equalizer at Gillette Stadium this
past weekend. Take a good look at that goal and how it works.
The ball begins with another New England repulsion of a Houston Dynamo attack, which at that
point were kind of coming in waves.
The Dynamo fell 1-0 at Red Bull Arena last night in a match that was pretty frustrating for all
of us to watch. It sucks to lose a second straight match against a conference opponent, but there's
still plenty of time left in the season. Thankfully, as we learned last season, MLS can be very
forgiving to poor starts, though considering all the road games it's not really a poor start.
The New York Red Bulls look to make it three wins in a row, but to do so they'll have to get by a
Houston Dynamo side finally at the end of its seven-game road trip to open the season (7 p.m., MLS
Live/Direct Kick).
The Red Bulls are again without Rafa Marquez, who has completed his three-game suspension but is
out with an ankle injury suffered in training, according to the Red Bulls.
D.C. United and the New York Red Bulls will renew their longtime rivalry Sunday, and they'll do
so with second place in the Eastern Conference at stake.
The match features two of the league's most in-form teams, with New York unbeaten in four and
United undefeated in five.
Just when Toronto FC is on the verge of getting one Designated Player back on the field, another
one goes down with an injury.
With Torsten Frings set to return from a hamstring injury, Dutch striker Danny Koevermans
appears set to miss this weekend's clash with the Chicago Fire with a leg injury that he suffered
in training.
The Houston Dynamo are in a bit of a personnel crisis with suspensions and injuries taking their
toll on the club's roster, but the club augmented its defensive options on Friday with the signing
of a young Mexican left back.
Houston acquired Oscar Recio on loan from Monterrey, a move that frees starting left back Corey
Ashe to slide up to the midfield with Brad Davis nursing a calf injury.
The Houston Dynamo are coming off consecutive bye weeks, but that does not mean the well-rested
club is not facing some serious issues ahead of its match against the Chicago Fire this Sunday.
With Adam Moffat and Colin Clark already suspended for the game, the Dynamo could be down a
third midfield starter with 2011 MLS MVP runner-up and assist king Brad Davis nursing a calf injury
that he suffered in training over the weekend.
Jose de Jesus Ortiz just posted this story in the Chron that the Houston Dynamo's Brad Davis
injured his calf (no word on which one) and may miss Sunday's game against the Chicago Fire.
Here's the text of the Chron brief:
Three-time Dynamo MVP Brad Davis, who suffered a torn right quad muscle in the 2011 Eastern
Conference final, tweaked a calf and may be lost for Sunday's match.
Major League Soccer's Disciplinary Committee and overall leadership was kept busy this week
thanks to the Houston Dynamo at Seattle Sounders match. The more famous Colin Clark anti-gay slur
incident earned him a three game suspension, but there is more fallout from the game now. After
post match review Adam Moffat is suspended for his next match and fined due to "a reckless
challenge which endangered the safety of his opponent" (Osvaldo Alonso).
MLS commissioner Don Garber said before the season that the league's disciplinary committee
would take a hard line on excessive challenges and instances of embellishment, and the first
instance of that more rigid stance has been put in motion.
The league has suspended and fined Houston Dynamo midfielder Adam Moffat for a harsh challenge
and fined Seattle Sounders midfielder Alvaro Fernandez for embellishing contact in their matchup a
week ago.
In the short time I've known Colin Clark professionally, I have come to respect the young man. This
blog post is meant in no way to defend what he did last Friday night. He knows he was wrong, and I
know he was wrong, but I also want you to know the character he has [...]
San Jose Earthquakes goalkeeper Jon Busch became the latest player to be punished by the MLS
Disciplinary Committee, but his reason for being suspended is one of the more unique ones seen so
far this season.
Busch was suspended one game and fined an undisclosed amount for "aggressively retrieving a
ball" from a ball boy late into stoppage time in a 2-1 loss at Sporting Kansas City back on May 27
according to a league statement.
Ted and Chris Ballard return for a condensed episode with www.gay4soccer.com writer and manager
Chris Billig (Follow him on Twitter at @gay4soccer) to talk about Colin Clark's homophobic outburst
as well as gay and lesbian issues in the soccer community.
Look for the Philly Soccer Show podcast with guest Sebastien Le Toux later this
morning.
Philadelphia Union
The Union had a live feed of Peter Nowak's weekly press conference on Wednesday on the club
website, which is the first time that's happened as far as I can remember.
