Houston has plenty of guys worth protecting here. (Getty Images)

Today we move another day closer to the 2009 expansion draft. Now we turn our focus to the Houston Dynamo.

The Dynamo are a tough team to figure out due to the number of quality players that are both young and old.

Protected Available Exempt Corey Ashe Wade Barrett Danny Cruz Bobby Boswell Mike Chabala Geoff Cameron Ryan Cochrane Brian Ching Tyler Deric Ricardo Clark Tally Hall Brad Davis John Michael Hayden Andrew Hainault Richard Mulrooney Stuart Holden Dominic Oduro Luis Angel Landin Pat Onstad Brian Mullan Abe Thompson Eddie Robinson Erik Ustruck Craig Waibel Cam Weaver

Either way they stand to lose a good player this year.

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This match promises to be a dogfight. The season series between the Los Angeles Galaxy and the Houston Dynamo featured exactly one goal and a lot of physical defending. If that sounds a lot like what Chivas and the Galaxy went through for the bulk of their five games this season, its not coincidence.

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And that word is: Punchless.

Or it could be seven words: This team is nothing without Landon Donovan.

So let's start with the positive: shutting out Houston at home in front of a sell-out crowd and forcing Pat Onstad to actually make some saves. Once again Donovan Ricketts proves his worth making a busload of saves and the backline bends but doesn't break.

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"Charity is not the right word when you pit two important teams against each other." Houston Dynamo defender Craig Waibel on his team's match with Mexican club CF Monterrey on Sunday night, Oct. 11. Billed as the 'Dynamo Charities Cup,' the match featured four red cards after a fight in the 69th minute.

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The CONCACAF Champions League continued on Wednesday with three more group stage matches. The Columbus Crew visited faced Saprissa, Pachuca hosted the Houston Dynamo, and Pumas traveled to W Connection. It's about halfway through the group stage with the Columbus Crew the only MLS team in position to advance to the quarterfinals.

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A general rule I have is to always find a humorous picture that encompasses the general topic of the article. Today we have a photo of the Richie Havens Mixed Bag album. The article is truly a mish-mash of whatever I felt like posting, also know as a mixed bag. The humor is that I actually have this album.

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During last weekend's match against the Seattle Sounders, Houston's Craig Waibel managed to draw a chorus of boos from the masses at Qwest Field. Despite being a graduate of University of Washington, a former member of the USL's Seattle Sounders, and a former member of the PDL's Spokane Shadow, the crowd's displeasure was evident each time he touched the ball.

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Seattle-born Houston Dynamos defender Craig Waibel was proud to be playing MLS football in his home town, even if he was playing for the enemy. The 33-year old enjoyed being back at Qwest Field despite the Dynamos losing 2-1 to the Seattle Sounders, who he began his professional career with back in the late-1990s.

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Three points against the league leaders. Destiny in the hands of the Rave Green. A match where the depth of each side was tested, and it shouldn't be a surprise to anyone who has followed this league for more than a few months that the two clubs at the top of the table [...] Click to continue reading...

With last nights Houston Dynamo victory over the Charleston Battery and Seattle Sounders defeating the Kansas City Wizards, it sets up a second match between the 2 teams within 10 days to be played in Seattle. They will be meeting on Saturday at Qwest Field at 1:00 pm PDT for their regular season match. Click to continue reading...

On Saturday, July 4th, the Kansas City Wizards hosted the Houston Dynamo at CommunityAmerica Ballpark in front of a sell out crowd of 10,385. The Dynamo were coming off a lackluster loss to Los Angeles Galaxy on Sunday and a lucky draw against Real Salt Lake the previous weekend, and Kansas City was seeking their first MLS win since June 13 when they beat the New England Revolution, 3 - 1.

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On this 4th of July weekend Houston comes into KC hoping to improve on their goalless effort from last weekend against one of the worst defenses in the league (LA's), while KC, tries to make it 2 wins in a row in the league after a horrible Superliga performance.

KC will be missing defensive leader and captain Jimmy Conrad, as well as midfielders Davy Arnaud and Roger Espinoza due to Gold Cup call ups, while Kevin Souter will not be available due to injury.

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And those words are: Pleasantly Surprised.

I watched this game twice, once in person (commenting from the stands on Jen's pre-game posting) and once on the MLSLive.tv stream and both times I was impressed at how the Galaxy ended up playing their game and made the Dynamo adjust to them. How unusual!

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The Aztex take the field for the first of just three home games this month Wednesday evening, July 1, at 7:30. They host MLS' Houston Dynamo in the 3rd round of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup. The cup, the oldest team tournament in U.S. sports history, is just seeing the entrance of the top-level MLS teams in this round. Click to continue reading...

You know, after that other game I heard about. Something about Brazil being in a final . . .

Our Galaxy hosts the Houston Dynamo on Sunday game time 7pm, shown on ESPN2 and Deportes.

The Dynamo sits atop the Western standings with 28 points, and whoops every Eastern team on points as well.

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At the beginning of the season I boldly predicted that "Killa" Cam Weaver would be the hot new kid on the MLS block (in a national publication no less). This hasn't exactly been the case so far but he did have a cracker of a debut in Houston and went home with a pair of bangers. And by bangers I mean quality goals, not British sausages. Click to continue reading...

Toronto FC: More Grizzle than Gisele

Houston Dynamo 3-0 Toronto FC

The old cliche goes that football is a game of two halves. Never more so than tonight at Fortress Robertson. Ever been out on a blind date with a chick who your mates all said was really attractive, only to find on meeting her that she was more grizzle than Gisele?

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Everything you need to know from the weekend in soccer, including tons of season finales overseas, business as usual in U.S. pro leagues and a big qualification weekend in the U.S. Open Cup.
MLS
Toronto 3-1 New England: The Revs keep the makeshift forward tandem of Shalrie Joseph and Steve Ralston. Click to continue reading...

It's Memorial Day here in the United States, so before I get into a quick look at what happened in the world of footy over the weekend, I want to highlight how soccer can be used for good.
Earlier this month, Mitch Howard wrote an article for MLS Talk about U.S. Soldiers using soccer to foster partnership with Iraqi soldiers. Click to continue reading...

Texian Army TV - Episode 08 - San Jose @ Dynamo from Texian Army TV - Yossarin on Vimeo.

Synopsis:
** Mabeuf recaps the Dynamo @ New York RedBulls game
** Interview with Brad Davis about "Brad's Brigade"
** Interview with Craig Waibel about "Bald is Beautiful"
** Locker room interviews with Dominic Kinnear, Kei Kamara, and Brian Ching. Click to continue reading...

The Dynamo will be without starting right back Richard Mulrooney when they face the New York Red Bulls Saturday night at Giants Stadium.

Mulrooney, one of four Dynamo players to play every minute of all nine competitive games so far this year, fractured his left cheekbone in a practice collision on Tuesday.

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Your wait is finally over. The Houston Leones got their 2009 season underway on Saturday, achieving a 1-1 tie with the Austin Aztex U23 team. Who are these clubs I speak of? They are members of the Premier Development League, which is a division of the United Soccer League. Before you ask yourself why you should care, let me point out a few former members of the PDL.

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You can find the conversation here. The Dynamo are very close to getting their stadium deal financed. It would be next to Minute Maid Park in downtown. The sticking point is 10M$ from the County, which the city has pledged to match. The rest of the construction costs would be born by AEG [...] Click to continue reading...

Thursday, August 14th:
Los Angeles Galaxy 2 - Chivas USA 2
LA – Landon Donovan 14 (Chris Klein) 8'
CHV – Atiba Harris 2 (Paulo Nagamura) 50'
CHV – Paulo Nagamura 2 (Atiba Harris) 63'
LA – Alan Gordon 4 (Ante Jazic) 92'+
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Saturday, August 16th:
FC Dallas 1 - Columbus Crew 2
FCD – Jeff Cunningham 4 (Adrian Serioux) 35'
CLB – Brian Carroll 1 (Guillermo Barros Schelotto, Alejandro Moreno) 62'
CLB – Brad Evans 3 (Guillermo Barros Schelotto) 65'
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Saturday, August 16th:
DC United 1 - Chicago Fire 0
DCU – Fred 2 (Jaime Moreno) 27'
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Saturday, August 16th:
Real Salt Lake 3 - Houston Dynamo 4
RSL – Yura Movsisyan 1 (Robbie Findley) 3'
HOU – Brian Mullan 2 (Brad Davis) 16'
RSL – Javier Morales 4 (unassisted) 25'
HOU – Brian Ching 9 (Brian Mullan, Craig Waibel) 29'
HOU – Ricardo Clark 1 (unassisted) 35'
HOU – Nate Jaqua 1 (Brian Ching, Brad Davis) 42'
RSL – Kenny Deuchar 3 (Robbie Findley, Javier Morales) 80'
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Saturday, August 16th:
Kansas City Wizards 1 - Colorado Rapids 2
COL – Conor Casey 4 (Terry Cooke, Mehdi Ballouchy) 11'
KC – Michael Harrington 1 (unassisted) 44'
COL – Conor Casey 5 (unassisted) 47'
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Saturday, August 16th:
New England Revolution 0 - San Jose Earthquakes 4
SJ – Ronnie O'Brien 2 (Francisco Lima, Ramiro Corrales) 11'
SJ – Ryan Johnson 4 (Scott Sealy, Ronnie O'Brien) 71'
SJ – Scott Sealy 3 (Darren Huckerby, Nick Garcia) 76'
SJ – Ronnie O'Brien 3 (Darren Huckerby) 87'
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Sunday, August 17th:
Toronto FC 0 - New York Red Bulls 2
NY – Mike Magee 3 (Seth Stammler) 37'
NY – Juan Pablo Angel 7 (Dane Richards, Jorge Rojas) 92'+ Click to continue reading...

A couple of defensive mistakes from the New England forced them to come from behind in both regulation and extra time, but the Revs fought back both times and eventually took the match to penalty kicks. Once there the team fell behind again, but this time came back and after 8 rounds emerged victorious 6-5 to claim the SuperLiga Championship. Click to continue reading...

The participants in the 2008 Superliga final have been decided. The tournament's second-year final will pit the Houston Dynamo against the New England Revolution in a rematch of the last two MLS Cups - both of which were won by Houston.
The final was set on Wednesday night after the New England Revolution did away with Atlante by a score of 1-0. Click to continue reading...

You read that right. Dynamo defender Craig Waibel equalled the NFL record 63 yard field goal while kicking with the Houston Texans for charity. OK, so it wasn't a game situation and no one was rushing him (or whatever you call it, I don't really understand NFL to be honest) but it's still impressive. Click to continue reading...

Hey, hey - here we go now. Well, not just yet, some telenovela is on. "No quiero verle nunca mas!" spits the heroine. Oh, ok, it's over now. Bring on SuperLiga! Post predictions quick!
Ha, the announcers know all about the Houston/Pachuca history.
"Houston wants revenge," they say. I've picked Pachuca to win, however, so I predict a heartbreaking 2-1. Click to continue reading...

The game that seemed like it would never be played finally was played last Wednesday and the result left you wondering whether D.C. United got tired of waiting.

Houston man-handled D.C., 2-0, at RFK Stadium in a game that had been postponed twice and was delayed for hours on the night it was finally completed.

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We've all seen shots taken by MLS players from far out which, while well driven, sailed way high of the goal. Sometimes we joke that certain players would do better in the NFL as a result. Well today, the Houston Dynamo's Craig Waibel was playing around with the funny shaped kind of football and apparently was so impressive some keen NFL observers may take interest. Click to continue reading...

Craig Waibel -- a Washington grad, whoo! -- recently dropped by a Houston Texans practice to kick some field goals for charity.
The Dynamo defender wasn't bad at all, even kicking a 63-yarder! Click to continue reading...

Craig Waibel joined kicker Kris Brown after Texans practice Sunday for a little fun. While the Dynamo defender was supposed to be getting pointers from Brown on how to kick field goals, it was Waibel showing him how it's done.... Click to continue reading...

A friend sent me this release from Rice University this morning. Apparently, Craig Waibel was spotted over with the Houston Texans yesterday, going all Tony Meola with those guys for some local kids. I am searching for video, so if anyone has any, please let me know.
Craig Waibel is so tough, the tackling dummies ran and hid when he showed up yesterday! Click to continue reading...