Of all the places you might have expected to hear effusive praise for David Beckham in light of his impending retirement, the Houston Dynamo training facility was likely pretty far down the list.
Nevertheless, with Becks celebrating the apparent end of his playing career this past week, the Dynamo – who fell to Beckham's Galaxy in each of the last two MLS Cups – weren't shy about their respect for Major League Soccer's international face.
On Sunday, the Chicago Fire march into town looking to stop the Dynamo from making history. Coming off their first win of the season, the Fire are hungry for more points and hope to be the first team to defeat the Dynamo at home since June 2011.
Enjoy the following videos to get you ready for the match.
OTF's Stephen Mangat brings you the dossier on the Men in Orange...
It's where the heart is, there's no place like it, and it's where the Houston Dynamo never lose: home. That's right folks, across all competitions, and two stadiums, the Dynamo haven't lost a match in Houston in its last 34.
The Houston Dynamo travel to the loud and always tough Jeld-Wen Field to face the Portland Timbers on Saturday. Follow all of Dynamo Theory's coverage in one place.
Enough about the home unbeaten streak. Well, until next week - because whether Dominic Kinnear wants to admit it or not... it's a pretty big deal.
Enough about the home unbeaten streak. Well, until next week - because whether Dominic Kinnear wants to admit it or not... it's a pretty big deal.
For now, let's talk about Houston's ability to win on the road. It might be better worded if we used a phrase like their inability to win on the road, but that's the problem.
It's the first visit to BBVA Compass Stadium for the Vancouver Whitecaps, but the Houston Dynamo are hoping to make it another happy ending for the home fans.
The Dynamo enter the game on a 32 game unbeaten streak at home and are coming off two consecutive losses - each allowing 3 goals. Houston will be looking to right the ship and will rely on the home fans to help push them back on the right track.
Boy Kinnear was not happy after the 3-2 loss to FC Dallas. (Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports)
Woah nelly. Dominic Kinnear is not a happy camper.
Speaking to reporters after the emotional 3-2 loss toFC Dallas, Kinnear went on a long rant on his feelings about the match (thanks to Steve Davis of Pro Soccer Talk for giving me these quotes):
"I thought the first few minutes looked really good," Kinnear said of his team.
FC Dallas head coach Schellas Hyndman On today's game... It was a pretty wide-open game with two teams that put everything on the field. They are very hard-working and had a lot of different weapons coming at us. We got goals today from a defender, a midfielder and a forward, which is seldom you ever get all three lines scoring goals.
Every team in the world has an away game on their schedule that never seems to go well. Sometimes they just get outplayed, sometimes they fall victim to the one special moment in an otherwise even game, and sometimes the ref just screws them. It's always something.
For D.C. United, that away game has been "at Houston Dynamo" since Texas gained a second MLS club back in 2006.
Dynamo president Chris Canetti, who handles the club's business operations, has signed a three-year contract extension one year after coach-general manager Dominic Kinnear signed a multi-year extension.
Canetti, who played college baseball and was a minor-league baseball official early in his career, has been in charge of the Dynamo front office since Oliver Luck left in May 2010 to become athletics director at West Virginia University.
Last season: After winning just three of their first ten games, the Houston Dynamo recovered somewhat to end up with a bland 6W-6D-5L record at the 2012 season's midway point. However, almost immediately after that milestone, the Dynamo embarked on a five-game winning streak, a burst that essentially ensured their playoff spot.
As expected, Mike Chabala has made his return to the Houston Dynamo. In the clubs first ever media day, Chabala's return was announced as all the 2013 players modeled the new jerseys for the upcoming season.
With Corey Ashe listed as the only option at left back, Dominic Kinnear knew he'd have to find at least another option for back up.
With just over a week before starting the 2013 MLS season, the Houston Dynamo have made a couple moves as they get closer to solidifying their roster for the start of the season. On Tuesday February 19th, the Dynamo traded Jamaican International Je-Vaughn Watson to F.C. Dallas for a second round pick in the 2015 SuperDraft.
With just under two weeks to go until the opening of the 2013 Houston Dynamo season, it's time to take a look at where the team stands in terms of personnel. The good thing about Houston is as runner up to the MLS Cup, it wasn't time to tear down and build back up from scratch. A few minor tweaks and the team could potentially make a run for a third straight MLS cup.
On Wednesday, the Houston Dynamo officially announced the signing of Bryan Salazar, an 18 year old member of the Dynamo Academy. Salazar will become the fifth player Houston has signed through their academy program.
News of the Dynamo's interest started to spread on Tuesday, and reports later in the afternoon confirmed Salazar was in discussions to make the jump to the first team.
While the Houston Dynamo played to a 3-0 victory over Houston Baptist University in a scrimmage this afternoon at HASP, the sidebar conversation was mainly on the new faces - today on one more than the others. In the second half, Dominic Kinnear changed all 11 players, and number 39 in the midfield just wasn't instantly recognizable.
With the Houston Dynamo drafting Jason Johnson last week in the 2013 MLS SuperDraft, many have assumed it closes the door for the return of Macoumba Kandji to the club. During an interview with Monica Gonzalez in the latter part of the draft, Dominic Kinnear mentioned Kandji had moved on.
Kandji and his whereabouts have been unknown thus far, but today a team in the second division of France gave him a mention on Twitter.
Well, the 2013 MLS SuperDraft is in the books and the Houston Dynamo appear to have come out with another quality performance. With the 13th and 37th pick, Dominic Kinnear managed to leave Indianapolis with a speedy forward and a left back - two positions that were needed in the depth department. Obviously, only time will tell if these two players will live up to the hype they're receiving today, but there is nothing that would indicate they won't.
MLS held its 2013 SuperDraft in Indianapolis on Thursday January 17th, and the Houston Dynamo used the draft to cushion its depth on the front and back lines.
In the first round, with the 13th overall pick, the Dynamo drafted Jason Johnson, a Jamaican native who played froward at Virginia Commonwealth University.
The Houston Dynamo have reached the MLS Cup final in each of the last two seasons, and they have locked up a number of their core players to ensure they continue to make runs at a title.
Midfielders Brad Davis and Adam Moffat and goalkeeper Tally Hall all signed contract extensions with the Dynamo, the club announced on Wednesday.
The Houston Dynamo were huge underdogs heading into the MLS Cup final last year, and by their own admission, they were outplayed in a 1-0 defeat to the LA Galaxy. While many might consider the Galaxy favorites to win again [...]
The post Improved Midfield Gives Dynamo Confidence appeared first on Soccer Perspectives.
Happy Tuesday, ladies and gentlemen. D.C. United play the Houston Dynamo on Wednesday, so I'm sure you want to listen to some people tell Dominic Kinnear how awesome he and his team are.
The wait is over! The ballots have been submitted, counted, recounted, and are now here for your viewing pleasure. Dynamo Theory will announce the 2012 Creamsicles award winners one by one over the next 10 days, starting with Forward of the Year.
We have a Creamsicles Storystream that will keep you updated with the entire list of award winners here.
Major League Soccer oftentimes feels like a crapshoot. How else can you explain the San Jose Earthquakes finishing seventh in the Western Conference last year and winning the Supporters' Shield this year or a fifth seed meeting a fourth seed [...]
The post Building an MLS Champion Starts with Coaching appeared first on Soccer Perspectives.
For Dominic Kinnear, it's not very hard to explain why the Dynamo have an MLS record 35-game home unbeaten streak.
"To go unbeaten for this amount of time it's also very impressive," Kinnear said. "People say, ‘what's the secret?' We have a good team. I think if you look at our record in the past, you don't want to explain it to everybody, but I think we've always had a good team.
It's a shame there were only about 15,000 if that many at BBVA Compass Stadium Tuesday night because the Dynamo and Santos Laguna played a brilliant match.
Local soccer fans should have sprinted to BBVA to see two quality sides in a match that lived up to everything you'd expect of a CONCACAF Champions League match.
Although Scottish forward Calum Elliot impressed the Dynamo coaching staff during his two and a half-week trial with the club, he has returned to Scotland without a contract offer.
The Dynamo haven't completely closed the door on signing Elliot in the future, but an offer won't come anytime soon if at all.
We're less than a month away from MLS opening day, and there is a lot going on in the Dynamo world. With just a handful of weeks left in preseason, Dominic Kinnear has continued to make moves to get his 2013 roster set.
Houston has had mixed results thus far in preseason. In their first two matches, the Dynamo defeated their Academy team and Houston Baptist University.
After a quiet start to the offseason, the rumor mill seems to be spinning in Houston.
Over the last few days, reports from the Honduran press said the Dynamo were in discussions with Olimpia for the services of 20 year old midfielder, Alexander Lopez. Lopez acknowledged there has been an offer made by Houston for his services, but added his future is in Olimpia's hands.
As the Dynamo begin to build for 2013, you need a place to keep up with all the moving and grooving. Bookmark this page and we'll keep it updated with the latest moves!
While many are still having trouble adjusting to the MLS Cup loss, the Dynamo are knee deep in roster decisions, while preparing to build the 2013 club.
It was a busy day at the office for the Dynamo, who acquired a big center back – Eric Brunner – in exchange for allocation money. That story is already on chron.com.
Dynamo coach Dominic Kinnear had all his year-end meetings with the players today. It's clear all the starters from the 2012 MLS Cup are locked up and set to return.
While many are still having trouble adjusting to the MLS Cup loss, the Dynamo are knee deep in roster decisions, while preparing to build the 2013 club.
Training camp will open in a short eight weeks and the season kicks off in early March. Dominic Kinnear added key pieces during the 2012 season (Boniek Garcia, Ricardo Clark, Giles Barnes) that will benefit from having a full offseason with teammates.
Dominic Kinnear his team have plenty to be proud of this season, but the MLS CUp loss will be tough to get over. ( James Nielsen / Chronicle )
There's plenty of reason to be proud if you're a Dynamo coach or player, but it will be a while before the Dynamo get over their 3-1 loss Saturday in the MLS Cup final.
The trip to Los Angeles didn't stop Dynamo fans from showing up in full force (Jose de Jesus Ortiz/Houston Chronicle)
For the first time since Jermaine Taylor was hurt in first match of the Eastern Conference semifinal, the Dynamo rolled out their top lineup Saturday afternoon.
Forward Calen Carr, who missed the Eastern Conference final matches against D.
Judging by the questions the Dynamo have been getting all week, it's quite clear many in the national soccer media and the public view the 2012 MLS Cup as the David Beckham showcase and little else.
At times it has seemed as though the Dynamo have just been invited to clean the tables and make sure everybody is happy at Beckham's bash.
San Jose Earthquakes forward Chris Wondolowski, who picked up his 2012 MLS MVP award on Thursday, will stick around and hang out with the Dynamo players this weekend and many of them again next weekend when he attends Corey Ashe's wedding.
Wondolowski, who tied the MLS record with 27 goals this year, was traded to San Jose in June 2009 for Cam Weaver.
According to our favorite local multi-sport coverage beat-writer extraordinaire (yes, this is sarcasm), Head Coach Dominic Kinnear thinks veteran forward Brian Ching might be back in Orange next season after all.
"I wouldn't be surprised to see (Ching) playing next year," said Kinnear, who also made it clear Houston is where Ching would want to play.
