Ted and Chris return with more MLS team previews as they open up with new correspondent Christopher Boulay,as they discuss the newest expansion team, the Montreal Impact. Also A.J. Jobe from the Crewsaders takes a look a much different looking Crew. And finally Jordan Wise from SB Nation drops in talk all about the Dynamo as they look to open their new stadium in May.

Dynamo News:

• " I'm willing to bet Ching will be a member of the Dynamo by March 11." Ortiz- (Houston Chronicle)
• An old interview with Kandji after he was traded to Colorado- (The Shin Guardian)
• Clark, Weaver want starts- (MLS Soccer)
• Ching played the game as a professional- (ESPN)
• As if you didn't see below, Dynamo interested in Johnson- (Fox Soccer)
• Dynamo think they have their man in Kandji- (MLS Soccer)
• Roberts here to succeed- (MLS Soccer)

Soccer News:

• Capello stuck by his beliefs- (Fox Soccer)
• USA to face Brazil- (Fox Soccer)

Tweet(s) of the Day

Official;) yfrog.

Houston Press Interviewed Witnesses Who Shred Roosevelt Lounge & Police's Story

Wednesday, the Houston Press spoke to two eyewitnesses close to the situation to get a proper account of what occurred that night. They told us that thus far, four things have been reported inaccurately.

Those four things are pretty major and support the story being told by the Dynamo player's lawyers.

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.

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 [.

Tyler Deric's attorney is adamant in defending his client's actions Saturday night.

Enjoy some video highlights on the Dynamo's 4-0 preseason win over Houston Baptist University.

Raise your hand if your wife or girlfriend enjoyed the David Beckham underwear commercial. My wife loved the ad so much she had a running commentary about it with my mother in-law, who joked that she was happy to have the commercial DVR'd to go back and watch it often during the game. Say what [...]

Kofi Sarkodie wants to succeed with the Dynamo this year and garner more playing time with the U.S. Olympic team.

Kofi Sarkodie wants to succeed with the Dynamo this year and garner more playing time with the U.S. Olympic team.

The idea of a soccer "derby" eluded me when I was younger. Not only because I heard it as a "dArby", but also because American announcers would always make a point to distance it from our petty little rivalries in the US. Derbies are a rivalry, but fueled by years of bad blood and proximity - where immense soccer fervor allowed multiple teams to pop up within a few miles of each other.

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.

It's beginning to feel like the Dynamo are fighting against the city they call home in order to attract players to sign with the club. Houston is of course a great city, we all know that, but there are clearly issues making it hard for the team to get players to sign on the dotted line and play here.

AT T Park Doubleheader (http://www.sjearthquakes.com/news/2012/01/quakes-play-dynamo-att-park-march-17) Quakes, Mexican Olympic hopefuls to play doubleheader at AT T Park on March 17 (http://www.sjearthquakes.com/news/2012/01/quakes-play-dynamo-att-park-march-17) Read: Busch...

By Alan Duffy

Considering all the pre-match hype concerning Anton Ferdinand and John Terry's long-awaited reacquaintance, you would have thought that the game itself might have fizzled a bit more. However, instead, it was a flat affair, with Juan Mata outstanding out for all the right reasons, and Daniel Sturridge making a name for himself for all the wrong ones.

POSSIBLE TEAM V UTDSo its Round Two against the Manchester clubs this Saturdayafternoon.
We face the Old Enemy Utd at Anfield in an early kick-off 12:45pm.
Liverpool have everything to play for and have home advantage in the highest profile game of the FA Cup 4th round.

Forward Calen Carr, who played a key role in the run to the MLS Cup final, has been limited this week while rehabbing from the left knee surgery he underwent late last month. "I had to get a little work done on my knee," he said. "It was nothing major. Just cleaned up some things." [...]

Quick bit of news from yesterday, the Dynamo's trip to face the San Jose Earthquakes in the second match of the 2012 has been rescheduled, just slightly. Instead of the match being played on Sunday, March 18th at Buck Shaw Stadium has been moved up a day and will instead take place at AT&T Park. The move is so the match can be part of a double header with the Mexico U-23 v.

Meet the 2012 Dynamo Trialists

Learn a little more about each of the players trying to make the Dynamo roster.

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.

If you're a Dynamo fan, one of the highlights of the start of camp has to be the fact that Brad Davis and Cam Weaver are quite busy working out. Davis, who was a finalist for the 2011 MLS MVP award, tore his right quad muscle in the Eastern Conference final victory over Sporting Kansas [...]

Glenn Davis on Dynamo Player Acquisitions and Trialists

Some interesting info from Glenn Davis. Most notable the name of one of the trialists (and intriguing fellow), and a quick poke at the Boniek Garcia rumors. Keep hope alive 2012!

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 [.

The name Mateo Kovacic has appeared in the rumour columns for a few months now but there is an indication from the Croatian's club that Spurs are keen to tie up a deal for his services.

Kovacic is just 17 and currently playing as an attacking midfielder for Dinamo Zagreb. Having broken into the first team in 2010 at the age of sixteen, he has gone on to establish himself as a regular starter and one of the hottest young properties in Europe.

Yesterday I discussed some of the basic roster rules in MLS and how it ties in with the salary cap. Hopefully the swelling in your brain has reduced sufficiently to allow you to move forward with your lessons as I attempt to help you further understand (to the best of our ability), the league's various roster mechanisms.

I hung out with Chris Canetti for a brief chat yesterday outside beautiful BBVA Compass Stadium, and it's amazing to see how the Dynamo's new stadium is coming along. Then I drove down to Houston Amateur Sports Park, where Dominic Kinnear will have almost 30 players for the start of camp on Monday. Considering the [.

Time to put on your thinking caps, or tinfoil hat if you prefer, and dive into an examination of the Dynamo's current roster and salary cap situation. A few notes before we get started:

1. This is based on the last MLSPA Salary information release from 9/1/11
2. There is some speculation on my part concerning salary levels for new players.

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.

Looks like the magician Dynamo has been up to his old tricks again... here he is featuring in a video at Michael Owen's stables, performing card tricks for Wayne Rooney, Michael Owen and Tom Cleverley.

Hide Sites

"VIDEO: Dynamo visits Rooney, Owen and Cleverley‏" was originally published at The Republik of Mancunia.

Dynamo get to skip preliminary round of ConcaChampions League

Other than the SuperDraft, there was some other news today. CONCACAF changed the format for the Champions League competition, eliminating the preliminary round. The four-year-old competition will remain a 24-club tournament, but instead of an initial knockout phase of 16 teams, all qualifiers will proceed to a main stage of eight, three-team groups, from which only the winners will advance to the quarterfinals.

Somehow, it works out so I am off during the MLS SuperDraft 2012, and thus I've taken on the responsibility of live-blogging the first (and maybe) second round. It's being aired on ESPN2, TSN2 and RDS2 at 11AM CST. That means there are about 3 hours remaining until the Montreal L'Impact -- barring any trades or moves, are on the clock for the 1st overall selection in the 2012 MLS SuperDraft.

No holds barred: Retiring Houston defender Eddie Robinson is one of a kind

Former Dynamo broadcaster Jonathan Yardley offers an excellent retrospective on the career of Eddie Robinson. Definitely worth your time.

Recite the last name of some of association football's legendary players and their achievements immediately spring to mind. Just mentioning Pelé, Maradona, Eusebio, Puskas, or other luminaries should arouse images--most likely fuzzy and pixelated ones from YouTube--of what made them great and become instantly vivid, incredibly tangible.

MLS SuperDraft 2012: club-by-club

Everyone's favorite managing editor (ok, maybe not) is in The Guardian offering his perspective of the Dynamo's draft needs.

Could the Dynamo pull off two SuperDraft coups in a row?

Would you be willing to give up allocation money (which the Dynamo most likely would not use anyways) for a chance to end up with yet another Draft Day coup? After last year's draft, I think the Dynamo might very well consider moving up to the 4th pick as there are some hot commodities there.

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.

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.

Similar to any pledge nearing his way toward an initiation, there were some, ah, "tasks," to complete before being allowed to smudge up the margins of this blog. Rather than having been taped to a goalpost wearing my girlfriend's undergarments or made to drop a brick tied to a part of my anatomy from an upper floor ledge, though, the project was a bit more nefarious.

I'll be the first to admit that I don't watch much college soccer, sorry. There's simply too much out there for me to consume to give a great deal of attention to a version of the sport where the clock runs the wrong direction and there are infinite substitutions. That said, I do try to watch the playoffs and Final Four every year to at least have some idea of the potential names that could be coming to MLS.