Oh man, I twisted the holy hell out of my ankle last night. Came down from a jump halfway on someone else's foot in the last minute of the game. Suddenly, my four flights of stairs up aren't so charming...#1 - Landon Donovan is your MLS MVP. He also won Goal of the Year. Somehow, he was beaten out for Save of the Year by Pat Onstad. Click to continue reading...

Los Angeles Galaxy forward Landon Donovan's goal against New England on August 8th was named Major League Soccer's Goal of the Year on Wednesday. This is the first time Donovan has won the award, decided by fans through online voting. Houston goalkeeper Pat Onstad became the first Sane of the Year honoree for his stops against Dallas in Week 30. Click to continue reading...

Houston had another strong season behind Brian Ching. (Getty Images)

Dominic Kinnear teams always compete, always and the 2009 edition of the Houston Dynamo looked very similar to the ones we've seen win league titles over the last few years. Even though the Dynamo lost their big star in the midfield in a trade to Toronto before the season started everyone knew this team would still compete.

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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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Western Conference Final
LA 2-0 Houston

After two halves, two overtime periods, and two 18+ minute power outages the Western Conference final, which was appropriately played on Friday the 13th, came to an end with the number one seed in the west advancing to the final.

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Western Conference Final
LA 2-0 Houston

After two halves, two overtime periods, and two 18+ minute power outages the Western Conference final, which was appropriately played on Friday the 13th, came to an end with the number one seed in the west advancing to the final.

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And those words are: Western Conference Champions!

In another step in the worst-to-first journey that MLS Coach of the Year Bruce Arena has taken the team on, the Los Angeles Galaxy turned away a stiff challenge from the Houston Dynamo in 30 minutes of extra time with a 2-0 scoreline.

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It's that time again! The time to give the Utterly Unofficial MLS Playoff awards that the teams, players and owners really deserve. Today? The Western Conference Finals, LA Galaxy vs. Houston Dynamo. Final score LA 2-0 Houston aet. First, the "WE'RE NOW COUNTING ON YOU TO KEEP THE MLS CUP FINAL FROM [. Click to continue reading...

The Major League Soccer Playoffs had its Conference Finals this weekend as the LA Galaxy hosted the Houston Dynamo in the Western Conference and Real Salt Lake traveled to Chicago Fire in the Eastern Conference. The first match was the Dynamo and Galaxy who played on Friday, November 13, 2009. Who won and what happened in the match?

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Galaxy 0 Dynamo 0

This is a helluva game - or at least it has been since the lights came back on, with the Galaxy having the better of the attacking chances and restricting Houston to some long-range efforts.

First, in the 25th minute Stuart Holden cleared a Landon Donovan header off the line.

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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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Salt Lake vs. Chicago: Saturday's MLS playoff teams have one thing in common -- their goalkeepers are the shortest starting netminders in the league. Chicago's Jon Busch is listed at 5-10; Salt Lake's Nick Rimando at 5-9.
"People that tell me I wasn't going to achieve anything because I was too short, I just remember that, and I like to shove it in their face whenever I can," Rimando says. Click to continue reading...

The Houston Dynamo announced their 2009 team awards Monday night at Dynamo Charities' Dynamo Awards 09, presented by Audi, held at the House of Blues.

Newcomer of the Year: Cam Weaver
Goal of the Year: Brad Davis, September 19 vs. Real Salt Lake
Dynamo Academy Player of the Year: Sebastien Ibeagha
Dynamo Academy Players' Player of the Year: Reagan Haisler
Game of the Year: May 30, Dynamo 3, Toronto FC 0
Defender of the Year: Geoff Cameron
Fan of the Year: Jason "Sarge" Milner
Save of the Year: Pat Onstad, April 19 vs.

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Pat Onstad deserves a medal. Keeping two own goals out. The second one was a sequence of goal line saves in the 42nd minute as Freddie Ljungberg's free kick was helped along by Ricardo Clark with Onstad backpedaling to parry it out before it crossed the goal line and then falling down to bat the ball away from Fredy Montero's opportunistic foot.

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The Houston Dynamo advanced to the Western Conference finals on Sunday, but Seattle didn't make it easy. With the two teams level after game one, game two went into overtime. Brian Ching scored the winner and the only goal of the series five minutes into overtime. Pat Onstad picked up the shutout with three saves. Click to continue reading...

The big Zach attack. (AP Photo)

Readers of this blog didn't agree, but Chivas USA's Zach Thornton was named MLS Goalkeeper of the Year today, 11 years after first taking the honor with the Chicago Fire.

That time span between awards was undoubtedly one of the reasons the 34-year-old took the honor, beating out the Galaxy's Donovan Ricketts and Seattle Sounders veteran Kasey Keller (both in their first MLS seasons).

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Chivas USA goalkeeper Zach Thornton was named 2009 MLS Goalkeeper of the Year on Wednesday, marking the second time he's won the award.

Thornton enjoyed a career renaissance with Chivas USA this season, posting career highs in shutouts and goals against average while helping guide Chivas USA to the playoffs.

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Chivas USA goalkeeper Zach Thornton was named 2009 MLS Goalkeeper of the Year on Wednesday, marking the second time he's won the award.

Thornton enjoyed a career renaissance with Chivas USA this season, posting career highs in shutouts and goals against average while helping guide Chivas USA to the playoffs.

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The regular season is over and the playoffs are the order of the day in Major League Soccer. Surprise qualifiers Real Salt Lake made themselves known in the first leg of their tie with Supporters Shield winners Columbus Crew, while all four conference semi-finals were even matches with little to separate the sides. Click to continue reading...

Goalkeeper of the year -- Nov. 4
Nominees: Kasey Keller (Seattle), Donovan Ricketts (L.A.), Zach Thornton (Chivas USA)
Who will win: Thornton. Veteran might have put up his best year in the league.
Who should win: Thornton. This team overachieved and its MVP is the reason why.
Fair Play Finalists -- Nov. Click to continue reading...

Here's the full list as released today by MLS:

Goalkeeper of the Year
Kasey Keller - Seattle Sounders FC
Donovan Ricketts - Los Angeles Galaxy
Zach Thornton - Chivas USA

Fair Play Finalists - Individual
Kasey Keller - Seattle Sounders FC
Pat Onstad - Houston Dynamo
Steve Ralston - New England Revolution

Comeback Player of the Year
Brian McBride - Chicago Fire
Ben Olsen - D.

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Seattle's Kasey Keller is a finalist for numerous Major League Soccer awards, including goalkeeper of the year. (photo by Jonathan Ingraham/ColoradoSoccerNow.com)

Major League Soccer released the finalists for the league's 2009 awards today. The winners will be announced starting Wednesday and ending Nov.

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Landon Donovan, Shalrie Joseph and Jeff Cunningham are the finalists for MLS MVP honors and just three of the MLS players identified as finalists for season-ending awards by Major League Soccer.

Donovan is one of several members of the Los Angeles Galaxy to be selected as finalists for honors.

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Photo by ISIphotos.com

Landon Donovan, Shalrie Joseph and Jeff Cunningham are the finalists for MLS MVP honors and just three of the MLS players identified as finalists for season-ending awards by Major League Soccer.

Donovan is one of several members of the Los Angeles Galaxy to be selected as finalists for honors.

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STARTERS
What does Dan Loney thing of the LA v Chivas playoff series: "Ideally, this would be a Loser Leaves Town match. If the Galaxy wins, Chivas moves. If CUSA wins, Beckham never returns. I could handle that." Read the whole thing here. Pure genius.
MLS PLAYOFF NEWS
I cocked this one up pretty bad - I woke up this morning and realized that I had forgot to link to the only MLS Playoff Preview you need to read - from Paul Demko at Bunky County. Click to continue reading...

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Fredy Montero hopes for better success in front of goal in Houston

The Seattle Sounders and Houston Dynamo played a highly contentious match on Thursday evening to a 0-0 draw. A capacity crowd of 35,807 at Quest field in Seattle saw a match that contained 6 yellow cards (3 for each side) and countless missed opportunities on both sides.

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photo courtesy Joshua Trujillo/seattlepi.com

What was Pat Onstad thinking? How could he lose his cool so suddenly in the most important game in the Dynamo's season? A dangerous cross came through the penalty area, just out of his reach, and continued over the byline. Sure, replays show Fredy Montero obstructing the goalkeeper, but not in any way dangerously.

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Pulsating atmosphere. A sea of green with a few flecks of orange. Deflected passes. Lots of opportunities. Awful finishing. Pat Onstad's momentary lapse of reason. Nate Jacqua bloodied and bandaged carrying on like a gladiator. Lots of fouls and yellow cards.

These were some of the more visceral images of the Seattle vs Houston match which ended in a fascinating draw but not before they proved that the shortest distance between two points is a not a straight line.

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The Major League Soccer playoffs began on Thursday, October 29, 2009 with the Seattle Sounders FC hosting the Houston Dynamo. It was a sold-out and very loud crowd of 36,000 at Qwest Field in Seattle for the match. Here's a full recap of the match along with video highlights.

Seattle Sounders FC draw with the Houston Dynamo 0-0 Video Highlights (will be added later)

1st Half

Houston had the first great chance of the match as Stuart Holden sent a corner into the box and Andrew Hainault headed the ball just wide of goal.

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Will Fredy Montero deliver?

Seattle Sounders vs Houston Dynamo, Thursday, 29th October (10 p.m. ET; ESPN2, Deportes)

Who is rooting for Seattle in the playoffs? C'mon Seattle! Today, Qwest Field sold out with 35,700 in attendance to watch the Sounders play the Houston Dynamo in the MLS playoffs.

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Previous Updates
#1 4/12 68 players remaining #2 5/25 34 players remaining #3 6/25 23 players remaining #4 7/19 11 players remaining #5
8/17
5 players remaining
OTFATT is short for "On the field, all the time." In these updates throughout the season, I've kept track of which MLS players have played every minute of every game (regular season only). Click to continue reading...

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   Photo by ISIphotos.com

With the Major League Soccer season drawing to a close, it is time to start thinking about MLS season awards.

Voting for the league's major player awards will end on Monday, just a day after the final match of the season, meaning we at SBI will take this week to give readers a chance to select their choices for the league's eight top player awards.

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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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The Houston Dynamo and Los Angeles Galaxy both had chances to take control of first place in the Western Conference, but neither could take advantage.

The Dynamo and Galaxy played to a scoreless draw on Sunday at Robertson Stadium in Houston.

Dynamo forward Brian Ching became the latest Houston player to earn a red card after being sent off in the 84th minute.

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The Houston Dynamo and Los Angeles Galaxy both had chances to take control of first place in the Western Conference, but neither could take advantage.

The Dynamo and Galaxy played to a scoreless draw on Sunday at Robertson Stadium in Houston.

Dynamo forward Brian Ching became the latest Houston player to earn a red card after being sent off in the 84th minute.

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