“We need to pick ourselves back up, get ready, and win a damn game.” — Brad Davis after the Dynamo’s loss to FC Dallas earlier this month
Houston, Texas — Mother’s day is upon us and your Houston Dynamo have traveled to Toronto to take on Toronto FC at a rejuvenated BMO field.
The Dynamo have struggled of late in MLS. Their last win came on April 12th against a Montreal Impact side coming off of short rest after the Canadian side competed in the CONCACAF Champions League Semi-Finals in Costa Rica against Alajuelense.
Owen Coyle has said from the very beginning that the “New Dynamo Era” would be one that required a lot of work. The Scottish manager was part of a host of changes this offseason which saw 11 new players, a new general manager in Matt Jordan, and a new television deal with ROOT Sports South West.
The attitude before the season started in Houston was one of longevity. “We’ve brought a number of players in, but you can’t come in and sprinkle fairy dust and [think]that it’ll all fall into place” said Coyle on the Dynamo’s media day this pre-season before adding “what you have to do is commit to the work ethic and to implement an idea. This idea is in its infancy, the longer we’re together the better we will get.“
Before the speeches from Coyle and Cannetti at the Dynamo media day, Houston’s front office treated members of the press and select season ticket holders to a preview of their new marketing slogan “Forever Orange, Forever One.”
Forever Orange has been part of the club’s identity since day one of its Major League Soccer tenure. The video even showed the likes of Brian Ching and Dwayne De Rosario banging in goals, now-captain Brad Davis lifting the MLS Cup. It was a message to show fans that even though this was a new era for the Houston Dynamo, they were sticking true to their identity.
“It’s all about understanding the identity of the club” said Coyle of the Dynamo’s past seasons in MLS, “the Dynamo have always punched above their weight and we can do that again.”
Punching above their weight, stout defense, playing with a chip on their shoulder — all qualities the Dynamo possessed in years gone by. The end of the Dom Kinnear era in Houston was a damp squib and something needed to change, they’d lost the identity they once had it’d be Coyle’s job to bring it back.
However after 10 games of this Major League Soccer season the Dynamo sit on 10 points, this time last year under Kinnear they were 4 points better off.
At the beginning of the season fans and Houston media alike lamented the Dynamo’s seemingly anemic offense, though they did beat Columbus Crew SC on opening day — thanks in part to Tyler Deric’s heroics — and held the Los Angeles Galaxy to a tie in LA. Fans and media had grown weary of the 4-5-1-like system Owen Coyle had introduced, but the 4-5-1 coupled with Raul Rodriguez’s addition seemed to have restored some of the plucky, stout defense Dynamo fans were used to.
But after the team’s tie with DC United at RFK stadium Coyle switched to the 4-4-2 formation fans had been calling for since the beginning of the season. The Dynamo conceded 8 goals in 2 games. Largely in-part to defensive errors that would’ve happened had the Dynamo been playing a 6-4-0, but something seemed to be missing.
Dynamo players and manager Owen Coyle talk about “balance,” and how they need to find it in either the 442, or the 451. It’s the most popular word at recent Dynamo press conferences and in the locker room, but is it a diplomatic answer?
At times this season the likes of Luis Garrido, Will Bruin, and Boniek Garcia look as though they’re not exactly sure of what their role is in the team. Some people see this as a credit to Owen Coyle’s “meritocracy” attitude, but rumblings from within suggest that mostly the team is disillusioned, looking for an identity that hasn’t taken quite yet.
Captain Brad Davis in-particular has looked somewhat dejected and exhausted in press conferences he has attended. The usually diplomatic captain even said after the loss to FC Dallas that the team needs to play “pissed off,” and that the Dynamo needed to come out against San Jose and “win a damn game.”
Houston lost to San Jose 1-0, they never really looked like scoring, even when Giles Barnes stepped up to take a penalty in the second half. After the game Raul Rodriguez echoed Dynamo frustrations barking — in English — that there should be “no way” that Houston could take just one point from a possible nine at home, calling it un-acceptable.
It strikes me that when the Dynamo set out on their new Dynamo era path at the beginning of the season there was a plan, there was a planned identity, but of late one must question whether the identity Owen Coyle is trying to stamp on the team is the right one for the personnel he has at his disposal, or whether this identity exists at all.
“The first target is to make sure we reach the playoffs so that we can have a chance of winning a MLS Cup” said Coyle at the beginning of the 2015 Major League Soccer season, but on their current tilt playoffs look a long way off for the Houston Dynamo
The Dynamo go to into a newly renovated BMO field tonight not just looking for the balance that has seemed to escape them thus far but looking for themselves, their identity, too.
Tonight’s game will be broadcast live on ESPN2 and ESPN Deportes. The game can be heard on Yahoo Sports Radio 1560 AM, and in Spanish on La Ranchera 850 AM and 101.7 FM.
Injury Report:
Houston Dynamo: Nathan Sturgis – R shoulder dislocation (Out), Brad Davis – L hamstring strain (Doubtful).
Toronto FC: Steven Caldwell – Achilles injury (Out); Clěment Simonin – R knee surgery (Out), Joe Bendik – plantar fascia strain (Questionable).
Likely Line-ups:
Houston Dynamo: GK Deric; DF Sarkodie, Rodriguez, Taylor, Beasley; MF Lopez, Clark, Garrido, Garcia; FW Barnes, Bruin.
Toronto FC: GK Konopka; DF Creavalle, Hagglund, Perquis, Morrow; MF Cheyrou, Bradley, Jackson, Giovinco; FW Altidore, Moore.
Follow Scott Nicholls on Twitter: @scottnicholls
