Welcome to Dynamo Theory's live game thread for tonight's Lamar Hunt US Open Cup Match between the Dynamo and the San Antonio Scorpions.

Please feel free to post at will here if you are following the match, which is being live streamed on HoustonDynamo.com.

You can also follow it via the Scorpions' Twitter feed here or the Dynamo Twitter feed here.

Dynamo Starting XI & Bench:

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Exactly 34 years ago today, Houston history was subtly altered, or at least its sporting history. It was on this day in 1978 when, way out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, Stephanie Whalen gave birth to one Brian Ching. It is said that on the day of his birth, Pele (this one, not this one) halted the flow of Kilauea Volcano to welcome the new child. She-Who-Shapes-The-Sacred-Land instead redirected the power of her Orange flame and infused it into the baby boy, who is just too cool (or hot) to have a middle name. At least, that is what is said. On Saturday, maybe a certain team from Los Angeles, a town periodically rocked by its presence on the periphery of the Ring of Fire when Pele decides she's just had all she can stand for now, will get a nice Hawaiian welcome when they come calling at The-Sacred-Land-That-Ching-Built.

In the meantime, I would encourage you all to send birthday wishes to Captain Kamehameha here and here.

So, here are a few things occupying thoughts today and over the last few:

Houston Dynamo related links.

1. A red, white and blue Dancing Bear? In his Soccer y Futbol blog, Jose de Jesus Ortiz says that Will Bruin deserves some attention from Jurgen Klinsmann. If he keeps scoring at this rate, hard to disagree.
2. More JdJO. In a post about the unexpected demise of the Gag-me-axy, Ortiz lets slip this little nugget: "Considering they have only played two games at home, you can reasonably expect the Dynamo to be in prime playoff position, especially once they make their usual midseason upgrades. I expect them to sign a stud, foreign right midfielder as early as next month." Hmmm, I wonder who he has in mind.
3. Cup time. The San Antonio Scorpions beat the Laredo Heat 2-0 last night, which means the Orange travel to the River City to play the NASL Scorps Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. at Heroes Stadium. Tickets here. Good news, Josue Soto's loan deal means we get him for US Open Cup and Reserve League matches, so if he plays, he will play for us. More good news: Ryan Cochrane will play for them.
4. East End traffic. Last night was the first time there was an event at BBVA Compass Stadium (the 2-2 draw between El Salvador and New Zealand) on the same night as the Astros played at home. As of right now, there is no Dynamo game scheduled the same night as an Astros game, but the CONCACAF Champions League fixtures have yet to be set. As far as I know, there were few problems with the 13k+ at The Cage and 18K+ at Minute Maid, but this link has some good advice, mainly don't leave your patience at home.
5. JV nets a draw. The Dynamo Reserves gave up a late goal, but earned a 2-2 draw at Colorado yesterday. Orange goals came from Je-Vaughn Watson (an equalizer) and Colin Rolfe, a go-ahead strike. I am thinking this might just be the line-up we'll see in San Antone Tuesday.
6. Only No. 3? In a video series, Major League Soccer Soccer looks at the Top 5 center backs in the league, listing Geoff Cameron No. 3 with special attention to his ball skills.
7. Saturday's weather report for match time. Get some sunscreen and sunglasses and you will be suffering far less than our visitors from Southern California.
8. Apparently Greg Lalas reads Dynamo Theory. Just remember, you read this breakdown first right here on Monday.
9. UPDATE FOR NO. 9. In addition to Cameron, Andre Hainault and Je-Vaughn Watson have been called up, though Jermaine Taylor is still waiting to hear. Cameron will be the only one missing Saturday's match, though we may be out all four for the Vancouver game.

Everything else.

1. This can't ever get old. Saturday night's foe, the Los Angeles something-or-other, had a 2-0 lead at home against the San Jose Earthquakes, with the second coming while down a man in the 73rd. And then came a 13-minute stretch about which we can expect poems and songs from the Bay Area for some time to come. The only mystery to me is how the right-footed Brad Davis managed not to get sent off so he doesn't have to play here Saturday. Also, look at A.J. De La Garza's complete lack of anything resembling positioning on Alan Gordon's winner. Awesome.
   
2. Landon looks at his future: Grant Wahl did his typically fantastic work here in a rare Q&A from the (former?) US captain. This sounds for all the world like a guy who wishes he had not signed such a long-term deal with MLS.
3. Hibernian Invasion. The US Men's National Team (and probably Geoff Cameron, assuming he makes it past Friday's squad trim) plays host to Scotland and the Tartan Army in Jacksonville Saturday night a few hours after the conclusion of the Dynamo/Gal game. Plenty of tasty at this link here.
   

And finally, here is the Tweet of the Day, from former Frisco keeper, but all around good guy Dario Sala, who we welcome full time into our wider circle now. Well done Dario.

Officially an American! Took the oath this morning with 97 people from 57 countries. You cannot imagine the happiness. Thank you USA. #

— Dario Sala (@DarioSalaTx) May 24, 2012

So, here's a quick Monday morning look-back to Luiz Camargo's equalizer at Gillette Stadium this past weekend. Take a good look at that goal and how it works.

The ball begins with another New England repulsion of a Houston Dynamo attack, which at that point were kind of coming in waves. Stephen McCarthy collects the ball and passes it to Chris Tierney, who then proceeds to head it weakly to the center of the pitch, resulting in a giveaway in New England's own half. Now, we all remember from playing at RFK Stadium two weeks ago what can happen when a team gives away the ball in its own half. Bad things happened to us then, but good things happened to Dynamo this time.

Now much has been written about what happened next, with a lot of focus on Brian Ching's sublime floater over the defense to Camargo, but that assist was really just the penultimate move in a pretty sequence both on and off the ball. After the aforementioned awful, but fortuitous, clearance, Colin Clark runs onto the ball, and in the air niftily dinks it at a 90 degree angle away from the motion of his own flying form to a waiting Camargo. The Brazilian then starts a give and go with the Captain, who hesitates on the ball for just a split second.

That hesitation accomplishes three things. One, it gives Will Bruin, who had already scored and was drawing the New England defense's undivided attention, the chance to make what would be a dummy run right down Route 1 from the right in front of Ching. Secondly, when he does this, the New England right back, Darrius Barnes, scoots inward to help out on Bruin's run. And thirdly, Matt Reis, seeing the play in front of him, also sees Bruin coming into the area and is over on that side of the goal. Also, who else is filling the right side of the box with a huge amount of open space? None other than the man who started all of this, Colin Clark. In tandem, Bruin and the late-arriving Clark act as a magnet, pulling the New England defense out of shape, and more importantly, Reis over to our right, his left.

Ching, with the ball at his feet and with a split second to decide what to do, sees the space opening up where just a second before Barnes had been, uses the time to switch the ball from his left foot to his right, and makes his move.

Look at the arc of the ball as it floats up and over Barnes' head to the left foot of a waiting Camargo. Barnes misses it just barely. If Ching had not hesitated, then Bruin would not have started his dummy run, and Clark would not have had time to to make Reis think "left." If Bruin had not drawn Barnes out of position, Camargo would not have had the space to receive the ball, and if Clark had not put the finishing touches on the whole thing with his presence, then Reis would have been already in position to save Camargo's shot.

So, in short, the goal was Camargo's and the assist was Ching's, but the score was the result of the team filling their slots and performing their roles. It was a magnificent display of team football.

"Obrigado Brian, Will e Colin."

UPDATE: And now he can say obrigado to you, and you, and you, and you. Camargo's strike has been nominated for MLS Goal of the Week. Click here to vote. And if you have any questions, and want to be all fair and such, check out this video here, and THEN go vote for Luiz. Remember, vote early, vote often.

Houston Dynamo defender Geoff Cameron today got the news he had been waiting for, learning that he had been called into US National Team manager Juergen Klinsmann's first qualifying camp for World Cup 2014.

Of course, Cameron is not a sure thing to stay in camp for very long, they I really do wish him all the success in the world. Today's call-ups brings the roster to 27, which means there will be a cut of four players later this week. Klinsmann is set to unveil the final 23-man roster Friday afternoon, the day before the friendly with Scotland on Saturday in Jacksonville, which will air at 7 p.m. Central (Why does anyone list any other time zone anyway? You'd think they'd learn by now.) on NBC Sports Network and Galavision.

The plan is for the 23-man group to remain together for friendlies against Brazil on May 30 at FedEx Field in Maryland, and Canada (and Andre Hainault) on June 3 in Toronto, as well as qualifiers with Antigua on June 8 in Tampa and at Guatemala four days later.

Today's call-ups were:

DEFENDERS: Cameron (Houston Dynamo), Clarence Goodson (Brondby), Oguchi Onyewu (Sporting Lisbon), Michael Parkhurst (Nordsjaelland).

MIDFIELDERS: Graham Zusi (Sporting Kansas City).

FORWARDS: Juan Agudelo (Chivas USA), Jozy Altidore (AZ Alkmaar), Terrence Boyd (Borussia Dortmund), Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy), Herculez Gomez (Santos Laguna), Chris Wondolowski (San Jose Earthquakes).

As for the omissions, first, I have looked and looked and still I see no sign of Brad Davis on these call-ups. Personally, I am not surprised, but still disappointed for ol' Big Ears, who we all know just bleeds red, white and blue. The guy is tough as nails, the best set piece deliverer in MLS and a leader of men. Too bad he never played for a German club.

Here are some other notable omissions: FC Dallas midfielder Brek Shea (whose brain-power, I think, gets less and less with the weirdness of each successive haircut), DaMarcus Beasley (Puebla), Tim Ream (Bolton. I wonder, if Bolton had stayed up, if Ream had gotten this call), Eric Lichaj (Aston Villa) and Sacha Kljestan (Anderlecht). Now, I, or one, have never been a big Kljestan fan, but he has put together a rather solid season, so his omission seems kind of puzzling to me. And really, I think we can all safely say that this is the end of DMB era at the USMNT. As for the Brekster, well, kick a ball towards a ref and bad things happen. Does he really need to get a lesson in this?

US Soccer released a quote sheet of Klinsi's, and here's what he had to say about Shea:

"We have watched Brek during the last few months, and given his performances and some of the other issues we felt he should be on the standby list. He’s still a young player with a lot of talent, and also a lot to learn."

Here's the whole roster, of which 16 are based in Europe, seven in MLS and four in Mexico:

GOALKEEPERS: Brad Guzan (Aston Villa), Tim Howard (Everton), Nick Rimando (Real Salt Lake).

DEFENDERS: Carlos Bocanegra (Rangers), Geoff Cameron (Houston Dynamo), Edgar Castillo (Tijuana), Steve Cherundolo (Hanover), Clarence Goodson (Brondby), Alfredo Morales (Hertha Berlin), Oguchi Onyewu (Sporting Lisbon), Michael Parkhurst (Nordsjaelland).

MIDFIELDERS: Kyle Beckerman (Real Salt Lake), Michael Bradley (Chievo), Joe Corona (Tijuana), Maurice Edu (Rangers), Fabian Johnson (Hoffenheim), Jermaine Jones (Schalke), Jose Torres (Pachuca), Danny Williams (Hoffenheim), Graham Zusi (Sporting Kansas City).

FORWARDS: Juan Agudelo (Chivas USA), Jozy Altidore (AZ Alkmaar), Terrence Boyd (Borussia Dortmund), Clint Dempsey (Fulham), Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy), Herculez Gomez (Santos Laguna), Chris Wondolowski (San Jose Earthquakes).

As for what this means for the Houston Dynamo, well, as happy as I am for those guys, this is just going to decimate our back line. Haniault and Cameron have been called in, and I really do not think Geoff will get cut Friday. And any day now, expect Je-Vaughn Watson and Jermaine Taylor to get called up to the Reggae Boyz as well, especially since Taylor has been Jamaica's captain. The less said about Watson's absence (or presence) the better, however, I am thinking we're about to see this back line: Kofi Sarkodie (assuming his foot gets better, and fast!), Bobby Boswell, Nathan Sturgis, Corey Ashe, with Warren Creavalle and Oscar Recio as subs.

In the midfield, meanwhile, not to sound like a broken record or anything, but this is nothing but opportunity for Alex Dixon. The two games our call-ups will miss are this Saturday against the Gag-me-axy and June 10 at Vancouver. The game in between is a friendly here vs. Valencia, so I do not count it. I fully expect Dixon to start one of those games, if not both, or at least play in both. We'll see.

What do you think about this roster?

OK, here is the view of the incredible hack that Futty Danso put in on Calen Carr Tuesday night. Danso was rightly suspended today for a game and fined for the foul, but like in the previous post, the question has to be asked: Why doesn't the MLS Disciplinary Committee mete out justice to referee Chris Penso and his unnamed AR as well?

This foul gets worse the more times you look at it, and there really is no reason (A) why Penso and his AR missed the call, (B) Penso fell for Danso's obvious fakery of an injury after the play and THEN CALLED FOR TRAINERS FROM THE SIDELINE and (C), and this is not on the video, Penso ordered Perkins to throw the ball out, and then Dynamo to throw the ball back in to him because of the "injured" player?

Missing the call is one thing, but when you add all of the rest to it, you get Class A Crapitude from Penso. Just another day at the park for MLS. Honestly, MLS officiating is in general so bad, that I am all in favor of retroactive discipline. However, some of that discipline needs to go to the officials. The players will do whatever they can get away with, as they should. After all, they're professional competitors, and I would expect no less from them. Birds gotta fly, fish gotta swim, and players gotta get any edge they can, up to and including criminality. That's why punishing them retroactively is needed to catch those with larceny in their hearts. However, at some point the cops who miss the whole crime, while standing/running just feet away from its committal, need to be disciplined too.

And don't give me that whole "I didn't see it" bullshit. The play happened ON THE BALL. If they didn't see it, then what the hell were they watching, the Dynamo Girls?

Really, I thought I was over this whole thing, and then I saw the video again. Good thing Danso punches like he's a student at the Little Sisters of the Poor Girls Day School, or Carr could have been seriously injured. Of course, not that Penso would have noticed.

Exactly 24 hours from now (if I've done this whole advanced publish at a particular time and date thing correctly), our Houston Dynamo will kick off against (The) D(amned)C United in the first-ever match at BBVA Compass Stadium in front of 22,000 very loud supporters.

(First parenthetical: Last night at the Dynamo Academy's 3-0 loss to the US U-17s in the "soft opener," the stadium could not have been more than a quarter to a third full. And yet, there were times I could not hear Playtherapy sitting right next to me. Something in the stadium design must reflect the sound right back to the field, though I leave it to you sound engineer types to confirm that. I can only imagine what 22K are going to sound like in that place. It's going to be rocking.)

The game is the first of what might just turn out to be five consecutive sell-outs (at least) to start the new place off to a rollicking good start. The Tuesday night game against the Portland Timbers, it was announced today, is only 500 tickets away from being sold out, while the Memorial Day weekend match with the Gag-me-axy is only 200 away. The Valencia game May 31 and the June 16 vs. F(U)risco are also almost guaranteed to sell-out. Any doubt you may have had that this stadium really does mark a turning point should be erased. This point has been made by many people, including our very own DT Overlord Zach Woosley in Tom Dart's piece for SI (link here).

(Second parenthetical: Michael_D will be attending his first game there on Tuesday night and earlier this week reported that the only good seats still available were on StubHub. Wow.)

I have been asked how this stadium opening is different from other stadium openings in Houston history. It's a very good question, and one that has perhaps a more emotional answer than even I expected.

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OK, maybe this is bordering on overkill here, but when the Houston Dynamo production office continues to put together amazing image after amazing video after amazing image, all we can do is just stand back and drop our mouths, agape at the beauty of our new home.

Looking at the outside video board on this, as well as the Go for Goal 5K that was held this past Sunday, this video was all put together over the last week. They must have mounted a camera on a little toy flying drone here for most of these shots because I sure as heck can't figure out how else this could have gotten done.

So, knowing all that, and after the all-too predictable hot weather-whining we have gotten from some corners today, I only wish the video wasn't quite as crisp, that it showed waves of heat radiating off the field. So I now turn this over to anyone more technically-oriented than me (meaning, just about anyone on this or any other planet). Take this video, and make it scarier. In the meantime, I'll be watching it again for about the 37th time today.

And counting.

The Houston Dynamo opened their/our brand new church/cathedral/HOME yesterday in a Meet the Team Day event for season ticket holders.

I have to say, as prepared as I was for this event, in some ways I was not prepared at all. Walking along in the concourse, I ran into Texian Army board member Chris Smink. We shook hands and both said something to the effect of "How great is this?" And then quite spontaneously, I blurted out:

"Chris, I've been waiting for this day since 1978."

And what I meant was that the day I first attended a Houston Hurricane game in the Astrodome, I have been waiting for this sport, this beautiful, free-flowing, insanely creative, nonstop team sport, to find a home in this city, in my city. I am a fifth-generation Houstonian. I have two sons, two sixth-generation Houstonians, who live and breathe this game. In 2006, when the Dynamo first arrived, I gave them a less than 50 percent chance of staying in Houston once it became clear that there would be no soccer-specific stadium to be built for them here. "They came for a stadium they could not get in San Jose," I cynically stated to one of my many friends in football. "And I don't know what political landscape they think they're coming to, and Oliver Luck should be tipping that to them pretty quick, but if they think they're going to get a stadium built here, they're dreaming."

Well, it turns out I was both right and wrong. The Houston Dynamo did dream. I mean, yeah, we all dreamed, but the Houston Dynamo decided not to listen to the cynical, jaded pronouncements of people like me. They found a way. Man, did they ever find a way. They turned that dream into a reality, and when you hit the jump here, you'll see what realizing a dream can mean.

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Here is a quick look at something that went down Thursday night. Members of the Texian Army, Brickwall Firm, La Bateria and others met at Orange Bar to discuss the formation of an independent supporters union, named the Walker End (the name of the street on the south end of the stadium where the supporters will be).

Meeting with the supporters were Chris Canetti, Brian Ching and Brad Davis, who took questions from the crowd. And leading the meeting is Texian Army board member Chris Smink, who clearly articulates the Walker End vision. Those familiar with Section 8 in Chicago, the Timbers Army in Portland and others would find a lot of this very familiar.

There will be more written about this in the days to come from me and probably others. If you are a Dynamo supporter (and if you watch this video, you will know the difference between "supporter" and "fan." Neither is better than the other, but neither are they quite the same thing.), then spend the 49:51 it takes to sit down and watch this video in full.

In short, the vision of Walker End is something unique, completely unique, in the history of sports in Houston. No other team has ever had anything anywhere close to this. As a matter of fact, the only times I can ever remember a single Houston team's fans being this unified, as what Walker End is envisioning, is during the Luv Ya Blue era in the 1970s and the Astros' first NLCS, in 1980. What Smink is talking about here is creating a situation like that all the time, harnessing the energy of BBVA Compass Stadium to create something quite new. Among the intiatives are:

• Unified Tifo making/cost;
• Unified trips to road games (specifically Frisco);
• Funding charities relating to soccer in Houston; and
• Potentially sponsoring a Dynamo Academy player. (As Smink says, can you imagine the sense of pride among all of the supporters if that player actually makes it? Think about that for a second.)

I encourage all of you to check out the charter here, visit the Walker End on Twitter here, on Facebook here, e-mail the group at contactus@walkerendhouston.com, read Jonathan Kaplan's take on it on the Dynamo web site here, or head down to the Walker End once the stadium opens for business on May 12.

And in regards to the charity situation, check out this post from Smink on the Walker End Facebook page he posted this afternoon:

We just had an incredibly well-aligned charity opportunity present itself. Its going to require pulling a rabbit out of a hat but we just learned of a program of 59 at-risk & economically disadvantaged youths and rewards them for good behavior & completing their schoolwork with playing in a soccer tournament.

The problem is they have no jerseys and the soccer tournament, is in 6 days. Walker End is on it.

Now that is what we're talking about here.

Of course, this whole business is far from a done deal. El Batallon was not present at the meeting (what Smink referred to as the "elephant in the room."), despite repeated attempts to get them there. The comments from Captain Kamehameha and Vice Captain Brad's Brigade, as well as Canetti (sorry, no screwy nickname for the Prez), all indicate that the clear preference from the players themselves, as well as the front office, is for the supporters to be unified, completely unified, and that that unity is infectious. If the supporters are not unified, it affects the team's efforts to be unified. Personally, as far as I am concerned, if the Captain and Vice Captain order you to unify, then you unify. We as supporters are here to support the team, not pretend that we are bigger than the team. This is not the Argentine situation (where the teams have ceded control of the stadium and surrounds to what are basically criminal gangs) or the Italian Ultra models. We are here for the team, not the other way around.

The opening of BBVA Compass Stadium is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that can mean so much more than just the opening of a sports stadium. It could mean a brand new way to approach sports as American fans. Can you even imagine this fire catching to other teams in other sports? Personally, I find that hard to believe that something like that could happen, but then again, in 1978, when I was attending Houston Hurricane games in the Astrodome, I thought there would be no way there would ever be a soccer-specific stadium built in Houston. And more recently than that, in 2006, I was echoing the same line. No way. Well on May 12, I fully expect crow to never again taste so good to eat.

No matter what has happened in the past, no matter what arguments there might have been or still be, it is now time to grow up as supporters of a grown-up permanent fixture of the Houston sports scene. It's time to make history. There is one reason, and one reason only to do this, and it is this:

Forza Naranja!!!

I guarantee you this might just be the best four minutes and five seconds of your entire day.

This video was shot Tuesday night at the Statoil party at BBVA Compass Stadium, the first "event" to be held there. It was posted by KeeperNotes, on their Facebook page. The KeeperNotes e-newsletter, by the way, was one of THE only ways the Houston soccer community connected in the pre-Orange days. It is run by The Keeper herself, Jen Cooper (along with Raymundo Escamilla), a former No. 1 for Rice University, assistant manger at Soccer-4-All and the former president of the Houston Women's Soccer Association. If you're not signed up fro that e-mail newsletter, you're just not as connected to the Houston soccer community as you should be. Sign up here.

In short, Jen Cooper is a soccer superfan, exactly the sort of dedicated, wonderful person that Simon Borg disrespected and dishonored in his ridiculous rant the other day. Jose de Jesus Ortiz wrote a great piece on the Soccer y Futbol blog that pretty much sums up my reaction. And the only thing I would add is that Borg, who is very lucky to be employed in pro sports right now, may be undergoing sensitivity training on his 7-day vacation, but he should be required to spend time explaining to people just like Cooper (if not Cooper herself) exactly what were the error of his ways. I'm not talking about an apology, which would not be worth the paper it's not written on, but rather a full-on explanation, followed by a question-and-answer session that lasts until the audience says it's over, of exactly what he did wrong and why, to an auditorium full of female superfans like Jen. And they are legion, as the Women's United FC group proves. And he should do this in every single MLS city. Then and only then should he be allowed to do any work for MLS.

And, not to put in too much of a plug, but Cooper leads the Firkin Soccer Show roundtable every Sunday on 1560 AM with Escamilla, Joe Ashmore, Rey Gallegos and Jason Day. It's definitely worth a listen.

I don't know about you, but it's been so long since I last actually attended a Houston Dynamo game that I am beginning to think I might never see them again. Today marks 10 days until the first game at BBVA Compass Stadium, and what a long trip it's been.

Despite yesterday's ribbon-cutting and last night's unbelievably cool laser light show party that Statoil hosted in the place (For more pics of both, check out the previous post. They're impressive.), I think we can all agree that until the Dynamo kick a ball in anger against DC United, the stadium will not be well and truly consecrated. And after this past weekend's rather uneven display at the crumbling hulk that is RFK Stadium, I think that "kicking a ball" and "anger" is a pairing we're likely to see on May 12.

This is far and away the longest interval between home matches since the team arrived in 2006 (Otherwise known as The Year of the Oranges). The last game was of course a 1-0 win over the Philadelphia Union, which are still coached, inexplicably, by Piotr Nowak. The game happened on Nov. 3, 2011, exactly six months ago tomorrow. I am trying to wrack my brain because it has been so long since that happened. I think we were the team in Orange, the house was packed and some Hawaiian guy stuck a dagger into some Philly hearts. Hmmm, what did that look like again?

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It was not even a week ago when the Houston Dynamo last played, but it sure seems longer, doesn't it?

In just the six days since the draw in Columbus (Honest to goodness, back on me olde site, I once had a Q&A with some numbskull Columbus blogger, and one question my compatriot Mr3D wanted to ask was "How do you live in the Midwest without wanting to commit seppuku every damn day?" I felt that was a valid question, personally.), there have been two completely amazing Champions League games that have put me off predicting sporting events for-freakin'-ever (or at least until the end of this post, whichever comes first), my 2012 Dynamo season tickets arrived that included an absolutely amazing mirrored surface on the May 12 ducat (Screw you, hologrammers) and the Dynamo third kit was officially released and (surprisingly) well-received (that is, if you look at the poll I put up here yesterday with only four negatives out of 53 votes, which is what happens when you decide not to use blazing cyan for a third kit).

And yes, that previous paragraph does indeed qualify as one sentence, but for the sake of you, I will now dispense with parentheticals. I'm just a cot-damned saint, ain't I?

Anyway, back to work, which is exactly what the Houston Dynamo are planning tomorrow night against Baltimore DC United at 6:30 p.m. God's-own Time. This is the team against which the Orange will play two of their next three, and three is something of a magic number here, as it has been that many years since the RFKers last won. The Dynamo are 7-3-2 overall against the once-proud club, including 4-0-1 since United's last win on April 4, 2009.

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Zach posted earlier today about the official unveiling of the Houston Dynamo third kit below, including a link to the story on HoustonDynamo.com. (Full story here.) But over on the team's Facebook page, they posted several more views of the new kit, which I have included after this nifty little video and the jump below.

My personal take on it is the same as when I first saw it a few weeks ago. If they win in this kit, I am all over it. Lose in it, and on the trash heap it goes. Like anything in professional sports, it's all about the W's. First check this video, and then take a gander and give your thoughts on the new threads.

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You have until tonight at 9:50 p.m. Central (God's own time zone) to vote for Tally Hall's heroics this past week for Save of the Week. (Click here to vote.) OK, now take a look at this video and you tell me if you see a save anywhere remotely as good as the one our man Tally pulled off this past weekend. Go ahead and look. I'll wait...

Nice one from Jimmy Nielsen. No question about that. Andy Gruenebaum? You suck Andy, though I hope you don't take that personally. And Nick Rimando's? Well, I have stated on here many times how I loves me some Nick Rimando, but the ball went right at him. Sorry dude. Josh Saunders? Are you kidding me? Omar Cummings took the weakest PK in the league so far this season and you want Saunders to get a vote in this contest? If he were not playing for the Gag-me-axy, would MLS even have included him on this list? Give me a break.

And that leaves us with the Wall. I think your choice is clear.

The Houston Dynamo fought back from an Eddie Gaven brace to record a 2-2 draw against Columbus last night at Crew Stadium.

And what a brace it was. Following a Will Bruin goal, Gaven went to work, scoring via a boneheaded series of plays from the Dynamo backline, specifically, and in order, by Bobby Boswell, Andre Hainault and Geoff Cameron, and then recording another wonderstrike from distance.

But the Dynamo, and in particular Messrs. Brian Ching, Boswell, Cameron, Hainault and Tally (Freakin') Hall would not be denied. There's no need for me to go over the whole blow-by-blow because by now, you will have read an account (here and here) or seen some highlights. Not seen the highlights? Well then:

Now that, my friends, is how you come back and then save a road draw. Let us all kneel and thank the goalkeeping gods for reaching down and bestowing Tally Hall upon us. Praise be their names.

It has been said in this space and many others that when it comes to championship seasons, the key is to go even on the road and take care of business at home. You do that, and you're right there. So, with 21 points on offer in the season-opening seven-game road trip, the key was to get 10 or 11 (Though it goes without saying that you fight for all three every time you hit the field, let's be realistic now.) Any less, and we worry. Any more, and it should honestly be counted as gravy. Well, the Dynamo now stand with eight points out of 15 so far and really should get 10 or 11 to meet the standard by the time they open BBVA Compass Stadium on May 12. That's what a successful road trip looks like.

The Dynamo face the uneven D(amned)C United this Saturday, April 28, and then finish the road stand in Harrison, N.J. to face New York Red Bulls. I look at those two game and think six points is within our grasp, but, again, trying to be realistic, I'll be happy with 2-4. If Dynamo come home with 14 points out of 21, anyone caught complaining has to attend a game in Frisco, and you really don't want to do that, now do you?

As for reaction to last night's game, check out this list:

This image and others were posted over on the Houston Dynamo Facebook page yesterday (nihgt images) nd this morning (sunrise images). Enjoy the views everyone. I'm just a bit too stunned to write much about how great these are. (Click on the images to emdynamoize them.)

One of the main rules of the Intertoobz is that thou shall not repost, (or cross-post or go postal or something like that. I've never been very good with rules.). However, this one is something I noticed today, and put over on the comments thread of the previous post about the third kit, as well as on the DT Facebook page. (What, you haven't "Liked" it yet?Then get thee hence.)

Anyway, I stumbled across this wonderful blog post at the Fun While It Lasted site about the history of soccer in Houston, particularly about the little-known (until now) Houston Dynamos (with an s). On March 7, I posted a long-ish piece about this very topic myself. And about the Dynamos, I wrote the following

Houston Dynamos: First appearance of this name in Houston. This team played outdoors in various incarnations in high school stadia from 1984-1991. (Wiki entry says 1983, but it's actually 1984.) This team is perhaps best known today as the one that brought defender Glenn Davis to Houston, where he has stayed ever since. Best player, though was Portuguese striker Jose Neto, who came up with Benfica.

OK, now look at this image of our Houston Dynamo's (with an apostrophe-s) third kit:

Holy Pinstripes Batman. Could it be that what's old is actually new again? What do you think?

Hey everyone, here's something a little different. Just in case you did not get a good look on Twitter at the Houston Dynamo reserves' 1-0 win over FC F(U)risco tonight, here's a Twitter progress of the entire match, mostly from Jose de Jesus Ortiz, but with some others mixed in.

Before we start, what I like the most about this sort of thing is the whole old-teletex/telegraph feel of following a match this way. So, to continue that theme, you should have a clickty-clackity-chatchachatchachatcha sound goin on in the background. And like that, instead of posting a game story, you'll just have to follow along and get to the end.

Enjoy! Now...To the game Batman (as well as Brad Davis news, after the jump)!!!

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Jose de Jesus Ortiz just posted this story in the Chron that the Houston Dynamo's Brad Davis injured his calf (no word on which one) and may miss Sunday's game against the Chicago Fire.

Here's the text of the Chron brief:

If Davis is truly out, that would mean that three of Dynamo's starting midfielders will be sitting, with Davis joining the suspended Colin Clark and Adam Moffat. And with Luiz Camargo still not having played a whole game yet this season, this leaves quite an unsettled situation. That would be "unsettled" as in "Hey, where did all the Orange guys in the center of the pitch go?"

Or to put it another way: Je-Vaughn Watson might just be our go-to midfielder this weekend. Chew on that one for a second.

OK, now do yourself a favor and spit it out. To say this creates an opportunity for Alex Dixon is something of a no-brainer. It also creates a massive chance for Brian Ownby, and possibly Kofi Sarkodie and/or Colin Rolfe. Did Josue Soto pick a bad time to go out on loan to San Antonio or what? If Ashe moves up into Davis' spot, which might just be a great idea, then Jermaine Taylor, whose "wheels" or more like "walkers," goes into right back matched up against Dominic Oduro's speed. Don't like that match-up, but you come up with another one.

In any event, it does help to remember that it is only April, and even though Davis' MRI is happening today, there's no reason to panic. Still, this is not the way we want this extended layoff to end.

What do you think should be the formation/line-up without Davis, Moffat and Clark?

Kinnear on Brad Davis: "He hurt his calf a little bit, so we'll see his availability for (Sunday)."

— Jose de Jesus Ortiz (@OrtizKicks) April 9, 2012

Been off the computer for a few days, but the Houston Dynamo have not. The team has been using this extended layoff to make us all just that much more excited about the impending opening of BBVA Compass Stadium.

First, there's this video above, which is just a shit-ton of awesomeness. What's better: The sheer Orangeness of it all. What's best: I can see my seats.

For even more, go below the fold here to check out what all of this might mean money wise, courtesy of a great piece by Jose de Jesus Ortiz on the Chron, how that might fund a Herculean player bid and some Heaven's-eye views of the stadium itself.

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Saw this on the Keeper Notes Facebook page from the Twitter feed of Gabriel Gabor, a Miami-based MLS PR guy and just had to share. Here's the tweet:

Another classic Upper Deck soccer card from my brother's collection: 1994 Dominic Kinnear @HoustonDynamo coach @MLS. twitter.com/MLSGabor/statu…

— Gabriel Gabor (@MLSGabor) April 4, 2012

This long layoff between games is starting to get to me. How about anyone else?

Houston Dynamo homegrown player Josue Soto got some classic good news, bad news last week. The bad news is that he won't be playing on the Dynamo first team anytime soon, but the good news is that he is about to get a whole lot of time on the ball. Darrell Lovell at MLSSoccer.com is reporting that Soto is now on loan to the NASL San Antonio Scorpions, and actually began training with the Hill Country club last weekend.

You can follow the link to the actual story, but apparently, despite the fact that it screws with my lead up there, the whole loan deal was Soto's idea, and he quickly received Dominic Kinnear's blessing.

"[Josue] issued his desire to go out on loan to get more playing time and I think it’s a great idea," Kinnear told the media after Tuesday’s training.

And then here is more Kinnear:

"The first place we talked about was San Antonio because the proximity and the fact that I know the coach and so far it’s worked out pretty good," Kinnear said. "He played with them on Saturday, and by all indications from the communication between myself and coach Tim Hankinson, they want to keep him around."

With the weekend going well, efforts to solidify the loan have begun and Kinnear said the loan will likely extend until the middle of May.

Lovell goes on to note that the team is trying to firm up Oscar Recio's contract status with Monterrey, and once that's done, he will be on roster.

My first thought is that I am thrilled for Soto on his loan deal to San Antonio. I have always maintained that if we are not going to have promotion and relegation in MLS (And we won't. Not now. Not ever.) then there needs to be a formal relationship between MLS and the second division (today the NASL. Tomorrow, who knows?) regarding player development. I have always been in favor of a sort of "farm team" model, where the bulk of NASL players are loanees from MLS clubs, if not NASL clubs being wholly-owned subsidiaries. That would have a series of three levels in US professional play, the first division (MLS) and the second division (NASL), with the MLS Reserve League sandwiched in between.

Furthermore, it is important to understand that Houston Dynamo and Fail Club Dallas should be seen as in a struggle for the hearts and minds of soccer fans in Central Texas. To be sure, this is somewhat down on the marketing priority list, but it is definitely a non-trivial marketplace. Dynamo are the only soccer champion in Texas, and this is likely to remain true for some time, but this only goes so far. Loaning out players to the Scorpions and the Austin Aztex, as well as setting up academies over there are key elements of securing an Orange foothold in the geographic heart of the Great State. And this is especially important to do right now while Frisco struggles to be relevant in their own home market.

It is an opportunity of which Dynamo seem to be taking advantage with both the Soto loan, setting up a relationship with the San Antonio supporters group the Crocketeers and the Aztex' Eberly's Army, and having a development academy in Austin (formerly run by current Aztex coach and former Dynamo Paul Dalglish). But I would like to see even more in the form of friendlies, possibly bringing the teams to BBVA Compass Stadium to do so, as well as numerous cross-marketing and promotion activities. The idea is to make Dynamo the first thought that comes to mind in the Central Texas market when it comes to MLS, and then, of yeah, there's a team up north, but they're not very good.

What do you think?

Despite the extreme and all-too-predictable over-reliance on images of the right-footed Brad Davis (You know the guy, the one who Bruce Arena subbed out at halftime in a 1-3 home loss to the Revs. Him.), this is a great promo spot from NBC Sports. And Captain Kamehameha even makes an appearance as well.

Oh, and on the subject of the right-foted Davis and the so-so start of his team, it's not that I intend to laugh at the misfortunes of others, it's that I intend to cackle hysterically at the misfortune of those particular others. Now if the Frisco ISD Home XI would join them on the scrap heap, my 2012 season would be off to a rollicking start.

And while I do seem to have the floor here, let me just add one little piece about the passing of Giorgio Chinaglia over the weekend. The guy is the all-time leading scorer of any American top flight, and despite the admittedly enormous influence of Pele, it was Chinaglia who turned the Cosmos into champions. Dizzy Dean once said it ain't bragging if you can back it up, then it's just the truth. Well, Giorgio Chinaglia was The Truth. His combination of skill, a true poacher's sense and unbridled brio was a true joy to behold.

Ciao, Giorgio. May all the women from here on out be beautiful, may all the wine be vintage and may all the goal mouths stand open and ready. Thanks for all the enjoyment you gave.

That was Chinaglia off the field. Here he is on it in 1980 (Not, eagle-eyed observers will pick out the Houston Hurricane in some of these.)

(via media.tumblr.com)

Tip of the hat to Simon Allen on Facebook

More after the jump...

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