Houston Dynamo FC
Template:MLS team Houston Dynamo is a professional soccer club based in Houston, Texas that plays in Major League Soccer and are the current MLS Cup Champions, by virtue of their victory against the New England Revolution in MLS Cup 2006.
The team was created on December 15, 2005 when the San Jose Earthquakes were relocated, due to owner AEG's failure to secure a soccer-specific stadium. Even though all of San Jose's players and coaches moved to Houston, the team's name, logo, history and statistics were not transferred and remain inactive in San Jose thus making the Dynamo an expansion team similar to the Baltimore Ravens in the NFL.
The name "Dynamo" refers to Houston's industrial economy, as well as two previous Houston soccer teams, the Houston Dynamos of the Lone Star Soccer Alliance in 1987-1991, and the Houston Dynamos of the United Soccer League in 1984. The official reason for the name is that "Dynamo is a word to describe someone who never fatigues, never gives up. The new name is symbolic of Houston as an energetic, hard-working, risk-taking kind of town." It also harkens to several Eastern European soccer teams called "Dynamo" that were descended from the Dynamo sporting society of the Soviet Union and several Warsaw Pact countries. The team colors are orange, white, and "Space City" blue, meant as a symbol of yet another team in Houston's sports history: the Houston Oilers of the NFL.
Houston Dynamo play their home matches at Robertson Stadium—a 32,000-seat sports stadium located on the University of Houston campus in southeast Houston. A three-year lease was signed to play at the stadium while plans for a soccer-specific stadium are finalized.
The club's supporters groups are the Texian Army and El Batallón.
Choosing a Name
On January 25, 2006, Houston 1836 was first announced as the team name. This followed an online survey for the fans to provide unofficial suggestions for the new team name, with given options of: Apollos, Bulls, Eagles, Gatos, Lonestars, Stallions, Toros, Americans, Buffalos, Generals, Houston 1836, Mustangs, and Stars. According to MLS & AEG, who chose the name, the 1836 name referred to the year that the city of Houston was founded by brothers Augustus Chapman Allen and John Kirby Allen, though it had perceived ambiguity, as it is also the year of Texan independence from Mexico. Houston 1836's logo featured a silhouette of General Sam Houston, perhaps the city's, and state's, most famous historical figure.
The choice of Houston 1836, however, soon became a political football. While their stated intent was to link to the founding year of the city, the team name was changed to Houston Dynamo after the Houston 1836 name raised a furor among some locals of Mexican descent—the team's target audience—who related 1836 with the war for Texas independence. Sylvia Garcia, Harris County's first Hispanic commissioner in more than a century, rallied for a boycott of the team name. The name was dropped, due to this political pressure and considerable opposition from potential Hispanic community, media, and sponsors. Ironically, the name Dynamo is not without some controversy itself, as the Eastern European Dynamo sports society was historically sponsored by the Soviet secret police. The choice of that name also drew some criticism for lack of originality since it has been used by so many other teams, including the USL PDL Carolina Dynamo and numerous youth clubs in the U.S. Since the "1836" debacle, MLS has announced that they will no longer do online surveys for future expansion teams; they had also taken a poll to name Real Salt Lake, which itself was an unpopular choice.
Stadium
Club owner, Anschutz Entertainment Group, is hoping to finalize an agreement to construct a 20,000 to 25,000-seat soccer specific stadium on the site of Houston Independent School District's Delmar Stadium, located at the intersection of I-610 and U.S. 290. The company would like the school district to help share the costs of building the $65 to $80 million stadium. In the event that this plan went through, the current Delmar Stadium would be razed and replaced with the soccer-specific venue. Like the Pizza Hut Park stadium agreement in Frisco for FC Dallas, the stadium would be shared with the school district's high school football teams and the facility would be surrounded by community soccer fields.
First Season (2006)
The Dynamo played their first game on April 2, 2006. Amidst a crowd of 25,462 people in Robertson Stadium, the Dynamo beat the Colorado Rapids 5–2. Brian Ching led the charge for the Dynamo with four goals, all of which were set up with assists from teammate Dwayne De Rosario. In stoppage time, Alejandro Moreno scored MLS' Goal of the Week with a game-clinching bicycle kick. On May 6, 2006, the Houston Dynamo won their first intrastate rivalry game against FC Dallas, 4–3 at Robertson Stadium.
The Dynamo finished their first season in Houston with an 11-8-13 record, good for second place in the Western Conference. They lost the first game of the two-legged conference semifinal to C.D. Chivas USA, 2-1, on October 22 in Los Angeles. Chivas goalkeeper Brad Guzan stopped De Rosario on a penalty kick that could have tied the match.
In the second leg on October 29, Houston defeated Chivas USA 2-0 at Robertson Stadium, advancing in dramatic fashion. After a red card to Chivas' Juan Francisco Palencia, Houston's Brad Davis converted a second-half penalty kick to tie the aggregate score. With the match in second-half stoppage time, Brian Ching headed in the winning goal from close range to delight the crowd of more than 17,000.
On November 5, 2006, the Dynamo defeated the Colorado Rapids 3-1 in the Western Conference final to earn a spot in its first MLS Cup. Scottish forward Paul Dalglish scored twice in front of an MLS Cup Playoffs-high crowd of 23,107.
On November 12, 2006, the Dynamo defeated the New England Revolution 4-3 on penalty kicks after a 1-1 tie to win the 2006 MLS Cup held at Pizza Hut Park in Frisco, Texas. The game was scoreless until the second session of extra time, when New England's Taylor Twellman scored. Only one minute and six seconds later, Brian Ching headed in the tying goal for Houston, and the championship was, for the first time in MLS history, decided by a shootout. Substitutes Kelly Gray and Stuart Holden made Houston's first two penalty kicks, and standouts Dwayne De Rosario and Brian Ching made the last two. Ching's gave Houston a 4-3 lead, and goalkeeper Pat Onstad stopped New England's Jay Heaps on the final attempt to secure the win.
With the win, the Dynamo advanced to the 2007 CONCACAF Champions' Cup.
2007 season
After eliminating Puntarenas FC of Costa Rica in a dramatic quarterfinal win, the Dynamo lost the 2007 CONCACAF Champions' Cup semifinal to CF Pachuca on 5-4 aggregate after extra time.
Immediately after, Houston began its 2007 league season with consecutive shutouts against Los Angeles and Chivas USA.
Fan Support
The Dynamo enjoyed good fan support, by MLS standards, in its first year of existence. 25,462 fans attended their first ever match against the Colorado Rapids on April 2, 2006. Attendance gradually declined throughout the remainder of the spring and bottomed out during the summer months. During July and August, the Dynamo played five matches at Robertson Stadium, and the average attendance for those matches was a meager 10,348. The sweltering summer heat in Houston likely played a role in this trend, as did some significant electrical storms on game days.
The team's attendance figures received a major boost in August when the Dynamo played a game against the L.A. Galaxy in Houston's Reliant Stadium as part of a much-hyped double-header (the other game being an exhibition match between FC Barcelona and Mexican side Club América) on August 9. 70,550 were in attendance for that event. Ultimately, home attendance began to rise again as the weather cooled and the playoffs approached.
In the end, the Dynamo averaged 18,935 in attendance over their 16 regular season home games. Attendance remained high during their playoff run, where home attendance was 17,440 and 23,107 in home games against Chivas USA and the Colorado Rapids. Dynamo fans contributed greatly to the sell-out crowd of 22,427 in the 2006 MLS Cup as well, which was played in Frisco, Texas (about 275 miles, or 450 km, from Houston).
Television and radio
Dynamo's local English telecasts are carried by KTBU channel 55 when not carried by national MLS broadcast partners. Charlie Palillo calls the play-by-play and Glen Davis calls the color-commentary. Spanish telecasts were on KHLM-LP"TV Informa", channel 43.
English radio broadcasts (18 matches only) are carried by KBME (AM) 790 AM. Spanish radio broadcasts are carried by KEYH-AM and KXGJ-FM "Concierto".
"The Soccer Hour" is a local Houston radio broadcast on KBME (AM), which is host by Glenn Davis. It regularly features Dynamo head coach Dominic Kinnear, and amongst others many of the Dynamo's players.
Honors
- File:MLS Logo.gif MLS Cup:
- Winner (1): 2006
- Carolina Challenge Cup:
- Winner (2): 2006, 2007
- CONCACAF Champions Cup :
- Semi-Finalist: 2007
Current roster
As of April 18, 2007 Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Changes for the 2007 MLS Season
In
Corey Ashe Signed as draft pick- Eric Ebert Signed as draft pick
- Nick Hatzke Signed as draft pick
- John Michael Hayden Signed as draft pick
- Jordan James Signed from Cincinnati Kings of the USL-2
- Richard Mulrooney Traded from Toronto FC
- Mike Sambursky Signed as draft pick
- Erik Ustruck Signed as draft pick
Out
- Chris Aloisi Released by team
- Kevin Goldthwaite Traded to Toronto FC
- Aaron Lanes Released by team
- Martin Hutton Released by team
- Julian Nash Released by team
- Marcus Storey Released by team
Adrian Serioux Drafted by Toronto FC and subsequently traded to FC Dallas
Notable players
- Wade Barrett (2006—)
- Brian Ching (2006—)
- Ricardo Clark (2006—)
- Dwayne De Rosario (2006—)
- Brian Mullan (2006—)
- Pat Onstad (2006—)
- Eddie Robinson (2006—)
- Craig Waibel (2006—)
Head coaches
- Dominic Kinnear (2006—)
Team records
- Games: Wade Barrett, Ricardo Clark, and Brian Mullan, 31
- Goals: Brian Ching and Dwayne De Rosario, 11
- Assists: Brad Davis, 11
- Shutouts: Pat Onstad, 5
MLS regular season only, through 2006 season
Home stadium
- Robertson Stadium (2006—)
General managers
- Oliver Luck (2006—)
Famous supporters
- Evander Holyfield - Heavyweight Boxer
- Joan Higginbotham - NASA Astronaut
- Solange Knowles - R&B Singer/Songwriter/Actress
- La Mafia - Latin Band
- LeToya Luckett - R&B Singer
- Mike Jones - Rapper
Year-by-year
| Year | Reg. Season | Playoffs | Open Cup |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | 2nd, West | Champions | Semifinals |
Average attendance
regular season/playoffs
- 2006: 18,935/20,274
International Competition
- 2007 CONCACAF Champions' Cup
- Quarterfinals v. Puntarenas F.C. -- 0:1, 2:0 (Dynamo advances 2:1 on aggregate)
- Semifinals v. CF Pachuca -- 2:0, 2:5 (Pachuca advances 4:5 on aggregate after added extra time)
- 2007 SuperLiga
- Group Stage v. América
- Group Stage v. Monarcas Morelia
- Group Stage v. DC United
See also
External links
- Houston Dynamo Official Website
- Houston Matchnight News Site
- Texian Army — Houston Dynamo Supporters
- El Batallon — Houston Dynamo Supporters
- Official Houston Dynamo board, courtesy of BigSoccer
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