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Houston – Maybe Dynamo is a Good Name

I like the orange jerseys, Barcelona’s got an orange kit. The name I’m not too fond of though. Seems more fit for your kids youth team. Not much history involved in it either, but too much was involved with their previous name, and got them into trouble, but the team does play with an intensity that’s matched by few other teams and seems to be why they win.

‘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.’ Source: Wikipedia

But to get to the point: what a class team this club is and has become, carried over from San Jose. San Jose coming back by the way – See Earthquakes. Mr. Beckham would fit in nicely with this team and Landon should have never left but don’t think Houston even needs them. But LA did win a title with Landon at the helm.

What’s interesting is the way the Houston team plays for one another. They fight hard to win the ball and then also play good simple soccer—one and two touch and have great individual players in DeRosario, Ricardo Clark and Brian Ching. If there not playing simple soccer they’re playing smart, clearing the ball when needed or touching the ball off a player for a throw or winning head balls and tacking hard to make a statement.

I think this all comes back to the coach, Dominic Kinnear. He’s done an excellent job of instilling his style into the side. Then, he’s gone out and picked up some more players that fit his style, or will fit into his current team. These are some young players but also players that have been in the league for a while, youth like Stuart Holden and veterans like Mulrooney from his days with San Jose.  Kinnear has put together a fine club and will last a long time--the growing following of fans will attest to that both Latin and soccer mom families and youth players.

Recently, Kinnear picked up Nate Jaqua and Joseph Ngwenya, two tall forwards with good feet. Ngwenya, scored a wonderful goal recently, touching the ball around the defender and slotting home the shot. See Ngwenya’s goal here.

Side note: I have a friend who knows Kinnear pretty well. He says Kinnear tried his hand at stand up comedy from time to time when he had free time during his playing days. Takes guts to get up on stage, no? No wonder he has no problem getting the best out of his players – he seems intense but has a good sense of humor.

If anything, I think it’s the teams like Houston, and DC United maybe from a few years ago, that play well collectively, as a team, and that’s what cities and fans want to attach themselves to, and get hooked on but guys like Beckham won’t hurt.