MLS Cup 2011-Let's Go Dynamo!

The MLS Cup 2011 title match will kick off at 8 PM CST and pits my MLS Eastern Conference champion Houston Dynamo against the star studded Western Conference champion LA Galaxy.


No one in the international soccer media and MLS watchers are giving my local football franchise a chance against the Galaxy.  They won the Supporter's Shield for having the best regular season record in MLS, are playing in their home stadium, are appearing in their MLS record seventh final and despite both squads ironically being owned by the same company in Anschutz Entertainment Group, the Galaxy have a combined payroll that dwarfs the Dynamo's $2.91 million one. 

They have David Beckham, Landon Donovan and Robbie Keane and are the glam team in Major League Soccer.  But what people forget is that championships aren't won on paper, or because you spent the most money or have the most superstars in your lineup.  You have to play the games.

The Dominic Kinnear coached Houston Dynamo won back to back MLS titles themselves in 2006 and 2007 and are on a two month nine game unbeaten streak that has powered them through the playoffs and goalkeeper Tally Hall has only given up one goal since the playoffs started.

They are 90 minutes away from bringing a third MLS championship trophy back to Houston but will have to do it without MLS MVP candidate Brad Davis.  

The Dynamo lost him in the Eastern Conference finals to a severe quad injury early in the first half of their 2-0 win over Sporting Kansas City.

It will be interesting to see how this MLS Cup 2011 plays out and I would love to be attending another championship rally on the steps of City Hall. 

Let's go Dynamo!

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Houston Dynamo To MLS Cup 2011 Title Game!

It's been a great year so far for football at the collegiate and professional  levels in the Houston area, and now our football team that plays with a round ball is joining in on the fun.  

The Houston Dynamo knocked off Sporting Kansas City 2-0 yesterday in the MLS Eastern Conference Finals to avenge an earlier 3-0 butt kicking on September 10 and send them to their third trip to the MLS Cup title game on November 20. 

The Houston Dynamo is our Major League Soccer team we received here in 2005 as a result of the San Jose Earthquakes players and coach Dominic Kinnear being transferred here as a result of the inability of their AEG owners to get a soccer specific stadium built in the San Jose area.   Since Houston was about to get an MLS expansion franchise, we ended up with a Baltimore Ravens type situation in which we got the players to stock our new franchise while the history, colors, nickname and records of the Earthquakes stayed in San Jose until the franchise was revived by MLS in 2008.

The Dynamo have played their games at Robertson Stadium on the University of Houston campus since their arrival in town but broke ground earlier this year on a 22,000 seat soccer-specific downtown stadium that is currently under construction on the opposite side of the elevated Eastex Freeway from Minute Maid Park. 

The stadium is scheduled to open for business in May 2012 and will also be the home for Texas Southern University football games and outdoor concerts. 

The team found itself ensnared in a public relations controversy during the startup phase.  An online survey was conducted that polled fans to choose the name of the new MLS team from Apollos, Bulls, Eagles, Gatos, Lonestars, Stallions, Toros, Americans, Buffaloes, Generals, Houston 1836, Mustangs and Stars.  On January 25, 2006 the announcement was made that Houston 1836 would be selected as the name and the logic behind it was that it reflected the year Houston was founded as a city. 

However, 1836 is also the year that Texas won independence from Mexico and that is still a sore spot issue south of the border.  The soccer fans here who are predominately of Mexican heritage and the targeted market for the team loudly protested the chosen nickname for the new MLS franchise and it was changed to the Dynamo.

Despite that stumbling PR start, the newbies on the professional sports scene in town quickly established themselves as winners not only at the box office but on the pitch.  The Dynamo won back to back MLS titles in 2006 and 2007 and lost in the Western Conference finals in 2008 and 2009.  On the FIFA international club level competition stage they have made it to the semifinals of the CONCAFAF Champions League in 2007-2008 and were eliminated in the group stage in 2009.

But after missing the playoffs in 2010 General Manager and head coach Dominic Kinnear made some painful changes and rebuilt the team.  For much of the season it looked like the Dynamo were going to miss out on the MLS playoffs again but after that 3-0 loss to Sporting Kansas City the team caught fire.

The Dynamo has been on a nine game unbeaten streak, won five consecutive games and finished high enough in the Eastern Conference standings to earn a bye into the semis.  They knocked out the Philadelphia Union in the home and home Eastern Conference semis two leg playoff before taking out Sporting KC.   

But they will be underdogs going into the MLS Cup championship game against the LA Galaxy, the team that had the best record in MLS this year.  In addition to playing in the Galaxy's home stadium in Carson, CA they will be facing David Beckham, Landon Donovan and the gang without their MLS MVP candidate Brad Davis, who suffered a right quad injury in the first half of yesterday's Eastern Conference championship match.

After seeing what the Dynamo has accomplished against the odds this season, I wouldn't count out the possibility that when the new stadium opens next May, the Dynamo might be unfurling another championship banner as part of the opening ceremonies for it. 

Congrats Dynamo and bring that ML:S Cup back to H-town.   It would sure be nice to have another championship rally at the steps of City Hall. 

Is Super Phobes Coach Uche Really Being Investigated By FIFA?

Nigeria Super Phobes (oops Super Falcons) head coach Eucharia Uche made some startling comments during the recent 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup in which she claimed during a June 26 press conference she removed lesbians off her team.

There was a subsequent June 29 meeting between Uche and FIFA's head of women's competitions Tatjana Haenni in which the anti discrimination policy was reiterated to her, and the Nigeria Football Federation made it clear she was still their coach for the time being.


At the same time this was blowing up, an Allout.org sponsored petition drive was gathering over 45,000 signatures and organizing a 'Give The Red Card To Homophobia' protest before the Women's World Cup semifinal game in Frankfurt urging FIFA to attack homophobia in the game with the same zeal they do racism in 'the beautiful game'.

The International Gay and Lesbian Football Association, the Federation of Gay Games and ALLOut.org jointly wrote a letter to FIFA President Sepp Blatter concerning the Uche situation.

FIFA and its affiliated organisations are to be commended for the kinds of strong measures taken against racism in football. Unfortunately we have not yet seen the same commitment to take action against homophobia. It is long overdue for FIFA to apply its own rules regarding discrimination, and help insulate the sport from ideological and religious interference that infringes on players rights.

That it is. The IGLFA and AllOut.org wrote press releases that were picked up in other parts of the Gayosphere claiming that a FIFA investigation of Uche has been launched, but the Federation of Gay Games says otherwise.

The Federation of Gay Games asserts on their FB page she's not being investigated, and had this to say.

Contrary to the press release from our friends at AllOut, cosigners of the letter to FIFA to which Jérôme Valcke has now (more than two months later) replied, FIFA has not decided to investigate the lesbophobic behavior of Nigerian women's football club Eucharia Uche.

We quote:

"Thus, in the event the FIFA Disciplinary Committee considers having enough evidence to be in a position to open proceedings, it will not fail to do so with the assistance of the FIFA administration."

We are puzzled by FIFA's request for us to provide information, as it is clear in our letter that the information provoking our letter came from the press. We do hope that FIFA will look into those sources, and eagerly await news of any investigation.

But we're not holding our breath...

Neither am I.  Nigeria's Super Falcons are in the middle of a two leg playoff for the remaining 2012 London Olympic Games women's qualifying tournament with Cameroon. 

They won the first leg 2-1 and play Cameroon on October 22 to decide who gets that other African qualifying spot.  

If there were any FIFA investigation of Uche, it would be big news in Nigeria, on the African continent, the FIFA website, the Confederation of African Football one and any site on the Net that tracks international football.   So far all I've been able to detect is cricket chirping silence on the issue.

I said this when I wrote about the controversy back on July 7:  

This situation with Uche admitting that she forced lesbians off the squad cries out for sanctions, but the likelihood of that happening is about the same as a certain appletini chugging gay rights orgs in the States hiring a transperson to run it.  

And so far, both scenarios are playing out.