Houston Dash Lineup Starting To Take Shape

One of the things we Houston sports fans will get to look forward to in 2014 is the April 12 start of the inaugural season of our new team in the National Women's Soccer League, the Houston Dash.

The NWSL has been set up as the top echelon women's pro soccer league in North America and is supported by the national soccer federations of the United States, Canada, and Mexico.

It has the ultimate goal of building a elite level league for the top women's national players of Canada, Mexico and the USA to play in when they are not competing for their national clubs in the Olympics or the FIFA Women's World Cup.

The Dash are the new expansion kids on the NWSL block, and as the sister organization of the MLS Houston Dynamo, will play their home games at BBVA Compass Stadium.  Retired Houston Dynamo legend Brian Ching was named the Managing Director of the team on December 23. 


Randy Waldrum, the former coach of Notre Dame's women's team, was subsequently hired to become the first head coach of the Houston Dash on January 3.   Waldrum led Notre Dame to two NCAA titles in 2004 and 2010 and was the NCAA runner up in 1999, 2006 and 2008.

Three players were initially assigned to the Dash by national team allocation.   Forward Melissa Tancredi from Canada, defender Whitney Engen from the USA and midfielder Teresa Noyola from Mexico.  Melissa Tancredi was subsequently traded to the Chicago Red Stars on January 6 for fellow Canadian goalkeeper Erin McLeod.  

The Dash get the opportunity today to select their core roster players for their inaugural season today.  The NWSL expansion draft is taking place as I post this in which the Dash will be allowed to select up to ten unprotected players from the existing eight NWSL club.

On January 17 the 2014 NWSL Collegiate Draft will take place in Philadelphia.   The Dash will have the second overall election in the first round, and the first picks in the second, third and fourth rounds.

There are rumors that Alex Morgan, who lives here in Houston, is interested in playing for the Dash.  However, she is one of the protected players on the NWSL champion Portland Thorns and there is no way they are letting her go to the Dash if that rumor is true without some major compensation. 

Knowing the Dynamo temperament, they will probably build the Dash in their image.  They will build the club through the draft, make key trades that improve the club like the Erin McLeod for Tancredi swap is evidence of, and when they can afford it, get a free agent that fits with their style of play. 

Hope they choose wisely and looking forward to watching the Dash play at BBVA Compass Stadium this spring and summer.  Not expecting a miracle since they are an expansion club, but if they make the NWSL playoffs this year, cool.   

Mexican Trans Woman Being Denied Opportunity To Play Soccer

Soccer (or football to the rest of the world) is the world's most popular sport and is called 'the beautiful game' by its fans. 

But what is happening to 44 year old Mexican transwoman Miranda Itzayana is anything but beautiful.

Prior to transition, she played for the first division Mexican League team Pumas and others from 1985-1992.   She wanted to play the sport again and in June 2012 after showing documentation verifying her feminine identity, Itzayana joined the Mexican Women's League team Jaguars Aldana.  

Initially she was told there was no problem with her playing in the league, but pressure mounted as opposing teams wanted her thrown out of the league for 'playing like a man'.  Itzayana was also subjected to homophobic and transphobic slurs while playing matches.  

In February during a Mexican Women's League meeting the league and her team bowed to pressure and baseless accusations from opposing teams by not allowing Itzayana to play.  The league after that meeting subsequently enacted a 'women born women' policy to keep her out in violation of the IOC Stockholm Accords that FIFA and national soccer federations follow that allow trans athletes to compete.  

Jaguars Aldana, fearing being barred from the Mexican Women's League, threatened to expel Itzayana from the team if she complained publicly about her unjust treatment.    Upset about the discriminatory treatment she was receiving, she decided to take her case to the Council for the Prevention and Elimination of Discrimination in Mexico City (COPRED).

The COPRED commissioner ruled in her favor and ordered that Itzayana be reinstated, allowed to play in the next tounament and the discriminatory league rule be changed to allow her participation. 

FIFA has had an ongoing 'Say No To Racism' campaign in which we see the banner held up by players of both teams during every World Cup Men's and Women's tournament and other major confederation tournaments in international soccer.  We'll see it again later this summer in Brazil. 

But as I wrote back in 2011 and Jazz, Aeris Houlihan and Miranda Itzayana can tell you from painful experience, FIFA needs to immediately embark upon a campaign to eradicate transphobia and homophobia
from the sport, too.

Houston Has A New Women's Pro Soccer Team!

Another team joins our lineup of professional sports franchises in the Houston area and will start play in April.   Even cooler is the fact they are a women's professional spots team. 

They are the Houston Dash, our new expansion team in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) that started play earlier this year.

“We are thrilled to have our very own NWSL franchise here in Houston,” said Houston Dynamo president Chris Canetti in a statement. “It is an important addition to our sports landscape and will bring added value to our community.”

The NWSL has been set up as the top echelon women's pro soccer league in North America and is supported by the national soccer federations of the United States, Canada, and Mexico with the goal of building a elite level league for their top national players to play in when they are not competing in the Olympics or the FIFA Women's World Cup.

it also has the goal of building the women's game in these nations and developing talented players for future national teams in Canada, Mexico and the US. 

The NWSL's originating eight teams are the Boston Breakers, Chicago Red Stars, FC Kansas City, Portland Thorns FC, Seattle Reign FC, Sky Blue FC (New Jersey), Washington Spirit and the Western New York Flash (Rochester, NY). 

The NWSL features 23 members of the US women's national team, including stars of the team that won the gold medal at the 2012 Olympics in London, including: Heather O'Reilly (Boston Breakers); Amy LePeilbet and Shannon Boxx (Chicago Red Stars); Nicole Barnhart, Amy Rodriguez, Becky Sauerbrunn and Lauren Holiday (FC Kansas City); Rachel Buehler, Alex Morgan and Tobin Heath (Portland Thorns FC); Megan Rapinoe, Hope Solo and Sydney Leroux (Seattle Reign FC); Kelley O'Hara and Christie Rampone (Sky Blue FC); Ali Krieger (Washington Spirit); and Carli Lloyd and Abby Wambach (Western New York Flash).

The NWSL's Canadian national team stars include Diana Matheson (Washington Spirit); Desiree Scott and Lauren Sesselmann (FC Kansas City); and Christine Sinclair (Portland Thorns FC).

The NWSL players from Mexico's national women's team includes Maribel Dominguez (Chicago Red Stars); Renae Cuellar (Washington Spirit); Teresa Noyola (FC Kansas City); and Monica Ocampo (Sky Blue FC).

In the inaugural NWSL Championship game the Portland Thorns defeated the top seeded Western New York Flash 2-0 in Rochester.

But back to talking about the Houston Dash.    

The Dash are the NWSL's first ever expansion club and are the second in the league after the Thorns supported by an MLS club.   The Dash are owned by the same group that owns the Houston Dynamo

The Dash will train at the Dynamo's complex and play their 12 home games at BBVA Compass Stadium.

They are currently looking to hire their head coach and unveil their uniforms for the upcoming 2014 season later.

As for the inaugural season roster of the Houston Dash, the 18-20 woman roster for the inaugural team will be filled by allocation of players from the U.S., Canada and Mexico national teams, the expansion draft, the January 17 NWSL collegiate draft, and other discovery signings.

The only thing I wish they'd done is given the fans an opportunity to choose the nickname, but I can understand the Dynamo brass reluctance to do so after the Houston 1836 drama. 

Should be fun to watch a women's pro sports team here in H-town for the first time since the Houston Comets (sniff sniff) departed the scene and looking forward to checking out some of their games when I can.

 

British Transwoman Barred From Playing Women's Soccer By FA

Jazz spent two years fighting the US Soccer Federation for a policy that would allow her and other trans kids to play soccer in this country. 

Now come word from across The Pond of a British transwoman who is not being allowed to play on a women's team there despite having documentation confirming her gender identity, hormone levels in feminine range and her teammates and opposing players having no objections to her being in the league.

32 year old Aeris Houlihan is facing a two year wait to play competitive soccer because the FA policy is pegged to the FIFA rules and the IOC Stockholm Consensus, which mandates surgical intervention and two years of being on HRT before being allowed to play in the gender you present.   She's not due to have SRS until March.

'It's not like I want to play for Barcelona, I just want to play for my local club.' - See more at: http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/trans-woman-told-fa-she-can-only-play-mens-football101213#sthash.xzmMW90U.dpuf

The story starts in June, when Houlihan applied to the FA (The English Football Association) so she could play for her local team in Leeds, the Middleton Park Ladies FC.   She was asked to provide a doctor's letter verifying her feminine hormone levels which she complied with.

After providing that letter, she heard nothing from FA until October, and it was at that time she was informed that she couldn't play for her local team and would be unable to appeal the decision. 

'It's not like I want to play for Barcelona.   All I want to do is play for my local club," Houlihan said in an interview with the Daily Mail. "The FA didn't even bother to look at my hormones levels or my blood test results, which are the same as any other woman's.  They are blind and need to look at the results in front of them."

Houlihan's club is supporting her in her fight to play her favorite sport.

"We support the fact she would like to play on a Ladies team as she is now legally a woman, she has a British passport, and she should be allowed to compete as a woman just as she is allowed to live as a woman in her everyday life," the Middleton Park FC said in a statement.

The resistance that Houlihan is running into is in stark contrast to what the FA website states.

"An individual's sexual orientation or gender identity should never be a barrier to participating in, and enjoying, our national sport."

Looks like that is exactly what is happening in this case.  Her gender identity has become a barrier to her being able to participate in their national sport.

The USA Men's Soccer Team Will Play In...

One of the 'Groups of Death'.

Yours truly was tuned in along with much of the planet this morning to see how the 2014 FIFA World Cup draw was going to shake out for Team USA and their current head coach Jurgen Klinsmann.

Under Klinsmann the USA is 27-10-7.  They have been moving up the FIFA rankings and climbed to 14th.  They've had some historic firsts in their centennial year, had a best in program history 12 game winning streak and against FIFA Top 10 ranked clubs they are now 2-1-1 in the Klinsmann Era.

Klinsmann continues his commitment of not only building to team into an elite squad, but do so by having the US Men's team play the top European squads.   And surprise, surprise, as they get familiar with Klinsmann's system, increasingly they are beating them. 

Some of the European teams they beat this year were Germany, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Italy on their way to a best ever total of 16 wins this year.  

In addition to winning the CONCACAF Gold Cup for the fifth time with six straight wins, the USA enroute to qualifying for the seventh straight time for the FIFA World Cup finals also finished at the top of the CONCACAF hexagonal qualifying for the second consecutive cycle.  They compiled a 7-1-2 record including a thrilling 3-2 extra time comeback win in Panama at the end of the campaign and the dos a cero clinching match against Mexico in Columbus,.OH that secured the ticket to Brazil

While this centennial year of USA soccer was a spectacular one on the men's side and we all know how awesome the women's team is, in order for the USA men to make that next leap into the elite echelons of the FIFA men's soccer ranks, you have to not only consistently beat the top teams, but shine on the World Cup stage.    

If Team USA was looking to prove to themselves and to the soccer world that 2013 wasn't a fluke and were looking for a challenge in World Cup group play, they just got their opportunity to do so.

They ended up in Group G, one of the 'Groups of Death' in which they will be playing against FIFA number 2 ranked Germany, FIFA number 5 ranked Portugal and FIFA number 24 ranked Ghana.

And unlike 2010's World Cup Final in South Africa, where they clocked 192 miles total of group stage bus travel from their training base in Pretoria to matches in Rustenburg, Johannesburg and a game in Pretoria, their travel script is flipped for this one.  From their training base in São Paulo, they'll be adding to their frequent flyer miles by going to Natal, Manaus and Recife for a total of 9,000 miles in the 5th largest country on our planet.  

"It couldn't get any more difficult or any bigger," said Klinsmann at the draw in Costa do Sauipe, Brazil. "It's a real challenge. And we'll take it. We'll take it on, and hopefully we're going to surprise some people there."

“What’s exciting about this draw is that it’s time for us as a National Team to show how far soccer has come in this country and to earn the respect that we worked hard to have. If you go back to the 2006 World Cup and look at where the team was to where the team is now, we have a lot more guys playing consistently in the big leagues and gaining experience within our National Team. That’s making us a stronger National Team. When we face these European teams and bigger teams, [we are] pulling out results in the past three to four years like getting a good result in Italy and playing against the bigger teams like Germany in D.C. For us, and for the rest of the world, it shows how far we’ve come, and we couldn’t ask for a better draw than Germany Portugal and Ghana.” - See more at: http://www.ussoccer.com/news/mens-national-team/2013/12/131206-mnt-player-quotes.aspx#sthash.kHJzSzSn.dpuf

“What’s exciting about this draw is that it’s time for us as a National Team to show how far soccer has come in this country and to earn the respect that we worked hard to have. If you go back to the 2006 World Cup and look at where the team was to where the team is now, we have a lot more guys playing consistently in the big leagues and gaining experience within our National Team. That’s making us a stronger National Team. When we face these European teams and bigger teams, [we are] pulling out results in the past three to four years like getting a good result in Italy and playing against the bigger teams like Germany in D.C. For us, and for the rest of the world, it shows how far we’ve come, and we couldn’t ask for a better draw than Germany Portugal and Ghana.” - See more at: http://www.ussoccer.com/news/mens-national-team/2013/12/131206-mnt-player-quotes.aspx#sthash.kHJzSzSn.dpuf

Team USA opens their 2014 World Cup tournament group stage play in Natal on June 16 against Ghana, the team that has knocked them out of the 2006 and 2010 quarterfinals. 

After tangling with the Black Stars, they face Cristian Ronaldo and Portugal June 22.in what will probably be a critical group match in Manaus, and then Jurgen Klinsmann and Team USA close out group play on June 26 by facing in Recife the team he coached and played for in his homeboys from Germany.

While most international soccer pundits and fans consider the USA long 200-1 underdogs to take the trophy back to US soil, much less get out of their group to face whoever comes out of Group H, the Team USA members are looking forward to the challenge.

'What's exciting about this draw is that it is time for us as a national team to show how far soccer has come in this country and to earn the respect that we have worked so hard to have." said forward Eddie Johnson. 

"If you go back to the 2006 World Cup and look at where the team was to where the team is now, we have a lot more guys playing consistently in the big leagues and gaining experience within our National Team. That's making us a stronger National Team," he added.

"When we face these European teams and bigger teams, we are pulling out results in the past three to four tears like getting a good result in Italy and playing against the bigger teams like Germany in DC.  For us, and for the rest of the world, it shows how far we have come and we couldn't ask for a better draw than Germany, Portugal and Ghana." 

Can the USA men shock the world and not only get results, but get out of Group G into the knockout round?   We'll find out in six months.
   
    

Upcoming 2014 FIFA World Cup Draw Friday

203 of FIFA's 208 member nations started playing matches on June 15, 2011 in order to earn one of the 32 spots in the 2014 World Cup tournament.  After two years of qualifying matches played around the globe that ended November 23, we now know the 32 nations that qualified to go to Brazil and play in the 2014 FIFA World Cup. 

For the seventh consecutive qualifying cycle the USA is amongst those 32 nations along with defending champion Spain.

What we don't know besides the host Brazilians are in Group A is which one of the eight groups they and the other 30 nations will be playing the opening round of games in from June 12-June 26.

On Friday the soccer world's millions of fans will turn their eyes toward Bahia as FIFA conducts the World Cup Final Draw at 1 PM local Bahia time (11 AM Houston time) to set up those eight groups as the world holds its breath to see the results, then pontificate on them once they are announced.

The 32 teams will be divided into four Pots, with Pot 1 containing the host Brazilians and the top seven seeded teams according to the October 2013 FIFA world rankings.   Those top seven teams in order are Spain, Germany, Argentina, Colombia, Belgium, Uruguay and Switzerland.   The Pot 1 seeding carries a huge advantage in that you don't have to play the other seven seeded teams in the group stage. 

Pot 2 is comprised of the CONCACAF teams (USA, Mexico, Costa Rica and Honduras) plus the four AFC Asian qualifiers (Japan, Iran, South Korea and Australia).

Pot 3 will be made up of the five CAF African teams (Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, Algeria, Nigeria and Cameroon), two from the South American CONMEBOL federation (Chile and Ecuador) and the lowest-ranked UEFA European country, France.

Pot 4 is comprised of the remaining eight UEFA European nations (Netherlands, Italy, England, Portugal, Greece, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia and Russia) 

The draw will be conducted based on a format to be decided upon no later than tomorrow. and as the groups are assembled not more than two European nations will be allowed in any of the eight groups.  

The draw is critical to your chances of advancing in the tournament final at Maracanã Stadium since only the top two teams in each group advance to the knockout rounds and the composition of teams in that four team group is determined by it. 

So we'll find out how the final group compositions and the paths of those teams to the July 13 final shake out on Friday.      

Dynamo Shock Red Bulls, Move To MLS Eastern Conference Finals

When this series started, many pundits didn't give the Houston Dynamo a chance to advance past the Supporters Shield winning and top seeded New York Red Bulls to their third straight MLS Eastern Conference final.  

In many cases you had people openly rooting against the two time defending Eastern Conference champions and that list probably includes MLS Commissioner Dave Garber.

The Red Bulls were rested and finished the season 6-0-2.  The Dynamo had never won at Red Bulls Arena and had been outscored during the regular season in their three losses to the Red Bulls 9-1 with two of those losses happening at BBVA Compass Stadium.   


But this is Dynamo Time, the MLS playoffs, and the Men In Orange just do what they do this time of year.   They kick up their level of play another level and don't stop until they reach the MLS Cup Finals 

After coming back from a 2-0 deficit at BBVA Compass Stadium Sunday to forge a 2-2 tie, they arrived in Harrison, NJ having never beaten the Red Bulls in a playoff game or in this stadium. 

But the top seeded Red Bulls had also never won a playoff game in their home stadium either, so one of these streaks was going to end.  

The Red Bulls initial score happened courtesy of a rare error by Houston goalkeeper Tally Hall in the 23rd minute.  Lloyd Sam hit a cross into the 6 yard box that Hall tried to grab with both hands and pin to the ground.  It squirted out of his grasp and onto the waiting foot of Bradley Wright-Phillips who knocked it into the open net for a 1-0 lead.

In the 36th minute the Red Bulls returned the favor with a giveaway of their own as Ibrahim Sekagya played an ill-advised pass across the top of the Red Bulls’ 18-yard box that an opportunistic Brad Davis picked off before dribbling forward and slotting it home with ease to tie the game at 1-1.

After that it was a series of brilliant Tally Hall saves and a little luck that kept the score knotted up.  A Thierry Henry shot just before halftime redirected by Tim Cahill was parried away by a Hall reaction save. 
A Henry header in the 65th minute hit the crossbar.  He missed a bicycle kick just wide in regulation time. 

But the Dynamo hero once again was Omar Cummings.  In the 104th minute Cummings was the man in the right place at the right time when Cam Weaver's header was blocked by Robles but ended up on Cummings foot that he pushed just past the goal line inside the right hand post past a prone Robles for the 2-1 win.

The 2-1 Dynamo win was not only their first win at Red Bulls Arena and first playoff win against this team, with the 4-3 aggregate score the Dynamo moved on to the Eastern Conference finals for the third consecutive year. 

Take that Dynamo haters.    And sorry Don, no LA-NY MLS Cup final this year either. 

They will face a familiar foe in Sporting Kansas City in the Eastern Conference Finals who closed out their series against the New England Revolution with a 3-1 win (4-3 aggregate), which will start on Saturday at BBVA Compass Stadium.

Dynamo Come Back For 2-2 Playoff Game Draw Vs Red Bulls

After sending the Montreal Impact packing on Halloween night, the Houston Dynamo had a bigger challenge to overcome in their quest to threepeat as Eastern Conference Champions and make it to their third consecutive MLS Cup title game. 

They were playing the first leg of their 2013 MLS Eastern Conference semifinal series at BBVA Compass Stadium against a New York Red Bulls Supporter's Shield winning squad that had beaten them three times in the regular season by an combined 9-1 score.   Two of those three wins this season came at BBVA Compass Stadium

And while the Men in Orange and their supporters could take comfort in the fact that the Dynamo are 9-1 all time in H-town during the MLS playoffs, their lone playoff loss was handed to them by guess who, the New York Red Bulls.  
  

Dynamo coach Dominic Kinnear left the technical area during that late game melee in the knockout round playoff win against Montreal to keep his players from getting any yellow or red cards that could impact (pun intended) their Eastern Conference semifinal series.  He was assessed a bull feces one game suspension by the MLS Disciplinary Committee which didn't sit well with Dynamo fans.

Anything to get that dream NY-LA MLS Cup final huh, MLS?  

That meant Kinnear was watching from the press box instead of the sidelines when the first leg of this Eastern Conference semifinal series against top seeded New York kicked off.  While they didn't score their first goal seven seconds into the game like they did last month, the Red Bulls did strike first with Tim Cahill taking a Thierry Henry cross from the left side and burying the header past Dynamo goalkeeper Tally Hall in the 22nd minute.

The Red Bulls expanded their lead 10 minutes later on a counterattack sparked by Henry and Cahill which ended with Eric Alexander faking to his right, turning left past Boswell and then blasting his shot from 14 yards out just inside the near post for a 2-0 lead they took into half time.

The Dynamo dominated possession in the first half and limited the Red Bulls to only two shots on goal, but the only stat that counts is that 2-0 one on the scoreboard.

But as I said earlier, the MLS playoffs are Dynamo Time and they seem to step up their level of play at this time of year.   The Dynamo began their comeback in the 51st minute when Markus Holgersson failed to clear a ball out of the Red Bulls box and it went straight to a waiting Ricardo Clark at the top of the penalty area.  Clark chested down the early Christmas present and blasted a shot through traffic and past New York goalkeeper Luis Robles inside the near post to cut the deficit to 2-1.

Then came the game changing and probably series changing moment as Omar Cummings, who has been saddled with painful injuries for much of this 2013 MLS regular season coming into the game off the bench in the 62nd minute for striker Giles Barnes. 

Cummings has endured three knee injuries, a groin injury, a hamstring injury and an extensive rehab program that kept him in a reserve role, but it was he who would make the Red Bulls feel the pain of his presence in this first leg playoff match. 

Three minutes later Cummings was taken down with a reckless scissor tackle from behind by Red Bulls center back Jamison Olave within referee Ricardo Salazar's line of sight that earned him a no doubt about it red card and an early trip to the locker room.  

In addition to Olave missing Wednesday's return leg, the red card forced the Red Bulls to play the rest of the match with 10 men, and the Dynamo have a season long habit of scoring a lot of late second half goals.

La Naranja are at just the right time regaining their reputation of being dangerous on set piece plays as the agonizing Eric Brunner near miss in the 78 minute was testament to.

Andrew Driver also narrowly missed an equalizing goal in the 81st minute as the Dynamo continued to put pressure on the Red Bulls.

The equalizing goal finally came in the 91st minute.  Brad Davis delivered another one of his brilliant corner kicks that Bobby Boswell got his head on that a diving Robles couldn't control.  Cummings tapped it inside the right post from point blank range past the helpless New York keeper to tie the game.

Two minutes later in stoppage time the Dynamo should have had a penalty shot awarded to win it when Omar Cummings was clearly clipped in the penalty box as he spun away from his defender in preparation to take a shot but Ricardo Salazar didn't see it that way.  But the 2-2 comeback draw with the Red Bulls sent the BBVA Compass crowd home deliriously happy that the Men In Orange defended their home turf and are very much in this series. 

The Dynamo now head to Red Bulls Arena Wednesday to play the second leg of this aggregate goal series.  If the second game is tied after 90 minutes, two 15 minute halves will be played followed by penalty kicks to determine who goes on to face the winner of the Sporting KC- New England Revolution series in the Eastern Conference Finals.

Dynamo Knock Montreal Out Of MLS Playoffs

As has become the tradition for the two time MLS Eastern Conference champion Houston Dynamo the last few years, they tend to do just enough in the regular season to qualify for the MLS playoffs, then kick up their play another level and roll all the way to the MLS cup title game.

In this 2013 MLS season the Men In Orange were 4-1-2 down the stretch enroute to compiling their 14-11-9 record.  One of those down the stretch wins was a 1-0 one at BBVA Compass Stadium against their Eastern Conference knockout round opponent the Montreal Impact.

But there were still questions from pundits and fans alike about whether this 2013 edition if the Houston Dynamo had it in them or the talent to make it to their third consecutive MLS Cup title game. 

They were also playing in the Impact a team that had beaten the Dynamo twice by the aggregate score of 7-0, but was 1-6-1 down the stretch and were fortunate to have gotten the number five seed over the Chicago Fire due to a tiebreaker.   

But this is Dynamo Time, AKA the MLS playoffs and they were playing this game at BBVA Compass Stadium where they rarely lose on Halloween night.  

The Dynamo stayed true to form and quickly seized control of this Eastern Conference knockout round playoff match with a goal in the 16th minute. Will Bruin received a beautiful back heel pass from Ricardo Clark that he buried into the right hand corner of the net past Impact keeper Troy Perkins for a 1-0 lead. 

The next Dynamo goal in the 27th minute was courtesy of Oscar Boniek Garcia's hard work.  After stealing a pass from Impact defender Hassoun Camara he sprinted toward the 18 yard box with it and was hip checked to the ground by Hernan Bernardello to earn a penalty call.  Garcia then calmly kicked the penalty shot into the lower left hand corner of the net for a 2-0 lead. 

Dynamo goalkeeper Tally Hall made two impressive saves of Marco Di Vaio in the 42nd and 61st minutes to keep his clean sheet with Bruin notching his second goal of the game in the 72nd minute to make it 3-0 and punch the Dynamo's ticket to the MLS Eastern Conference semifinals.

Then we had a Halloween night appearance of soccer hooligans in the 89th minute dressed in Montreal Impact uniforms. 

Already down a man because Nelson Rivas earned an early trip to the locker room with his second yellow card in the 70th minute, the Impact's Andres Romero kicked a fallen Kofi Sarkodie while he was on the ground trying to keep control of the ball.

Neither one of these teams like each other, and Romero's actions triggered an on the field melee in which Marco Di Vaio scratched and slapped the Dynamo's Corey Ashe.  While Ashe was given a yellow card, Romero and Di Vaio were given red cards and sent off for their nekulturny actions with referee Mark Geiger wisely blowing the whistle to end the game a minute later.

"There's really no place in soccer for what the player did to Kofi," Dynamo head coach Dominic Kinnear said. 

Sure isn't.  But that's okay, Di Vaio and Romero will have the rest of the MLS offseason and the one game suspension to start the 2014 MLS season to contemplate that point now that the Impact's season is over. 

The Dynamo survive and move on to play their Eastern Conference aggregate goal semifinal series with the Supporters Shield winning New York Red Bulls, starting Sunday at BBVA Compass Stadium.  

Once again it's an MLS playoff matchup for the Dynamo against a team that dominated them during the regular season.  The Red Bulls beat them three times by an aggregate score of 9-1, but this is Dynamo Time now.

We'll see on Sunday. 

Houston Dynamo Headed To 2013 MLS Playoffs

Since the Texans were chilling during their off week, I got the opportunity to focus my undivided attention on our local football team that wears orange unis and kicks a round ball. 

The Houston Dynamo suffered a devastating 3-0 home loss last week at BBVA Compass Stadium to the New York Red Bulls that knocked them out of Supporters Shield contention and dropped them to sixth place in the tightly bunched MLS Eastern Conference playoff race.

Only the top five teams in each conference make the playoffs and the Dynamo were in serious danger of missing the 2013 MLS playoff party.  In addition the loss robbed the Men In Orange of control of their playoff destiny heading into the final game of the season.

The Dynamo were now facing a do or die situation to get back into the playoffs against a DC United team that although they have beaten them three times this year and United was on an eleven game losing streak, were desperate to not set an MLS record for futility.   And yes, DC United was relishing the opportunity to salvage some of their team pride and avenge last year's Eastern Conference final playoff loss by knocking the Dynamo out of the playoffs.

The Dynamo also needed some help from other teams Saturday and got it.   Toronto FC upset the Montreal Impact 1-0 and Sporting Kansas City beat the Philadelphia Union 2-1 to make the MLS playoff equation simple for the Men In Orange:  Win against DC United and the Dynamo were in the MLS playoffs for the seventh time in eight seasons.

They did so but not without DC United fighting them every step of the way.  After Dynamo striker Giles Barnes was hauled down in the penalty box, Oscar Boniek Garcia confidently converted the penalty kick into the lower right hand corner of the goal for the initial tally of the game in the 11th minute.

Things were looking good at that point for La Naranja because when they score first this season, they have not lost (13-0-3) in this 2013 MLS campaign.    

DC United fought back to tie the game in the 27th minute with a Kyle Porter header but six minutes later Giles Barnes got the game winning header in the 33rd minute past DC goalkeeper Bill Hamid.to give the Dynamo a 2-1 lead they would not relinquish despite major pressure at times in the second half from a DC United squad desperately trying to avoid MLS infamy. 

But as the referee's whistle blew in the 94th minute DC United would indeed set the mark for fewest wins in an MLS season with a 3-24-7 record, one less than the four wins Chivas USA managed in 2005.  They would have also set the record for fewest goals in a season if it hadn't been for Porter's score that allowed DC United to finish with 21 goals scored on the season.

But back to discussing my playoff bound hometown MLS squad. 

The Dynamo finished the season in fourth place at 14-11-9 after the New York Red Bulls thumped the Chicago Fire 5-2 and the New England Revolution beat the Columbus Crew 1-0.  That created a third place tie in the Eastern Conference standings that bumped the Dynamo into the Eastern Conference play-in game they will host at BBVA Compass stadium Halloween night.against the hated Montreal Impact (14-13-7) who slid to a fifth place tie with the Fire 

Winner of the play-in game gets the New York Red Bulls 17-9-8 in a two leg playoff series 

The two time defending Eastern Conference champs are seeking their third straight appearance in the MLS Cup and last year on their way to the title game the road to it started in the play-in game against the Chicago Fire. 

The Dynamo just seem to kick up their play aonther level when they get to the MLS playoffs, and here's hoping the Men In Orange stay true to playoff form in 2013 as well.

2015 Women's World Cup Details

I wrote a post back in 2011 discussing the FIFA announcement that the 2015 Women's World Cup would be held in the Great White North. 

And yeah Renee (and 'errbody' else in Canada), I can't wait for the USA women to beat Canada again like they did in the 2012 London Olympics women's semis and the June friendly in Toronto.

But for that to happen, the USA women not only have to qualify, we have to hope we don't end up in Group A with them or on the same side of the bracket.

More details have come out since that May 2011 post.   The dates for the FIFA Women's World Cup will be June 6 to July 5 with the cities hosting matches being Vancouver, Winnipeg, Edmonton, Ottawa, Montreal and Moncton.  Toronto decided not to bid because they will be busy hosting the 2015 Pan American Games that summer and Halifax took itself out of the running for match hosting duties in March 2012.

The great thing about this upcoming FIFA women's tournament is that due to the increased interest in women's soccer around the world, the number of teams in this tournament has been expanded from 16 to 24.  

The only team is qualified right now are the host Canadians, and FIFA determined in a June 11 meeting last summer how the other 23 tournament qualifying berths will be allocated to the various confederations.

The AFC (Asia) gets 5 (up from 3), CAF (Africa) gets 3 (up from 2), CONCACAF (North/Central America, Caribbean) gets 3.5 plus the host slot  (up from 2.5), CONMEBOL (South America) gets 2.5 slots (up from 2) and Oceania keeps their single slot.  The big winner was UEFA (Europe) which got 8 slots, up from the 4.5+1 they had in 2011)

Qualification started in the AFC on May 21, the CAF on February 13 and in UEFA on April 4.  CONCACAF, Oceania and CONMEBOL have yet to get the qualification party started.

One of the teams we know won't be in Canada is North Korea, which has been banned for the 2015 Women's World Cup by FIFA.   Several North Korean players tested positive for performance enhancing drugs during the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup in Germany to draw the ban.  

Once the qualification period ends, the draw to fill out the six tournament groups will take place.   Canada is already slotted into Group A, so it is at that time we'll discover the other three teams that will be in their group and how the other five groups will shake out.

The FIFA Women's World Cup Final will be held at BC Place in Vancouver on July 5, with the semifinals on June 30 and July 1 in Montreal and Edmonton.  The Third Place playoff match will take place July 4 in Edmonton.

So which teams will be the last ones standing in Vancouver two years from now? 

Will there be a heartwarming run to the 2015 title by an underdog nation like there was for the Nadeshiko Japan in 2011?  Will Sweden now that former USA coach Pia Sundhage has returned to her homeland to coach the national team make a title run?   Will the Canadians and Christine Sinclair be fired up enough to turn their bronze Olympic medal, home fan support and national pride into a home soil FIFA world championship run? 

Can Marta finally lead the Brazilians to their first world title?   Will the French women finally break through after frustrating semifinal losses in 2011 to the USA and the 2012 Olympics to Japan?  What will the Three Lionesses of England do now that after 15 years of running thangs Hope Powell is no longer patrolling their sidelines?  Will an African team finally get to the knockout round?

Will the power teams like the USA and Germany shake off their respective disappointing 2011 tournament results and resume their dominance of the international women's game? 

And how much Hateraid will Canada have for striker Sydney Leroux who grew up there but plays for Team USA?

It's going to be fun watching this dramatic feminine sporting story play out two summers from now.

Saying No To Soccer Racism

Been talking about from time to time in various TransGriot soccer related posts about the now decade old FIFA Say No To Racism campaign that has the ambitious goal of eradicating racism from international football matches. 

Racism still rears its ugly head in matches like it did during the recent UEFA Euro 2012 tournament but you have more superstar players and national teams working harder to condemn and eradicate it than silently condoning the boorish behavior of their fans.

They are doing so not only from a personal distaste with what is happening in international football, but face a situation in which the club in question or national organization can get fined, suspended from FIFA sanctioned international tournaments or have both penalties happen for not expeditiously doing so.  

Something amazing happened at a recent match.   AC Milan player Kevin-Prince Boateng hears some wastes of DNA shouting racist chants at him, punts the ball into the stands and walks off the pitch.  

Boateng is not alone.  He is joined in his walk off the pitch by his teammates and players from the entire opposing team. 

How cool is that?   It starts at the 0:09 second mark in the video.

Darn, Dynamo Fall Again In MLS Cup 2012

Well, for much of this match the Dynamo not only outplayed the LA Galaxy, they had a 1-0 lead at halftime.

Unfortunately the Galaxy woke up and put together a burst of second half activity starting around the 60th minute that sent the Dynamo reeling to a 3-1 defeat and ensuring that the MLS Anschutz Cup would stay in Los Angeles.

While the Men in Orange are frustrated and disappointed that their season ended with a second consecutive MLS Cup final loss, they do have CONCACAF champions league play to look forward to next year

They are also resolved to make the new MLS playoff format work in their favor next time in which the team with the highest seed hosts the championship game.  .   

The Dynamo are motivated to ensure in 2013 that should they make it all the way back to play in MLS Cup 2013, it will be played in the much friendlier confines of BBVA Compass Stadium.

Thanks for another wonderful playoff run guys.   Now lets make it happen.

Bring The MLS Cup 2012 Home Dynamo!

The MLS Cup 2012 championship (re)match between the Houston Dynamo and the LA Galaxy will be kicking off in mere moments in Carson, CA

While the rest of the world's soccer media is focused on the announcement that David Beckham made earlier that this is his last MLS match of his six year run in the LA area, my Men In Orange have been without media fanfare quietly focused on their mission of bringing the MLS Cup back to Houston for the first time since 2007.

The back-to back Eastern Conference champs lost 1-0 to the Galaxy in MLS Cup 2011, but that team was missing Brad Davis, who got hurt in their Eastern Conference final against Sporting KC last year   

The 2012 edition of the Dynamo not only has Brad Davis back, but added Honduran Oscar Boniek Garcia to the squad and has one of the best goalkeepers in MLS in Tally Hall.

While other peeps will want a happy ending for Beckham and the Galaxy, there are a group of guys in orange shirts and their fans back in Houston who rather see at the end of 90 plus minutes the Dynamo ruining the afternoon for them by hoisting the MLS cup in the Home Depot Center after a Dynamo victory and bringing it back to H-town.