Houston Dynamo
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| Year founded | 2005 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| League | Major League Soccer | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nickname | Dynamo, The Men in Orange | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Stadium | Robertson Stadium | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Coach | Image:Flag of the United States.svg Dominic Kinnear, 2006— | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Owner | Image:Flag of the United States.svg AEG | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| First Game Houston Dynamo 5–2 Colorado Rapids (Robertson Stadium; April 2, 2006) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Largest Win Houston Dynamo 5–2 Colorado Rapids (Robertson Stadium; April 2, 2006) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Worst Defeat D.C. United 2–0 Houston Dynamo (RFK Stadium; April 15, 2006) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| All-time Top Scorer Image:Flag of the United States.svg Brian Ching (11) Image:Flag of Canada.svg Dwayne De Rosario (11) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Supporter Groups Texian Army, El Batallion | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| MLS Cup | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2006
<tr><th style="text-align:center;" colspan="2">US Open Cup</th></tr><tr><td style="text-align:center;" colspan="2">None</td></tr> | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Supporters' Shield | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| None | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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, allegedly due to San Jose'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. The name "Dynamo" refers to Houston's industrial economy, to a sliver of Houston's soccer past, the Houston Dynamos, and to the various Eastern European soccer teams called "Dynamo"—most notably Dynamo Dresden, BFC Dynamo Berlin, FC Dynamo Kyiv and FC Dynamo Moscow—that were part of the Dynamo sporting society of the USSR. Although unrelated, there was a previous professional soccer team called the Houston Dynamos that played in the old United Soccer League in 1984. The team colors are orange, white, and black.
Houston Dynamo play their home matches at Robertson Stadium—a 33,000-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 Batallion.
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[edit] 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. 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.
[edit] 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.
[edit] First Season (2006)
Image:Dynamo vs rapids 040206.jpg Dynamo played their first game on April 2, 2006. Amidst a crowd of 25,462 people in Robertson Stadium, Dynamo beat the Colorado Rapids 5–2. Brian Ching led the charge for 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, Houston Dynamo won their first intrastate rivalry game against FC Dallas, 4–3 at Robertson Stadium.
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 as the Houston Dynamo. 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.
[edit] Honors
- MLS Cup
- Winners (1): 2006
[edit] Current roster
As of November 16, 2006
[edit] Notable players
- Image:Flag of the United States.svg Wade Barrett (2006—)
- Image:Flag of the United States.svg Brian Ching (2006—)
- Image:Flag of the United States.svg Ricardo Clark (2006—)
- Image:Flag of Canada.svg Dwayne De Rosario (2006—)
- Image:Flag of Canada.svg Pat Onstad (2006—)
- Image:Flag of the United States.svg Eddie Robinson (2006—)
- Image:Flag of Canada.svg Adrian Serioux (2006)
- Image:Flag of the United States.svg Craig Waibel (2006—)
[edit] Head coaches
[edit] Team records
- Games: Image:Flag of the United States.svg Wade Barrett, Image:Flag of the United States.svg Ricardo Clark, and Image:Flag of the United States.svg Brian Mullan, 31
- Goals: Image:Flag of the United States.svg Brian Ching and Image:Flag of Canada.svg Dwayne De Rosario, 11
- Assists: Image:Flag of the United States.svg Brad Davis, 11
- Shutouts: Image:Flag of Canada.svg Pat Onstad, 5
MLS regular season only, through 2006 season
[edit] Home stadiums
- Robertson Stadium (2006—)
[edit] General managers
[edit] Year-by-year
| Year | Reg. Season | Playoffs | Open Cup |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | 2nd, West | Champions | Semifinals |
[edit] International competition
- 2007 CONCACAF Champions Cup
- Quarterfinals v. Image:Flag of Costa Rica (state).svg Puntarenas
[edit] Average attendance
regular season/playoffs
- 2006: 18,935/20,274
[edit] 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
| Major League Soccer 2007 | |
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Eastern Conference |
Western Conference |
| Historical teams | |
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| Miami Fusion | San Jose Earthquakes | Tampa Bay Mutiny | |
| Miscellaneous | |
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MLS Cup | All-Star Game | USSF | CSA | Central Division | U.S. Open Cup | |
es:Houston Dynamo fr:Houston Dynamo ja:ヒューストン・ディナモ nl:Houston Dynamo simple:Houston Dynamo fi:Houston Dynamo
