Dynamo Give Up Hope On Reaching Post-Season

Dynamo — Falling down when they should be standing up

The Houston Dynamo’s 2010 season is all but over now, following their 2-1 defeat at the hands of Toronto FC. It was only fitting that the power also went out at stadium following the game.

“The season’s over,” said head coach Dominic Kinnear. “The way we’re playing, we are not going to do it.”

Kinnear kept his press conference short. His tone was about as happy as a coach who just watched his team eliminate itself from the postseason contention for the first time in franchise history.

The game was there for the Dynamo to take. They took the lead in the
18th minute when Brian Ching headed in a free kick from Brad Davis. For
the rest of the half, the Dynamo kept bombarding TFC with waves of
corner kicks; they even outshot their Canadian counterparts for the
entire match. Unfortunately for the Dynamo, when the offense is as
inefficient as it was Saturday night, it puts more pressure on the
defense.

“What’s our record? 6-13-5 — there you go. It says it all,” Kinnear
said. “I think we’re the second- or the worst-defending team in the
league. I think that says the story of where we are at.”

TFC midfielder Dewayne De Rosario was nowhere to be found for a
good 90 minutes of soccer. He really only showed up for two free kicks,
both of which resulted in goals. The first goal came in the 60th minute,
and the second in stoppage time. The Dynamo used to have a player like
that, someone that could change the outcome of game with one touch of
the ball. Hell, the Dynamo used to have Dewayne De Rosario.

In the 2007 MLS Cup, DeRo had the game-winning header the secured
the Dynamo’s second championship. Now with his hometown team, DeRo’s
goals were pretty much the knock-out punch to the Dynamo’s season.

The team isn’t officially out of the playoff picture just yet.
Mathematically, there is still a prayer for them. But after the loss,
the players didn’t seem so optimistic. Dynamo goalkeeper Pat Onstad said
that even if they win their last six games, there’s no guarantee they
make the postseason.

“The way we’re playing, conceding goals at this stage in the season,
it’s pretty clear for us to win six in a row is probably mission
impossible.”