Houston Dynamo

I’m leaving this blog.

Zach — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 19:43:26 +0000

After some thought I have decided that I can no longer cover the Dynamo. They’re a good team but they aren’t my favorite so I’m moving on. Hopefully I’ll be allowed to write for Nottingham Forest on the offside but if not, I’m done with blogging.

Sorry,

Zach Taylor

Give Soccer a Chance

Zach — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 02:35:36 +0000

This article really isn’t for all of you dedicated fans. It is more for those who know about soccer but keep up with other sports instead (People who think the World Cup is the only soccer competition). I encourage you to show this to your friends and family in an effort to convince them to at least watch or go to one game.

With the NFL currently in a lockout and the NBA on its way to one, it’s time to give soccer the mainstream attention it deserves… or at least a chance. Soccer is growing in America and I don’t know many people who will deny that fact, but it’s not at the level that it should be. Soccer in the MLS is not the most beautiful play in the world but unless we start supporting a team or teams, we will never have a league that produces top players. This will ultimately allow our national team to be a major player in the world of soccer. Think of it as our LAST, last frontier. We’ve conquered space travel but we have yet to conquer soccer.

I’ll admit it, I wasn’t always a soccer fan. I watched my first soccer game in the spring of 2009 because my friend convinced me to give it a chance (I was a football fan). It was the FA Cup and Chelsea beat Everton 2-1. Honestly, I wasn’t impressed at first and it was a little while before I watched another game. The next game I watched was this little thing called the MLS Cup. Real Salt lake was playing Beckham and the Galaxy. I had heard about Beckham and decided that I would root for LA. Real Salt Lake won on penalties and it was the most exciting thing I had seen in a while. I was hooked. I started keeping up with the EPL and became a fan of Fulham because they had Clint Dempsey, a USMNT player. A few weeks before the MLS season started, I learned more about the teams and decided that I would give most of my attention to the Houston Dynamo. Now I’m here, telling you my soccer story in an effort to convince you to watch a soccer game.

Please, make my effort worthwhile and watch a game sometime in the near future. You won’t regret it.

Tell me your stories of your first soccer game or how you encouraged someone to watch on Twitter.

@DynamoOffside

@Zach_Taylor

Forever ORANGE

Forever MLS and USMNT

Sorry guys…

Zach — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 01:06:13 +0000

After a lengthy disappearance because of my job… I’M BACK. A lot has happened since I’ve been gone and I apologize for my absence. Expect some posts VERY soon.

Follow me on Twitter: @DynamoOffside and @Zach_Taylor

Forever ORANGE

Absences suck.

Koke to Dynamo for 1 Million Euros

Zach — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 21:03:06 +0000

It’s been no surprise that the Dynamo have been looking to sign a DP for quite a while now (see Pacheco). Well, today it seems like that search is over as Houston has signed Sergio Contreras Pardo (Koke). Koke is a striker from Aris in SuperLeague Greece. In the past 5 years at Aris, he has scored 38 times in 175 appearances. The deal is worth roughly one million euros and extends to 2013. This is a very fresh story which is why I don’t have that much info on it.

Follow me on Twitter for updates on this story:

@Zach_Taylor

@DynamoOffside

FOREVER ORANGE

New England sucks.

Purple is the New Green.

Zach — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 22:50:24 +0000

On April 17, 2011, your Houston Dynamo will be wearing a special jersey to commemorate Earth Day (yes, I did just link to Wiki). In an earlier post, I said that it would be the ugliest thing I have ever seen but after looking at it, I can handle it for one game. The only real difference in the jersey is the sponsor’s color. It will be purple. All the jerseys will be auctioned off and the proceeds will go to Keep Houston Beautiful.

: Brad Davis models the Earth Day jersey.

The criticism I’ve seen so far is that it’s not very distinguishable but if the jersey isn’t mostly orange, I’d be pretty ticked.

FOREVER ORANGE

Pollution sucks.

Boswell, Bruin Shine in The Dynamo’s First Win!

Zach — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 23:14:44 +0000

After a rough start to their season, The Dynamo won their first game at home against the Vancouver Whitecaps. I unfortunately missed the first half which means I missed three goals in FIVE minutes!

First Half

The first goal came in the 37th minute and was scored by Cam Weaver. One minute later at the other side of the pitch, Camilo ties the game. And four minutes later, Bobby Boswell gets his first goal of the campaign and gets Houston ahead before the half.

Second Half

I began watching at about the 47th minute mark and I saw a very weak Vancouver team. The Dynamo kept possession for the majority of the half and defended well when Vancouver attacked (It was rare). The last goal of the game came from the most promising rookie I’ve seen in quite some time, Will Bruin! After making several great runs into the box in the minutes preceding the goal, Bruin got past the defender and Nolly came out of the box to get the ball. Will Bruin avoided Nolly and sent the ball into the back of the net. That sealed the win for the Dynamo and gave me back the hope that I was beginning to lose (forgive me).

The Dynamo will play the New England Revolution at home on April 17th. I’ve seen on Twitter that the Dynamo will be wearing a special PURPLE jersey in honor of Earth day. It sounds like it will be the ugliest thing ever but if the Dynamo win, I will buy one (no I won’t). Until next time…

Follow me on Twitter

@Zach_Taylor

@DynamoOffside

Also follow @DynamoLiveTweet for live updates during games.

FOREVER ORANGE

Vancouver sucks.

Vancouver Comes to Robertson for the First Time

Zach — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 19:17:45 +0000

The Whitecaps will be playing the Dynamo for the first time ever tonight at 6 p.m. central on Galavision and KHOU in Houston. Luckily I will be watching it in Spanish, a language that I have yet to master. Also, the picture quality for Galavision on my T.V. is terrible. If that isn’t dedication, then I don’t know what is.

The starting lineup for both teams will most likely look like this:

Houston: 4-4-2

Hall

Freeman- Boswell- Hainault- Chabala

Cruz- Palmer- Cameron- Ashe

Weaver- Bruin

Vancouver: 4-4-2 (Who would have thought…)

Wagner- Rochat- Boxall- Leathers

Khalfan- Harmse- Thorrington- Knight

Camillo- Harris

Vancouver have shown to be a dangerous expansion team this year and with the way the Dynamo are playing, I expect a point from this game and nothing more (Set standards low so you can be amazed if we get 3 points). Luckily for Houston though, Eric Hassli will not be available on the account that he received a red last week. Had Hassli been available, I would’ve worried about the outcome of this game.

Sorry for the lack of info in this post but I’ve been a busy guy this weekend. I will attempt to live tweet the game but no promises. I will write a recap tonight and you can expect that to be posted either late tonight or late afternoon tomorrow.

If you can’t watch tonight, follow @DynamoLiveTweet

As always, follow me on Twitter:

@Zach_Taylor

@DynamoOffside

FOREVER ORANGE

Vancouver sucks.

U.S. Open Cup Isn’t What We Need to Focus on Anyway…

Zach — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 03:28:49 +0000

Until we can become a major player in the MLS, we cannot afford to put too much effort into other competitions. I really look forward to some feedback on that statement. I think Greg Kinnear would agree to that statement because of his lineup tonight. Tally Hall took a day off and Colin Clark got his first start.

I ended up not live tweeting the game because the video stream on the Dynamo’s website was down. Instead I followed @DynamoLiveTweet. I encourage you all to follow him for those times when you’re not able to watch the game. The stream being down is also a major contribution to why this recap isn’t really a recap. I’m hoping that the NFL lockout will last a while and that the NBA will have a lockout at the end of the season so maybe soccer will be broadcast more than it is now. Until then…

Follow me on Twitter:
@Zach_Taylor
@DynamoOffside

FOREVER ORANGE

Dallas and Sporting KC suck.

US Open Cup Match Preview

Zach — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 21:01:09 +0000

The Houston Dynamo are looking to qualify for the U.S. Open Cup and to do it they must get past Sporting KC. The U.S. Open is a competition in which the Dynamo have struggled in. However, competition versus Sporting KC has not been so tough…

With 10 meetings total, Houston is 6-3-2 with a GD of 8. The only problem tonight is that Sporting KC has loaded their offense with Teal Bunbury, Omar Bravo, and Kei Kamara. Their offense will test rookie Sarkodie and the rest of Dynamo’s defense but with Tally Hall at goal, I’m quite confident that we can get the win tonight.

The big story of this game will be Colin Clark. Finally back from an eight month ACL injury, the MF will most likely get his first appearance for Houston. Clark was aquired by the Dynamo from the Rapids in exchange for Brian Mullen last season.

This game will not be broadcast on TV but you can watch it at www.houstondynamo.com and I will be live-tweeting the game so follow me (@DynamoOffside) on Twitter.

FOREVER ORANGE

Dallas sucks.

5 Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Give Up on the Dynamo

Zach — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 05:09:24 +0000

Kofi Sarkodie- If you watched the game against Seattle, you saw a great defense because of Tally Hall (I’ll mention him later) and the new kid, Sarkodie. He saved us from countless goals and is one of the reasons we got the point.
Tally Hall- I should have just combined the two and said reason one was “defense” but four is a weird number. Tally Hall had SEVEN SAVES for Houston when Seattle only had 8 shots on goal. I was scared when Pat Onstad went into retirement but luckily and unbeknownst to me we had depth in goal.
Will Bruin- Our draft pick from Indiana University. This kid had a great preseason scoring a couple times. He’s had a rough start but I believe he’s getting accustomed to the way Houston plays. He has a nose for goal and I expect him to slowly come out of his shell and score regularly.
The Dynamo girls- Face it, they are hot. Hot girls contribute to my hope for Houston somehow. I can’t figure out how though because they distract me everytime I go to Houston’s website.
They’ve only played twice- This article seems pointless considering it is so early in the season but I was starting to lose hope. It makes me feel better that Philly has yet to lose a game and that we were playing at Qwest Field when we got the draw against Seattle. Don’t lose hope my friends, for the Dynamo will begin playing at their full potential in a matter of time!

P.S. My name is Zach Taylor and I bleed orange. I’m also the new blogger for this site. Follow me on Twitter: @DynamoOffside

FOREVER ORANGE

Dallas sucks.