bluebloodedjourno.com

BLAM! Take that you Q&A mad soccer blogosphere trying to steal my flavor. I rightfully stole this idea from a basketball blog last Autumn right before the MLS Cup match. Not that we got my plagiarisms sorted out, how’s that for a title? I hope to get this feature up before every game, but I’m having a tough time finding peer blogs for a few teams (Chicago’s my most pressing at this time. Any suggestions?). Without further adieu, here’s the first installment of the 2008 season with Martek of the Houston Dynamo blog Nutmegged. It’s an excellent blog that he’s been keeping secret from me until this morning: 

1. Besides the uncertainty of how well Brian Ching’s strike partner will perform, are there any other pressing concerns for Houston this season?

Some of the problems are the kinds you like to have and some are not. In the first kind, Dynamo clearly has an overloaded midfield. Kinnear has always used a 4-4-2 and sticks to it like glue. So that means you’ve got this line-up in that middle 4: Brian Mullan, Brad Davis, Ricardo “Fishkiller” Clark, Dwayne De Rosario, Stuart Holden, Richard Mulrooney and Corey Ashe. By my count, that’s three starters too many, three players, mind you, who could start on any team in the league at any time. You also have four national teamers there (3 US and 1 Canadian), Dynamo’s co-MVP (Mullan) and the guy who was probably they’re actual MVP from 2007 (Mulrooney), leaving Corey Ashe as the 7th man out. Some of these guys are not going to play, and keeping top quality pro athletes happy while not playing is something of an impossibility.

In the kind you don’t want to have, I have serious doubts about Bobby Boswell on the back line. A back four of Waibel-Boswell-Robinson-Barrett has a definite weak link with Boswell, who has had pace problems all spring, next to a slowing Waibel. So we can’t get Pat ianni back from the U-23s soon enough!

2. On a similar note, what will the front line look like when Ching is off on US National Team duty or if he goes down to another injury?

Right now, paired with Ching up top is Chris “King of the Reserves” Wondoloski, who has clearly been told it’s his job to lose up there. He looked pretty good in spring and showed his toughness after getting a forearm cast in the face in the game against CSD Municipal last week. Dynamo also signed 21-year-old Argentine Franco Caraccio, who looks like he has some serious skill with the ball, but is adjusting to the speed here in MLS. Caraccio has typically subbed for Wondo in the spring so far with Ching staying in, so I have yet to really see Caraccio and Wondo playing together at the same time. Still, both are speedy and could give Dynamo a different-looking sort of attack when they’re in at the same time.

After Caraccio and Wondo, the options are few and far between as De Rosario repeatedly has said he is not a forward. Maybe Holden or Ashe could move up, but I don’t know if this has even been tried in practice.

3. Oscar De La Hoya may have his feet wet in the promotion game, but does he really know what he’s doing if/when he buys the Dynamo?

De La Hoya has been a shot in the arm for the franchise and now is the face of ownership, though he only owns 25 percent of the team (his business partner Gabriel Brener also owns 25 percent). I think his presence will be felt more in stadium negotiations than in the onfield product. One thing about the Golden Boy is that he has won at everything he has ever tried, despite always being told he can’t. You can’t buy that sort of “winning” mentalilty, you have to just have it, and he does. That can only help any sports team.

As far as operating within the unique confines of MLS, well, AEG still owns 50 percent of the team, so I doubt seriously that De La Hoya will be freelancing out there on his own without AEG being involved in some way. Still, my belief is that AEG is still holding on to such a large stake so they can be a player in the stadium and its future. As soon as that’s settled and AEG has an established role in it, I would not be surprised if they sold a greater share to De La Hoya/Brener, assuming they still want it.

4. Stewart Holden has been getting a lot of play with the U-23’s. Will he be in Houston’s best XI this season?

I don’t see how you keep the guy out. Still, who sits when he plays? I think Holden’s going to have to be in the forward mix as well as midfield since De Ro says he won’t be. With Dynamo’s depth, to keep them all happy, you’ll have to play these guys, and Holden is defintely in that mix. Now, that being said, he’ll be in China this summer for a significant stretch, so overall his presence in the hypothetical “Best XI” will be hampered by that absence. Still, I have faith in Piotr Nowak’s, ah, skills (which you might share having watched him at DCU) so I don’t really expect their stay in China to be that long of one. Given the clog at midfield, I can’t really say if this helps or hurts our situation.

5. How much has winning MLS Cup in their first two years of existence has helped in establishing the Dynamo in the Houston sports scene?
Dynamo is much, much stronger a presence in Houston that I ever thought possible when they came here. Going 2-for-2 in winning championships obviously helps, but their presence has awakened a nascent soccer community and turned them into a significant force in this community. Witness the stadium imperative. Barring any unforeseen event, Dynamo is going to have a downtown stadium within the next two years, a prime, prime locale, and there is currently no significant opposition to getting this done. What’s more, De La Hoya’s presence as the face of the franchise means the hispanic community here is passionately behind it, as opposed to “solidly” which they were before the Golden One came in. Opposing the stadium would be almost political suicide at this point, especially since the team is willing to put up almost the whole thing. Key stat on this: Dynamo Park is slated to cost about $80 million, which is about the same amount as taxpayers paid for the retractable roof at Minute Maid Park three blocks away.

6. As a Houston fan, do you think the Revs will be better or worse than they were in 2007?

From my perspective of not seeing the situation too closely, here are my main thoughts on the Revs’ offseason: 1. Taylor Twellman got royally screwed in so many ways. His case is Public Exhibit No. 1 in why the MLS Players Association has an A-1 case to get a better deal next year when the new collective bargaining period comes up. Whether they’ll get a better deal is a different issue, but you don’t have to go beyond TT’s case to find a more compelling argument for their cause. 2. Losing Pat Noonan is going to hurt the team more than any single thing, both in his almost psychic communication with Twellman and overall leadership. 3. Losing Andy Dornan is not going to hurt that bad. 4. Shalrie Joseph, Matt Reis, Steve Ralston, Twellman (demoralized?), Khano Smith and that back line are still there all playing together, along with former Fort Lalas prisoner Chris Albright? Well then, what’s there to worry about overall? The Revs will continue to be a serious force and title contender and anyone who writes them off early does so at their peril.

My pick on Saturday’s game: 1-1 tie.

Posted on March 25th, 2008